Tirerack told me nearly the same thing. They said 9 out 10 cars with TPMS don't use tire sensors with non-run-flat tires. Also they didn't have compatible sensors. I ordered my tires without the sensors from tirerack. When the dealer refused to install them (they did offer to transport tires and car to a local tire dealer and pay for the installation) I recalled another tire dealer had told me he had 4 Mazda sensors. My dealer agreed to disassemble the tirerack sets, install the sensors, put them on the car, ... I decided to go that route and have sensors. A few days later one sensor did report low tire pressure; the low pressure wasn't obvious by looking at the tire.

I concur that sensors aren't needed for non-run-flat tires. Since getting the sensors didn't slow down delivery and the dealer was willing to "take up the slack", I opted to add sensors to the snows.

I think the Dunlop Winter Sport M3 is a run-flat snow tire, and hence may benefit from tire pressure sensors.

 

In the UK we recently has 2/3 inches of snow and the some ice. Besides the country coming to a great big halt (although well warned of the weather) the RX8 experience was not a good one. I think its down the the tyres we received as standard but everyone found the car very undrivable.

rael

 

A nice set of snow tires would clear that right up.

 

Sorry Velocity-8 I am with Gord on this one 100%. An A/S is an A/S. Yes, some are more performance orientated, some more M+S orientated. But they will never match the performance of either a snow tire in snow or a performance tire in warmer non-snow conditions. That is a fact. Here in Canada, the province of Quebec is considering making snow tires mandatory like they are in Sweden in the winter. That is how much better they are than A/S tires. Gord was also bang on stating that this is sports car first and foremost. How many true sports cars out there come standard with A/S tires, even here in Canada? Heck even the guys that buy the performance Audi A4's get summer performance tires.

 

Ever drive on them? I didn't think so. :D

 

I have driven on A/S with six Hondas, and I have driven four snows on a LeSabre in far-northern Michigan. Currently I am driving an Odyssey with A/S and an RX-8 with snows. The comparison is hampered by rear versus front drive, the capabilities of the cars, and older A/S versus new snows. At this point I would say the snows on the RX-8 outperform the A/S on the Odyssey for snow conditions. That is, until the RX-8 starts dragging through deep snow; as I saw once this week. But even in that setting I could get started in a snowy area that the Odyssey had trouble with, if it had been much deeper I would have been in trouble, and the Odyssey would have been better off.

Since I couldn't find 18" snows late in the season, I bought 17" wheels and considered buying A/S and selling the OEM tires/wheels. Instead I bought snows and now have complete sets for summer and for winter. I decided that I didn't want the year-around compromise.

If they had sold the RX-8 with A/S, I probably would have tried them year-around. The A4 and Passat I looked at did come with A/S. I think the Kompressor had summer only tires.

 

At Burlington Mazda they are letting people test drive the RX-8, with no salesperson in the car, with the original tires in -10 C (7 F) temperature but no snow on the road.

How safe is the car in these conditions ?

 

My first test drive was in about that temperature and without a salesperson. I thought the tires felt lumpy at first (like the flat spot from sitting hadn't rounded out yet). I drove it city and expressway, and it was fine, but I avoided snow or ice like the plague, where there is a safety problem.

Aside from the snow problem, I don't know if there is a safety issue under cold conditions.

 

A/S are completely different from UHP A/S.

 

My second test drive it was 6 F. The RX8 is totally safe as long as you don't try to really push the car. I came around a corner fairly fast and the rear snapped out. The DSC caught it and stopped it from spinning.

 

Comparison Tables From Tirerack:

UHP A/S
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/uhpas.jsp

Winter
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/winter.jsp

My brother told me that ContiExtremeContact tires are excellent on his ~A4Q in northern Michigan.

 

There are a couple of decent all-season tires choices.

I had some Pirelli P7000's on my last car, and while not as good as a real winter tire, they did the job, and were safe.

I now have some Nokian WR's on my RX-8 and they are excellent.
Definitely not a pure snow tire, but in very cold conditions, ice, and light snow they work like a charm.

The Nokian viewpoint on what "all season" means is a bit different than the average. Being as they come from Finland this means 6 months of winter, 3 of lousy conditions, and 3 of nice roads.

Kind of like where I live.

6 months of winter and 6 of poor skating.

 

LOL!!

So who is your favorite Hockey team? I'm a Flyers fan myself.

 

Careful here ......... not all Dunlop M3's are run flats. For example, look at the specs for the ones TireRack has available for sale currently and you'll see only one size (225/45HR17) is listed as being a runflat.

Unfortunately they don't show specs for sizes that are sold out . The 225/45HR-18 Dunlop Winter Sport M3 XLs I purchased from Tire Rack in November are not runflats.

I imagine the ones that are runflats say "Dunlop Winter Sport M3 DSST" on them. DSST is Dunlop Self-Supporting Technology run-flat tires.

regards,
rx8cited

 

Yup, many over the years. Namely the Pirelli P7000 SUPERSPORT and Pilot Sport A/S. Thanks for asking.

 

Hey Canzoomer I hear those are fantastic tires, but are they not foremost a winter tire? I thought they were advertised as "the world's fastest snow tire"!

 

Well, don't I look like a jackass! :D :D

 

That's productive. Bottom line is that most people know that an A/S tire, be it high performance or not is a compromise. It will never be the best in either conditions but like canzoomer said they can do a decent job and be safe. That can be fine in areas of the country that get little snow and cold temperatures but it will still be a compromise. This is all that we are stating. If you are willing to compromise good for you but I am happy that Mazda delivered the car, even here in Canada, with high performance summer tires and not any type of A/S tire. :p

 

I was trying to make light of my assumtion. It was meant to make you laugh.

Anyway, my final point...

I don't like the Potenza 040. IMO there are much better UHP tires than these. So, I'd be happier if the RX8 had an UHP A/S tire on it instead.

Now, if it came with Potenza S-02 Pole Positions or Pirelli PZero Asymmetricals then I'd be thrilled.

 

It was mentioned that 245/40/18 is a good configuration from the standard stock. How does that own up to the winter tires?

 

Really that is my bad . . . I misread your post and replied before re-reading. It is funny in hindsight! I totally agree with you that there are better uhp tires than our 040's . . . and I too would have been thrilled with a different uhp tire as stock.

 

I think this is the tirerack rating for the original RX-8 tires:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

Most users said they would "Probably Not" buy the tire again.

 

Question for all of you, will you be leaving your winter tires on the entire winter season? Like her in NY snow is sporadic, would it be safe to say that I should change them in the begining of the season (around thanksgiving) and re-change them to the OEM's when the weather gets better?

I dont want to change the wheels though just the tires, what do you all think?

Without getting flamed would someone be kind enough to post a list of tires that have been said to fit fine on the GT package wheels?

 

Unfortunately, nothing that you will be able to buy this year. Everything is "Out of Stock" and I have looked. Only option is the 17" with new wheels and sensors(100 each wheel). And those are getting scarce. The Bridgestone LM22 Blizzaks is what Mazda is recommending for the 18" rim. Hey winter is almost over, wait till the fall. BTW noticed that Tire Racks prices increase as they get lower on inventory, Blizzaks went from 115 to 169 a tire before they ran out. So Sept would be a good time.

 

jniamehr:

Yes, it's generally best to leave the snows on through the cold season, especially if you won't be using separate rims. Snow tires wear quickly on dry roads (Blizzaks particularly), but lower temperatures help minimize that. Grip on dry roads is not wonderful with snows, but UHP summer tires can be downright dangerous if pushed hard when cold. I've seen cold, dry days when handling limits were higher, and certainly easier to exploit on snows vs. summers.

{{{{