I will need to drive the RX-8 year round, do snow tires help or will I have to call in sick to work everytime it snows?

 

please search. Try to read the stickies in the tire section - I've provided a link below.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-wheels-tires-brakes-suspension-55/snow-45401/

Oh, please add your location to your profile.

 

Get snow tires then call in sick so you can drive around.

 

Don't drive it with the summer tires in the winter....get snow tires

 

drive in winter with summer tires is ok as LONG as your winter never go lower than 60 degrees

if it gets lower than that, get winter tires

if your winter can go lower than 50 and you still drive around with that RE040/SP8008, Im looking forward to see you on the news (Im not kidding)

 

60F is considered winter?
I really need to move wherever you guys live! :D

... as for the winter tire advice: do what he said. All-season tires cannot handle snow and ice safely, so don't even THINK about driving performance summer tires in such conditions.

 

It is here. Actually it was in the 70's today,,brrrr.

 

19 here right now... went to the grotto earlier to put the cover on the 8 and feed it some fuel stabilizer.

 

some people do call 60s winter ...

 

With decent snow tires, the 8 is fantastic in the snow. It handles better in snow than many FWD vehicles I've owned.

On summer tires, it's useless, as any car would be.

I've never had a better handling rwd car in the snow with dedicated snow tires than the 8.

 

Definitely get a set of dedicated snow tires on separate rims. Tirerack.com has a great set.

 

I have a set of Blizzarks LM-25.

so far so good ...

 

Being the voice of All Seasons, I'm on my second set of all-season "ultra high performance tire" - my first set was Pirelli PZeroNero M+S and just put on Continental Extreme Contacts. The Pirelli's were virtually no different from the summer tires stock on the RX-8 in warm weather. The biggest difference is where the stock Bridgestones became greasy erasers when the temp fell below 50 degrees F, the Pirelli's stick the same. Ditto with the Conti's although, my sense is that they aren't quite as sticky as the Pirelli's.

In snow, the Pirelli's were a "you won't get hurt or stranded" tire - you also won't have much fun either. They'd get you home but that's about it. Which, for my purposes, is fine - I don't have a commute to work - I work from home when not traveling for business - and here in the Chicago area, taking good care of the roads is a political issue, so therefore, it's rare that the roads are any worse than slushy. So they were fine.

Gotta say the Continentals in snow are FAR better than the Pirelli's - in fact, in the snow storm we got last Tuesday, where I had to drive home from O'Hare airport in the teeth of the storm, I was fine - in fact, more than fine - I was actually confident! Quite a difference.

Like anything else, the trick to driving this car in snow is GENTLE inputs on everything - gas, brakes, steering. If you don't drive like a jerk, you won't wind up in the ditch. Regardless of how good your snows are, it's super-easy to overpower the rear traction, or turn in too agressively and start to understeer, or skid when braking. But if you drive so that you don't over-run your traction, the car works fine in snow.

Its primary limitation is snow DEPTH - 3" of ground clearance makes it quite easy to high-center it in deep snow - I did it once last year at the end of my driveway.

I would recommend the all season approach to any one who:

- Lives in a cold climate
- Lives in an area where they take great care of the roads when it snows
- Doesn't track day the car often or has dedicated wheels and tires for that purpose.

For the 8/10's that you should drive the car at on the street, you'll never find the handling limit is less with the all-seasons.

 

I got blizzaks LM-25. This tires turns your Rx8 into snowmobile. Awesome traction in snow and ice and stopping ability, the bad thing about this tire is that you can stop faster than anyone else on snow and ice. That means that if the car behind you is not equipped with these tires, they will probably run into you. Yes, these tires will outperform any all-season tire in snow and ice. Highly recommend the Blizzaks LM-25.

 

Not that this is an uncommon feeling for one of the lightest cars on the market with some BIG brakes... I'm always glancing in my rear view as I step on the brakes, snow, rain or shine.

 

Dunlop Wintersport M3's = big winter fun. This an easy car to drive in snow & slush.

 

AGREED! And I put some Pirelli snowsports on the car this morning. We should be getting some ice/slush/snow in the DCmetro area this weekend.