Is it nuts to drive an RX-8 in the snow?
 

It does not snow often or for very long in St. Louis, but I cannot stop going to work because of a little frozen water on the road. Is the RX-8 at least OK?

NO. The problem is the stock tires - they are high-performance SUMMER tires, and just as with high-performance SUMMER tires on ANY car (even AWD vehicles), the TIRES are useless and dangerous on the slightest bit of snow or ice. We warned people about this last fall, but still there were RX-8 owners who were doubters (or unaware) of the hazards of summer tires in winter conditions who found out the hard way. Several owners caught out or who went out in winter conditions had to abandon their vehicles because they couldn't move, and a couple bent their vehicles by sliding off the road or into solid objects.

HOWEVER - many, many of us bought winter tires (usually on a separate set of 17" wheels), and with winter tires the RX-8 performs very well in winter conditions. It's all about the tires, but again with good winter tires, and the DSC and traction control, the RX-8 gets around just fine. A few people tried all-season tires, and reported acceptable results, even though they aren't up to the same capability as full winter tires.

Please do a search for "winter tire", and you'll find quite a few threads in this section (and in the Canada regional section) with much more detail on this critical topic!

Regards,
Gordon

With snow tires I had less trouble in the snow than I've had since I had my nifty little civic in the 80's.
And I had 3 front wheel drive car's in between the civic and the 8.
I was very happy with it.

unless you get snow tires it is not only nuts but they should institutionalize you...the car is unsafe at any speed in the snow with the OEM tires.

I'm also in St. Louis and, although it does not snow too much here, I recommend either getting winter tires for the winter or parking it when there's even the possibility of snow/ice.

I didn't have any problems driving around in 6-12" snow storms with my 17inch Dunlop Wintersport M3's :D

Thanks for the feedback.

I put Dunlop Wintersport M3's on the stock 18s and the 8 did awesome. I'm a hardcore skier so I was making frequent trips to northern Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Best part is now I have an excuse to buy summer rims for next summer :)

I went with 17 inch rims and the dunlap m3s and had no problems. As said many many times, the 8 is a great winter car with the right tires. The ultra-high summer performance tires are just that-summer tires. OK spring-summer-fall tires, just not winter tires. And, as far as dry traction goes, the m3s are pretty damn good.

Gotta agree with these folks. I got the Dunlop M3's and put them on the stock 18" wheels and had no trouble when I ventured out in the snow this past winter. The car was even able to maneuver out of my hilly, curvy gravel driveway in 4" of fresh snow.

I bought a set of 18" winter tires for my stock rims, but now i'm thinking of sell those new tires for a set of all-season tires that will be put on my new rims...since i want to have my new rims on all the time. It snows for a damn long time in pittsburgh so if i put my new rims on summer tires, i'd hardly get to see them.

Does this sound like a good idea?