Ryan13b: I have a set of these (235-45 17s on dedicated wheels) I use as "winter tires" and certainly have driven with them in an inch of snow. They are much better than the OEM summer tires. However, they are nowhere near as good as true snow tires.

You have to ask yourself what you expect of your winter shoes. For me, I live in northern NJ where we do get a fair amount of frozen precipitation. However, we enjoy a high number of snow plows and a local government happy to salt the hell out of everywhere at the first snowflake. Additionally, I am perfectly capable of working from home on days of obvious inclement weather and my wife drives an AWD SUV so that serves as our vehicle of last resort for truly foul weather. Given my circumstances, the Pirelli's are great and I am very happy with my decision. The tires do an admirable job in light snow and in conjunction with traction control they are a reasonable compromise for me.

As they say, Your Mileage May Vary.

The tires may help a bit, but they won't help much. I was still slipping and sliding around even though I was going 1-2 mph...scary! Understand that this car does not like any of the slippery stuff.

If you have the $$, the dedicated tires/wheels is the way to go. However, I wouldn't expect the RX to drive like a Jeep through the snow even with the dedicated tires. The car just does not drive well with any level of slippery stuff on the road.

The M&Ss are better than stock tires on dry roads though...no doubt about that.

Slippery roads? Better hang on! Better yet - park the 8 and pull out your kid's car and drive that.

Comments like these confuse me. My old car was a '97 A/T mirage and I drove that car in snow all the time. I drove for 5 years on the factory tires and another 4.5 years on basic dunlop all season tires. I never had an accident and only slid a few times in the ice and snow, this is including the year I lived in Boston. Of course I drove much slower and way more cautiously. When I read comments about how bad the rx8 is I wonder exactly what people mean? Is it this bad because it is rear wheel drive? My 8 is only a week old and I can't decide if I should go with dedicated winter tires, which probably will only see a minimal amount of snow in the DC area or good all season's like the pirellis and for teh 3 or 4 days a year the snow is that bad car pool or just don't go to work?

Using Pirelli SnowSports, I commuted through a half-dozen+ snowstorms last year, 25 miles each way, through anything from 1" - 4" on the road. I had zero problems or complaints. The LSD gives it *better* traction, IMHO, than most FWD cars. And the superior handling translates into increased confidence when slipping and sliding. The car was designed to be pushed to the edge of adhesion - which is what snow driving is all about.

I take that back, it does have serious problems in deeper, slushy stuff, as the wide tires apparently tend to float or hydroplane. But in dry, and especially packed snow, it's fantastic.

When reading comments from people, look at where they are from. Some people just have more "winter" driving experience than others.

Traction in light snow is OK, but not great. Not nearly as good as snows or as agood as all-seasons on a FWD car. But in Cincinnati, we don't usually get that much snow, and when we do, it doesn't usually stay for long, with average daytime highs above 32 all winter. I figured changing over was not worth it for the 10-15 days I might actually need snow tires, when I can drive my 4WD Tacoma.

Has anyone used or have any input on the handling & ride differences between Nero & Rosso? And yes, I know the Rosso are not all season. I am not corncerned with winter driving.

Thanks

I used to live in Connecticut where we got some pretty significiant snow and other nasty stuff. Had rear-wheel drive cars up there (Camero, Chevelle, etc.). Those cars drove much better in that stuff than the RX-8 does in the area where I now live - Virginia. We don't get much slippery stuff here, but the couple of times per year we do - YIKES! My previous car that I drove down here for years was a Ford Probe - MUCH better in the slippery stuff than the RX-8 even with the stock tires (the Probe is front wheel drive I know).

Maybe it is the light wieght or the distribution, don't know. But the bottom line in my view is that you better be REAL careful driving the 8 in the winter. I know mine does not like it at all...maybe yours will. Good luck.

P.S. IF your area has decent snow removal then you might be all right. But remember that it is what is undernieth the snow that matters. You get a slight haze of ice or something....whoosh! I posted elsewhere about one of my experiences going 1-2 MPH and ultimately having to stop because I was sliding all over the place...no gas, just letting off of the brake and away I went. Finally had to stop for 2 hours to let the roads clear up. Other cars were just moving right along without a care in the world...

You're suggesting that high-torque cars with wider tires, inferior handling, and less weight on the drive wheels perform better in deep snow than the RX-8 does in light snow?

What kind of tires were on your RX-8 when you had to park it? If you read through the various threads on winter driving, you'll find that the vast majority of people have few problems driving the RX-8 in snowy conditions WHEN they have dedicated snow tires.

I am telling you that I had a '69 Z-28 and an '71 SS 454 Chevelle and they both drove better in the Connecticut winter than the RX-8 does (with either stock or the P Z-nero M&S) does in the slight Virginia winter we get in the Hampton Roads area.

Maybe that is because the Connecticut weather was a decent snow rather than the slight icy slippery stuff we get here in eastern VA. Don't know why that is...but I have had the RX for 2 winters now and both scared the crap out of me...at the slowest speeds.

I do NOT have dedicated snow tires. Never said I did. Just don't expect great things with the M&S tires in all conditions. They are great on dry pavement, they are great in the wet, but I have found them to be lacking in the type of cold stuff we get here. Just my opinion.

I have never driven the car in deep snow...so far only about 2 inches.

If you wanted to have a great car in the snow...guess what? The RX ain't it. Not really dissing the car, but driving in snow up to your door handles or across a frozen lake was not what the car was designed for.

NEWS FLASH: Buy a Hummer if you want to have a total, all-weather transport machine.

Maybe I was more used to my Z and Chevelle...whatever. But, given the different types of winter weather (Conn vs eastern VA)...yep, that was my experience. But I have driven the 8 through 2 winters here - 33K on the ODO now.

It may be that the 8 (with the M&S tires) works better in deeper snow than in the light nasty stuff we get here. No clue.

The parking time with the RX-8 was with the PZeros. Took foot off the brake, no gas, rear wheels started to spin at idle and off I went! Zooom! No body else around me seemed to have any problems...long story, you would have had to been then to understand the situation.

IF you have 3-4 months of winter get dedicated tires. If you have 2-3 weeks of it (like we do here) then get the M&S (and hang on) or just park it. Depends on the type of winter you get too.

That Chevelle was fun too...big block, cowl induction, fast! And I did drive that all the time in winter - to and from work. The '69 Z was a pain - too many valves to adjust! LOL

I live in western Michigan (60 - 100 inches per season). If I did drive my 8 in the winter months, I'd go for four snow tires. But, I wouldn't compare the OEM Bridgestone's snow performance to the Pirellis. Katchoo's description of 2 mph slipperyness matches my experiance with the Bridgestones - worthless, stay off the road. The Pirellis are significantly better. Not enough better to depend on them for daily driving!

What benefits would I expect from getting the larger 245/40-18 tires on my stock 18 inch wheels? I called my local service station to make sure that they could actually mount the suckers and the guy said they could, but I would more than likely get some rubbing. From reading this thread I don't think it will be a problem, but I'm just concerned before putting down $600+ for these things that i'll run into trouble. besides, aren't wider tires less desirable in the snow?

I have them for my car, there is no rubbing. They are a 4 month/year tire for me. I switch to performance tires for the rest of the year.
Wider tires are less desirable in snow. They cut through snow instead of packing it down. But, how much snow do you normally get? Here in Chicago, we get 1 to 2 inch snowfalls and the roads are cleared quickly. I want the wider tires for traction on ice. The more rubber on the road, the more grip there is.

hmm, decisions decisions then. Do I want the wider tires which aren't as good in snow but better on icy roads, or the stock size which is better in snow but not as good on icy roads? I'm also worried that the dealership will have "issues" installing the larger ones and blame it on me for getting tires that are not stock size. were you given a hard time with the install?

I have the larger tires on my car. No problems with fit or with the dealer.

The car just isn't a good winter condition car...wasn't designed to be. Just understand that and drive accordingly.

BTW...no rubbing with the larger tires. They fit fine. Handle great in dry conditions...much better than stock.

The only things that work good on ice are chains and studs...and I would not put either on my RX even if they were legal around here.

No problem with rubbing. Now have about 8K miles on them.

The problem in mounting is making sure the dealer has experience with tire pressure sensors. They broke one of mine and decided to pay my Mazda dealership to install the replacement! I highly recommend taking in the service bulletin, or your manual, and reviewing the procedure with the tech, even if they DO have RX-8 experience. An excerpt is shown, below. My painful ordeal is included within this thread, dated probably around March 2005.


Bulletin No: 02-004/04
© 2004 Mazda Motor of America, Inc.
Last Issued: 12/21/2004
Page 3 of 6
CHANGING TIRES ON WHEELS EQUIPPED WITH TPMS WHEEL UNITS
1. Remove the wheel from the vehicle.
2. Remove the valve stem cap.
3. Remove schrader valve.
4. Un-bolt the TPMS wheel unit (11mm deep socket). Allow the sensor to fall into the wheel.

NOTE: This will prevent damage to the sensor while the tire is removed from the wheel with a tire removal
machine.

yada yada yada

When I called my local dealership to see if they could handle the install before buying the tires the guy seemed kind of insulted that I would assume they couldn't. I took that as a good sign.

I called my Mazda dealer and they said that they could install my new tires. After struggling with them for a few hours they called me and told me they couldn't get them mounted. I went to my local Discount Tire store and they popped them right on without any problems.

The moral of this story: Don't believe everything you hear and that goes doubly so for car dealerships...

aw, now why would you say something like that?

ok after reading freaking 25 page thread from front to back, you guys convinced me. I was gonna get kumho spt (???) summer tires (since I am FL and they are cheap), but I changed my mind and get Pirelli PZero Nero M+S instead. Luckily tirerack has them in stock.
One question is that tirerack rates it WR but it is actually ZR raiting? Does everyone notice same thingy? Not an issue but I luv to have ZR over WR. :)

Hopefully I will love it as much as you guys do. (I guess I just added more to this long long thread.)

You won't regret it. Seems like 99% + of people who've gotten these tires love 'em. :)

My PZeros are rated WR per the marking on the sidewalls, but I have noticed of late some magazine ads listing the PZeros as ZR. No idea why, unless maybe Pirelli has upgraded their rating.

Got mine from distcount tires. Mention that their online store were selling them for 156 and they match the price and charged me 10.00 per tire instead of 20.00 per tire for the install.. Best part was no shipping cost hehehheh.. anyways so far they have been great..

I've had my P-Zero Nero M+S replacements for about 10K miles now. If I had to do it over again, I would NOT buy these tires. I got them because so many people raved about them, but IMO they suck big time. They are downright scary in the wet, and I don't feel nearly as confident with them as I did with my OEM Bridgestones RE03's. My TCS light is always coming on when I give it the gas or take a hard corner - I rarely lost traction with the OEMs.

About the only good thing I can say about the P-Zeros is that they'll last a whole lot longer, although that just delays my having fun once again when I go back to the OEMs. Also, they look great on the car!

Frankly, I don't understand how they can behave so poorly for me when others seem to love them. Maybe when my engine was replaced I got an extra 100 ponies... yeah, that's it :D