KIDUS

Whats up guys, im thinking about getting some good all season tires soon and planning on driving with them during the winter (here in ohio we get anywhere from 1'-10' max of snow) has anyone else tried all season in the snow on there 8, if so how was it? should i not do it and just buy winter ones instead? :

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

recommended to get winters. But, there are people who drive with all-seasons without too much hassle...

EDIT: A driver with EXPERIENCE doesn't have too many problems

New Yorker

I have not tried them; I have winter tires on mine. But from everything I've read, the big, big thing is to not use the stock summer tires. So already you're out of the real danger.

If I lived where you do, and I drove the 8 daily, I'd get the winter tires so I'd have maximum traction. Not just when there's snow and ice, but also when the roads are dry and it's really cold. That said, I think you can "get by" with the all-seasons. Of course, the big advantage of all-seasons is that they're the only tires you would need. One set for the whole year. So don't get all-seasons if you'll be using the summer tires when it's warm!

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I have always used all-season tires on my car. They won't be as effective as snow tires, but I don't have problems. I have been stuck once when the car got high centered. Snows wouldn't have helped in that situation.
I've used Pirelli (good dry tire), Continental (good snow tire) and just yesterday I put on Goodyear F1 AS tires.
I drive on suburban streets and highways that are cleared of snow relatively quick. Recently, the village has greatly reduced the use of salt on residential streets to save money.

alnleslie

Howdy, I live in Colorado so we usually have light winters (there are exceptions), but I have a 4wd truck for the bad stuff. Anyway I'm considering the Conti DWS and the Pirelli P-Zero Nero All Season tires. Any opinions? I've heard the Contis' are soft sided and not particularly straight tracking, and the Pirellis are hit and miss for noise.

Thanks,
AL

carcrazy95

I've gotten through the past 3 winters (in the Philadelphia area) with Continental ExtremeContact all-season tires on my car, with no problems. The winters here are usually light, though some years have had a few major blizzards when nothing moves for a couple of days.

I've used the Conti ExtremeContacts on other cars, and find that they work well in light to moderate snow, up to several inches and on 'regular' paved roads, though I don't know how they would work on a RX8 if you tried to go skiiing in Vermont with that setup. I have also found that for fairly normal street driving, the Conti's do not give up any performance you would notice from the seat of your pants compared to pure summer-only performance tires (though I imagine you would certainly feel significant differences if you did track days). I've also had good luck with Michelin Pilot A/S and General G-Max all-season high-performance tires.

As others have said, definitely never drive in the winter on the OE summer-only tires. The rubber compound gets very hard in colder temperatures, and you have no traction whatsoever with them.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I've used 3 different sets of performance A/S tires on my car Pirelli's, Conti's and Goodyear. The Conti's were the best in snow. However what makes a tire good in snow will not allow it to preform the best in the warm dry corners.
I still hate changing tires for the winter, so now I have a cheap Jeep.

TacoMan

Continental tire DWS.

Prophet

Do it right, get snow tires. "All season" tires are not very good in the snow in most cases.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

In 10" snow, you won't do too well with all-season tires. In 1-2", you may be fine.

Continental DWS tires rock.

Bladecutter

Depends on where it is in Colorado that you call home.

I live in Arvada, and I use the summer tires for the Spring through Fall months, and I have a set of Hankook performance winter tires for the winter (still on my car right now).

I also have a garage to store the other tires during the season that they aren't being used, so if you live in an apartment, that would make a bit of difference if you can't even store a second set of tires easily.

Personally, I prefer having the right rubber for the right season, and not have to make due with a tire that isn't perfect for the season you're in.

BC.

jasonrxeight

DWS is pretty nice. I have them on my AWD E46 and they rock! even in 10 in of snow they just keep going and going.
they are slightly noisy but the price is pretty acceptable.

alnleslie

Since I can't find an all-season tire that doesn't have some handling detriment, I'll probably go with a good summer performance tire and use the 4x4 on the bad days. Any suggestions? I live in Colorado Springs BTW. I just got my 8 very close to you at Larry H. Miller KIA. She's a 1 owner 2009 GT with 26k. I haven't driven her much as it's been in the Mazda Dealership in the Springs for a month. Long story, but a new trans is on order.

Georgia8er

I don't know about driving in snow with summer tires, as I have a truck for that, but the stock summer tires below 40 degrees are a wild ride until they get warm. I tried to drive once when it was 17 degrees outside on the OEM tires and was sliding all over the place even though there was no ice or snow.

cpenner

I just went through the "what to do for winter" conundrum myself this last fall.

1) Anyone who drives on summer tires below 5 or 6 degrees Celsius (40 Fahrenheit) has got a screw loose. They are hard and slippery, and if it rains, you are all over the place.

2) If you are planning on owning the car for the long run, it's cheaper to get a set of winters and summers - each on their own rims. It's not like you'll be buying twice as many tires - the winters don't wear out in the summer.

3) A set of decent winters on alloy rims from Tire Rack were the same price as all seasons or winters WITHOUT rims from my local tire shops.

4) You can vary your tire size with the demands. I went to a -1 sizing for winter. 215/55/17. My summers are 225/45/18. The narrower width gives better snow traction, and the higher sidewalls are better on the potholes. Plus, the winter rim-tire set was significantly cheaper this way.


I just swapped the summers back on this afternoon. It's warmed up enough that they are starting to stick again. I'm sure feeling the leftover winter road damage though. I'm hoping the road crews get the potholes filled in over the next few weeks so I don't have to slalom as much.

slvrmzdrx8

All winter on Hankook V12s, just saying

pistonhater

Those are the exact tires I have in my car right now. I have nothing but positive to say about them. We didn't really get any snow this year, LOL, plus I wouldn't drive the car when it snows anyway. But I've driven when it rains and I'm surprised about how well they handled then.

In terms of dry road performance, I agree with you. I don't think anybody would notice any difference in performance - unless you did track days.

Also, the Continentals have one of the best ratings on tirerack.com when compared to other all-season tires

Haha, same here. Even though I think the Continentals are great, I don't really drive the 8 in snow since I have an old truck with big mud tires. Those handle snow great

/\
Exactly. The price is a bit high for an all-season, but I think they are worth the money.

Let me be honest with you. Unless you are going to auto-cross or doing lots of track days, there are no performance gains in summer tires for normal street driving. You will hardly notice any difference at all.

Many online reviews of high performance summer tires are from people who actually race their cars. Also, many people here do track days and auto cross. So they will obviously recommend you to go with high performance summer tires.

Sadly, some people spend big money buying high end summer performance tires for cars that see nothing more than regular street driving. That's a significant waste of money in my opinion. Also, keep in mind that summer tires will wear out faster if you are just using them for normal street driving. They are not commuter tires!!!

If you all you do is normal street driving, with occasionally pushing the car on highway exit ramps and occasionally pushing the car on an interstate, then an all-season tire is the way to go. The tire will be a good compromise under most driving conditions (including snow), and it will give you many more miles of use.

Bladecutter

Pistonhater,

This person lives here in Colorado, specifically Colorado Springs.

There are these things here called the Rocky Mountains.
In the Rocky Mountains are these things called Canyon Roads.

If alnleslie is like a lot of us Colorado drivers, then there is a very high chance that this person is going up into one of those many enjoyable roads with practically no traffic, and having a whole lot of fun, hence summer tires make for a better driving experience on a Sports Car like the RX-8.

But you are correct.
If someone replaced their Camry with an RX-8 just to get them back and forth to work, any all season tire will be perfectly fine.

But, this isn't the middle of Arizona, Florida or Texas, where a switchback followed by high speed esses that dump into an off camber hairpin isn't to be seen for hundreds, if not thousands of miles. I can think of 20 different roads off the top of my head here in Colorado with exactly those conditions. Heck, I know some roads that do that 4 or 5 times in a row here.

Not everyone needs summer tires, but some of us can get more use out of them, that's for sure.

And that's if we DON'T go to one of our roadcourse tracks, or spend time doing autocross. We have those options in large amounts here, too.

BC.

pistonhater

Haha, good points. That makes a lot of sense.

I didn't get the impression he was the kind of driver you described in your post!!!

Actually, because I do not daily drive my 8, I could probably go with a set of summer tires on my next set. We have some pretty cool mountains in Upstate NY - not as cool as in CO - but decent enough for aggressive driving.

cathe119

I have not tried them

Bladecutter

Driving in mountains is great, you really should try it.

Unless that wasn't what you were referring to.
If that's the case, then you should spell out what you are referring to in your post so that people know what you're talking about, and can respond properly to it.

BC.

YUL PHL

iTrader: (1)

nah, you need winters.

sorry, all seasons won;t work well in the cold &/or snow. don't forget that cold temp harden the rubber, so it's not just about snow

it's not too expensive to find some old mazda 17' and put some winter tires on

i did a winter on A/S and just didn't feel safe turning and stopping.

winter tires feel like magnets on the road

shinsoku

I have all seasons on my 8 (live in Buffalo), this winter was insanely mild but nevertheless I had about 4 50lbs sand bags in the trunk and didn't have any trouble this winter, just take it easy and try to avoid coming to dead stops when your on a hill because it's damn near impossible to start to move again if there is any snow on the road. I guess I got lucky this winter. My buddy got a job at Dunlop and can hook me up with new tires for 20 bucks a piece so I'll take his offer and get some winters for next year just in case.

Iluvrevs

Your winters won’t be quite as bad in the Springs as BC and I get up here, but I’d still say snows for November to April. I have 3 sets of wheels with tires. S1 wheels w/ Bstone LM60s that were quite comparable to a lot of all seasons on the dry and bullet proof in snow, summer Bstone RE50s that came with the car on the original wheels for the track until I burn them up and then I’m going to something slightly stickier or maybe slicks, and new Nitto Motivos on S1 wheels that are my street shoes. I did have the opportunity to tear up the Red Canyon between Canon City and the Springs 2 weeks ago in the Nittos and despite some tread squirm they were super sticky with minimal sidewall roll over. Up to about 95 a couple times then hard stops and highish G turns. In winter you will be much happier especially on hills with the snows though.

dox

look at the tirerack tests on summer vs all seasons vs winter. The difference is significant. I'm a believer in winter tires.

I put a set of studless winter tires on my mazda 5, and bought cheap steelie wheels (look like black stock steelies most cars come with ) for 30 bucks a wheel. the tires came mounted, balanced..easy to take off and on.

Portland had a horrible snow/ice storm right after I did that...everyone was stuck, people were just leaving their vehicles on the streets, not us, my wife was driving normally. She scared the bejeezus out of me the first major intersection we came to, she hit the breaks just like it was dry..no slippage.

I think one thing to look for is what kind of winter tires do you want. I went with dry/ice rather then snow, because here we have more ice then snow.