Four months of 8 ownership now and > totally satisfied. Had trouble hearing the beep for a while but heard it beautiful today. I don't know why, I've had my windows up before ... but it was a cold day and the city was quiet and there it was nice and loud. I love that.

Anyhow, the weather here in london has taken it's turn and the stock bridgestone tires are feeling very slippery. So tomorrow I'm getting the Blizzak LM22's installed. I might be picking up a friend in toronto Friday night so they'll see cold roads, rain and maybe slush or a bit of snow.

If you feel like sharing what winter shoes you're going with this season, please do. I'm also thinking about what summer tire I want for when it's time to run again.

 

Kinda strange but I feel a bond with this 8 more so than with any previous car. I'm not religious, not really spiritual, but I feel bad that the car is in the garage but still somewhat outside and exposed to the cold. It's just a weird feeling. I appreciate the car so much, I want to treat it like it treats me.

I like this commercial quote:

"When you turn on your car
does it return the favour?"

 

I ordered Dunlop Winter Sport M3 from tirerack.com

They are on delivery right now from the US. I found tirerack.com even with the tax and duties still comes out cheaper than buying localy in Toronto.

 

Tirerack for the win!!

 

I bought the car from someone with blizzak ws-50 winter tires......but if I had to choose they would have been dunlop winter sport m3's.....had them on my last car and they were outstanding..... by far the best winter tire I had ever owned......mind you , I cant complain about the ws-50's.....just remember the m3's were slightly better.

 

Yeah, I was split between LM-25's and M3's, but the Dunlop's now had a $50 rebate when you buy 4, and the LM-25's had no rebates, so Bridgestone lost my business there... hehehe

 

I'm running Hankook Icebears W300s... had to put them on this morning before i went to work... ended up being 1/2 hour late... didnt expect the snow to come this quick... ahhhs...

on the plus side... the tires are alot quieter than the stock bridgestone summers. Are all low profile tires that noisy? sorry for the noob question... my first car with low profile tires...

 

My brother just got the M3's on his Audi RS4 and he loves them. I kinda wanted them too but this year I'll settle for the LM-22's and see what they are like.

WhiteComet,

You said you didn't expect snow so quick ... where are you located? Maybe you could update your profile with that.

 

Yea it's getting cold but I haven't seen any snow...

 

You want a Caddy?

 

Hey Dehli, so you saw that commercial. No, definitely not, but I like the quote.

Take it easy.

 

The Bridgestone RE040A's are just a damned noisy harpy of a tire when they wear a bit. Read the reviews of this tire on the RX-8 at tirerack.com. Pure torture IMO but I have to wear then out before my wife'll allow me to replace them. Summer tires do tend to be noiser than all-seasons, but they shouldn't be that much noiser than snow tires.

 

It's Delhi! Not Dehli, not Delphi not New Delhi and I don't know anything about India.

 

Tires are going to be noisy by nature. I have no idea what type of insulation you're expecting from a sports car...

Some high performance tires will wear faster than others making them noisier. But it's not at the level where it'll get "loud".

Loud is when you have a straight through exhaust and some solid diff mounts. Then you have exhaust and differential whine intruding into the cabin! lol

They should have removed a bit more insulation from the RX-8. Or give it a bit more bark in the exhaust. Something that'll tell you your driving a sports car!
I guess that's why they have the Mazdaspeed parts available for extra cash!

 

I find it pretty loud already.... especially coming from a stock 1997 Honda civic with 1.6L 4 cylinder engine... I revved that **** out to redline all the time too, but it's just so slow...

WIth this car, even with stock.. I purposely wait for those short hwy underpasses (404/Hwy 7 for example), and then redline underneath those areas. The exhaust resonating from the walls is just insanely loud at 9000 rpm with stock muffler!!!! :D so fun!

 

No way, the RX-8 can use a little bit more sound isolation in the cabin. This car doesn't have a vault-like quality on the highway precisely because of the road noise intrusion at highway speed.

I have a feeling they made the exhaust so quiet as a weight-saving measure. Quieter exhaust = need less insulation materials in the trunk. They were working against a bunch of conflicting design goals.. beat the S2000's curb weight, but be as refined as a 3-series.

 

Try Lakeshore Blvd from Parliament to Spadina (beneath the Gardiner Expressway). It's 2km long and there are tons of traffic lights, ample opportunities to rev the engine and bounce off the concrete structure.

 

Well i wouldnt describe it as loud... maybe i should of phrased the question as "Are the stock bridgestones supposed to be that much noisyer than the Hankook winter tires?"

When i had the bridgestones on before, i couldnt hear the engine rev's or exhaust at lower RPMs (<4k) while going above 60km/h.. with the winter tires on i can hear them clearly from >2K upward! Never had any other tires installed on the car before so that's why i was asking whether performance tires are noisyer in general or is it only the bridgestones.

But anyway, looks like its time to start saving up money for new summers or a louder exhaust...

 

Nope. They set out to design a car that handle just as well as an S2k on the track and yet comfortable on daily drives like a 3-series. I feel that they did just that. The 8 is remarkably trackable out of the box and is easy to drive during commute. I highly recommend folks to take their 8 out for some track/autoX days. It is so well balanced in stock trim. Better than my STS prepped 2.5RS.

 

Tire moan is just one of those sounds that irritates the crap outta me. Plus, like another poster said, it drowns out the exhaust!

 

Climacus,

You obviously haven't been in an RX-7. lol
I feel for the demograph the car was targeted too, it was made very well.
If it was more focused like the RX-7 was it would never have sold as well as it does.
Personally I think the Mazdaspeed exhaust and intake should be standard equipment on the RX-8. With a bit less insulation.

Whitecomet,

By nature high performance rubber will make more noise. They don't make as much noise when they're new. But once you break them in a bit, you get more noise. I've been really pleased with the RE050A PP's I got on the 7. Significantly less road noise and more grip than the S-03's I use to run.
Save up for the Mazdaspeed exhaust! You'll love it!

Boffam,

Get the Mazdaspeed exhaust already!

 

Yeah I'm a wuss. :-) But the reason I brought up the cabin NVH subject is because cabin noise have gone down substantially even for econo-boxes in the last couple of years. The Cobalt rental car I drove was much quieter on the highway than the RX-8. If the cabin filters out all the background noise, the engine note actually has a better chance of being heard clearly.

But then again I listen to the Bose radio on volume 4 or 5, so I guess I like things quiet.

When I used to have a 7th gen Civic (EL 1.7), I actually wore ear plugs on the highway. No joke. That was one **** box rust bucket.

 

Damn! You're really sensitive to sound.

I find if the car is too quiet I tend to fall asleep.
I hate driving my 3 on the highway because I'll tend to nod off. I have my music set to 15-24 sometimes, and I'm still falling asleep.
I guess I've gotten use to the vibration of the RX-7 to keep me awake. Not to mention the added speed!

With the 3 I set cruise at 120km/h. I go any faster and I start to consume alot of fuel. With the 7 I'm consuming fuel regardless so I tend to go a bit faster.

 

U should take a drive on a 350z. it's VQ just drones and drones and drones. I find the 8 seems to have a nice balance b/t engine/exhaust noise and quietness. Works for my taste. When I open her up she will wail like a Ducati without being brab-brabbing annoyingly and at slow speeds, the rotary just whirrs quietly like a Jetsons-mobile. The only thing that bugs me is that blender marble sound at high rpm WOT.

 

Sorry man, my mistake. Thanks for pointing that out.