I've had my 8 for years now but have never driven the car in the winter. I just finished my modding for the year. I had an engine installed and pretty much worked on the car from the time I got the car back until now. I put less than 1,000 miles on the car since June. I have the stock rims and stock bridgestones on the car. I got absolutely no grip out of these tires on dry pavement today. I took the car out on a 1/2 hour thrashing and had the tires breaking loose in 1st, 2nd , and 3rd. I was sideways coming out of my driveway. (I have a long personal driveway) Anyways although fun driving on stockie Potenzas I would not recommend having these on a daily driver if you live in colder climates. Performance wise the engine was screaming today. The rotary truly loves the cold weather.

 

snow tires ftw. I just put mine today and its makes quite a difference...

 

I have had my snow tires on since Nov. Once temps start to get below 45 degrees I put the winter tires on.

 

Yeah I typically stop driving in early November. I had just finished some mods I was working on this past weekend. Gave the car an oil change and wanted to take it for a drive before storing it for the Winter. I won't see her again until next April.

 

Would snow tires really make a difference if you weren't even driving on snow like the OP? Do they react differently to cold than the stocks would?

I know obviously snow tires matter if theres snow on the ground but I didnt figure it would be a big difference if the temp was just cold and roads dry.

 

Yes because the stock tires are summer tires and not designed for sub freezing temps.

 

yes, different rubber works at different temperatures.

 

Like everyone said, winter tires' compound is super soft and squishy so it really grips the road even in colder climates. The tradeoff here is due to the compound, it's wear rate is really high on dry and warm pavement

 

Right off the Tire Rack website

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=116

Even if there isn't snow on the ground, winter tires can and do help keep a car under control. The performance tires that come on the Porshce, BMW or even the Honda S2K are going to give you no traction at 45 degrees and lower. That same corner you can make all day long in the summer has the car severely understeering when it's cold. Someone pulls out in front of you on that cold morning and instead of stopping on a dime you are hoping the car stops before hitting them

 

What everyone is saying makes sense. A softer rubber compound allows Winter tires to grip better in colder climates but do to the compound used they also wear quicker in warmer temps. You think snow tires and you think of some beefy tread that can grip on snow covered roads. People should get in the habit of calling them Winter tires and not snow tires.

 

+1 hope you enjoyed your day terch! But, glad you're parking her safely

 

Yea I was thinking it was probably different rubber I just didnt have a clue. Never had to use winter tires before. Even on my old car I just stuck with all seasons year round in colorado but that was on a FWD car so it was great in the snow anyway. Now I'm in nevada where many people have probably never even seen a real snow storm.

 

They are actually called Winter/Snow Tires, so they can be called either winter or snow tires

 

I was a tire fuel and tire distributor in the 80's, and had already used Ralley 240 Uniroyal's on a RX3 to win TTOD against all the good stuff like Vettes, BMW's, 240z's on a race track SCCA Solo event.

Those tires went like stink at 120mph in driving rain on I10 in west Texas, and 60mph in snow and ice coming out of the panhandle.

Then, I bought a Mercury Cougar with Goodyear Eagle GT's or some *****. I was driving with a little snow on the pavement at 30mph, and it wanted to swap ends. WTF? Those tires didn't even seem that good heated up.

I do like the idea of the summer tires, but everyone running them as daily driver will have to buy new set for sticky tire and show, and stock wheel for cold weather tire.

In fact if you're up north, just get studded winter tires, and you'll be the life of the party; only one that can go for beer at 11pm with 3inch blizzard.

You still can't go if the snow is over about 3inch; Can't shovel snow with RX8.

 

I love my Dunlop Winter Sport tires! Turn off the traction and have fun.

Check out my video: http://www.altspace.com/rx8/winter/rx8_snow_fun.html

 

altspace awesome video! Looks tempting but I'll keep the 8 under the cover for the Winter.

 

yeah dats wat im talkin bout!

 

altspace after watching your video again I was reminded of my spirited ride this afternoon. My stock potenzas handled about as well as your tires on dry pavement.

 

All Season can do cold weather, the HP Summer ones cannot. Even at freezing, it is bad. I learned this the hard way at an HPDE. All should be fine if you only see slight snow.

 

Leave traction control on and you wont be spinning your tires..... I was messing around in the snow we got and flooring it in 1st or 2nd the tires wouldn't spin with the TC on.

 

Thanks for stating the obvious. But what fun would that be?

 

dunlop sp wintersport m3 tires for the win!

 

Truejee not driving the car in the Winter is the true win. Less miles put on the car per year and no corrosion due to road salt. ; )