Having winter tires on my car doesn't help keep those without them from running into me. That's what worries me.

The weather is getting cold and we've already had a bit of snow here, and I still see folks in their sportscars with their summer tires on. Just don't expect me to feel sorry for them when they're sitting in a ditch, off the side of the road. They better at least have AAA.

 

I tested out my $89 Tire Rack Dunlop M3's today and I have to say I was VERY impressed =) Traction was great... my worries over rear wheel drive in the winter is gone!

 

I just posted some pics of my 17 inch Blizzak LM-22s on Wheels & Tires. I am happy with the way they went on and the way they look on the car. Drove around today in the rain and the car handled better just on the cold wet streets than with the stocks. No spins or slips, excellent braking. I will post more when we get the next snow here.

 

For $1400 I almost bought a cheap snow car, but I ended up with the Blizzaks, and although I'm repeating, they do the job and they do it well. I still wish I had a cheap snow car though =)

 

How much were the tires you got and where can they be purchased? i live in southern vermont and i will be getting an 8 either mid or end january... i would hate to have to park it as soon as i get it

 

Check tirerack.com for prices. I found the 17 inch rims with tires were not much more than the tires for the 18 inch rims,. and they should work the same or better in the snow.

 

Me too! Best $400 I ever spent!

 

Hi All,

I am a newbie to not only the forum, but also to "sportscars" such as the RX-8 in general.

I have not bought the RX-8 yet, but I am thinking about doing so in the next 3 months, or so...

Getting to the point, I live in the DC area, so I definitely will have to deal with driving in snow and ice each winter.

As such, I was considering (what I know many will call a terrible idea) getting some "high performance" all-season tires to replace the 18 inch OE ones.

I went onto tirerack.com, but could not find any 18 inch all-season tires that it had available for RX-8 owners (using their tire selector function)...

It did have some Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires in a 225/50 WR17 that it said would work with the car...

Is this a crazy idea to go this direction? If not, will I be able to use the same 18 inch rims that come with the car... or will I have to buy some 17 inch rims as well as the tires?

Please forgive my ignorance on all this, but as a 32 year old guy that currently drives a Malibu... This is all stuff I never had to concern myself with before...

Thanks in advance for all the help and patience...

---Dave S

 

Welcome, drseid!

To answer your question, yes, you would need new 17" wheels for the Pilot Sport tires you've indicated. And, since you would need new wheels anyway, I would recommend just getting winter tires instead of all-season.

Although, no one here has tried all-seasons in the snow yet, they would be better than the OEM summer tires. If you decide to go that route, keep an eye out for 18" tires that can be mounted on your stock wheels.

 

Thanks for the info jonalan!


Call it laziness on my part to look for all-season tires. I guess my (admittedly rather warped) reasoning is that if I found a good set of high performance all-seasons as opposed to dedicated winter tires, then I would not have to keep changing (and storing) tires. As I live in an apartment, storage space is an issue.

So far, at tirerack I have not found any 18 inch winter or HP all-season tires that supposedly will mount on the 18 inch rims that come with the car (or so the search engine tells me)...

Anyone find anywhere else over the net that sells winter or HP all-season 18 inchers that fit?

Thanks again,

---Dave

 

Dave

I was in the same boat as you in trying to decide whether to get snow tires or all weather. By the time I needed snow tires they were sold out for this season so I went with all weather Toyo proxes fz4's (235/40zr18 91w). They are slighter wider than the stock oem 18" wheels and handle great. I have driven them in mixed weather (not just snow yet) and no problems so far.

I bought them thru a place called tire barn but ultimately they used their contacts at tire rack.com to help us out.

Good luck!

 

After reading the messages re. the use of snow tyres on the RX, I feel like locking the gate now. Unfortunately the horse bolted two weeks ago, and I got stuck 50 miles from home after entering a mall for 4 hours, and returning to find my car under about 7" of snow!

I can absolutely confirm that with stock tyres, the RX8 is the WORST car I have EVER driven in snow.

From the parking lot, I could see the Interstate was clear, a mere 1.5 miles away. I (foolishly) tried to make it. Bad idea. The car simply wouldn't go anywhere and I burnt out the clutch in just 200 yds (Doh!)

Then, my Mazda dealer informed me that the clutch wasn't covered under warranty, despite only 2300 miles on it, but after inspecting the car, told me they had found a problem with the traction control, so replaced the clutch free. (Not sure about that, I think I should've just slept at the mall!)

If it snows now, even an inch, I take the bus! I will however get some snow tyres next week and see how it drives then.

So thanks for the tip! I only wish I'd read it three weeks ago!

Oh, and just one last point, did anyone else break down in snow with a burnt out clutch (Or anything else?) I only ask because until that day, I hadn't seen a single RX8 at all in the central jersey area, and on the first day of snow, I saw two others, and they were BOTH broken down.

 

I am getting my Dunlops on Monday and of course today we are getting 6-9 inches in Chicago! Good thing it's a Sunday!! I had to convince the hubby about the tires and of course all these other people say just put sand bags in the back and you will be fine!! So I kept battling that and how he has driven many cars including his Mustang in the snow and says it's not great, but you just have to know how to drive in it!! Well, I sure hope we find out how good the tires will be....today we will go around the block just to see how it handles in the snow(first time) with the regular tires and then compare it when I get my winter tires tomorrow. I know I will feel better when I get the winter tires on!!! Emailing some of the messages from this board helped my case in getting them, Thanks and keep you posted. Wendy

 

You're gonna love those Dunlops; I have some on my GTI. Remember, modern winter tires can positively transform a rear-wheel-drive car like the RX-8! My one suggestion: after they're mounted, go to a high school parking lot on the weekend and take an hour to practice driving around in the snow. Try turning at different speeds - turn gently, turn sharply; practice starting from a stop and practice stopping, too. Finally, try some sudden swerves, as if you suddenly had to change lanes to avoid another car. If you do this, you'll be great - and will probably look forward to driving in snow!

 

Just spent a couple of hours out on the road here in Chicagoland, where we've gotten 2-4 inches of snow. First chance to drive on the Blizzak WS-50 225/50QR-17s mounted on Kosei K1 17x7.5 wheels. (From Tire Rack, natch!)

First impression: excellent!

No trouble at all getting going, other than the normal pain of brushing all the snow off.

Braking and power-off steering was just as good or better than our other car, a 1998 Subaru Outback on all-season radials. DSC kept the rear end from sliding more than 6-12 inches on every start.

After turning out of a subdivision parking lot, I looked in my rear-view mirror to see a pickup truck with a snow blade, who did the same turn as me, spin out about 45 degrees beyond what he meant to.

Here at work, it's all quiet and the unplowed parking lot still has 3-4 inches of snow on it, so I tried spinning some donuts. With DSC on, it would only turn in circles regardless of accelerator pedal pressure. Without DSC, it spun nicely. The DSC-on circle had an inside diameter of about 18 feet, while the DSC-off circle had an inside diameter of about 6 feet.

In summary: I'm not going to have to worry about winter driving. The RX-8 with these tires is *way* better than the 1993 Saturn SL-2 that I've been driving for 6 years.

 

Sorry guys, no snow here in Sunny San Diego. Today weather sunny in the 70s, slight breez. Same for the rest of the week. However, we got rain last week and the 8 did very good in it.

 

Good to hear about your tires. Took my 8 out in the snow yesterday just to see how bad it was..............verdict.....DEATH TRAP!! I was sliding all over the place going in a straight line, took a nice easy turn and it went 90 degree's through my whole turn....scarry! I could not get up my slightly inclined driveway....the hubby had to push me in and that's after clearing the driveway! All I can say is what Gordon said all along....DO NOT DRIVE W/O WINTER TIRES UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH!!!! The Dunlops will be delivered today and hopefully on by sometime tomorrow! Also, putting a couple sandbags in the trunk to boot! I can't wait to see how it drives with the new snowshoes! Thanks for this thread....helped me get my tires!!!

 

Cruzdreamer - Good post. We look forward to hear what you have to say with the snowshoes...

 

cruzdreamer, forget the sand bags. With good snows and TCS you will have no trouble getting going. The extra weight will upset the balance of the car and increase stopping distance. It will only be slightly worse, but you don't need them for traction.

 

Ditto! You beat me to it.

 

I confirm that the RX8 is the worst car I have EVER driven under snow condition ... sadly I wa sstuck in the middle of the snow before realizing this, but managed to chain it

 

i second that notion of the RX-8 being the worst car i've ever driven in the snow...with only a measely little inch of snow on the ground i couldn't even go up an incline, out of a subdivision...i actually had to turn DSC/TCS OFF to get enough wheelspin and slowly, i mean SLOWLY get up otherwise the car just lid back down...that was a few weeks ago...my tire/wheel package should be here by Friday so i'm praying to God it doesn't snow again here in Chicago until then

 

Somebody's gotta dispute this, so it might as well be me - the RX-8 isn't bad in the snow at all.

Now, if you said the OEM Bridgestone summer tires are the worst tires you've EVER driven in snow conditions, nobody would argue.

It's the tires' problem, not the car. Change the tires to winter tires, and the RX-8 is a fine winter car. It does much better than some other vehicles equipped with winter tires.

Regards,
Gordon

 

Couldn't Mazda have made tires that work well in snow as well as on hot summer roads?

Is that too much to ask from a $30,000 car?


OK, hahahaha! Just kidding, hahahaha! No! Don't flame me!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!! Ssstttt.....

 

Absolutely right, Gordon.

Behind my house we have a 15-degree slope driveway up from the alley. In the wintertime we normally park on the street out front, rather than go to the trouble of shoveling/salting the driveway.

With the snow we got this weekend, our all-wheel-drive Subaru Outback would have a hard time getting up the back driveway. But the RX-8 on Blizzaks made it up on the second try.