ken-x8

The OEM tires have a reputation for being bad on snow, and also in cold weather. You might browse this forum and the tire/wheel forum for tales. I never ventured out on them in slick conditions, since I've got a beater, so I can't say first hand.

The problem with a beater is that if it's a snow-day beater you take it to work on potential snow days and forego driving the 8. I wound up taking the beater on a couple of long trips because of potential bad weather - yuck!! When the OEMs wore out I replaced them with high performance all-seasons. (I'm in Virginia, not New England.)

Snow performace these days depends more on the rubber compound than the tread pattern. Back in the 70s the top setup was Goodyear F32, which had one of the first special winter compounds. The tread pattern was unimpressive compared to typical snow tires of the day, but they really worked.

Ken

stayfrosty

On the 8 if using stock tires you NEED 4 new snow tires the stock tires are not all season they are summer ONLY tires. The oem tires when confronted with cold weather... not even snow turn into a hard plastic instead of a soft grippy rubber you will lose traction on dry ground with oem tires at cold temperatures let alone snowy ground. can you drive a car with 2+2 ... yes is it safe/worth it... no you cannot predict other drivers you need to have all the controll you can get.

derek54

get the 4 winter tires.

I'll agree you dont need all 4. you can drive your car with only 2. but you can also drive it with your summer tires...
the point we're getting at is which is better. 4 winter tires will make a huge difference. and no matter how experienced you are. when someone slides through a stop sign coming out of a back alley you'll want that extra 20 feet of braking distance. cause good driving only gets you so far when you have a car that doesnt perform the way it should.

midlife crisis

Getting the car to go is only half the battle; the ability to turn is also needed. Four tires that don't turn into hocky pucks below 40 F is much preferable to sliding all over the place when you try to turn.

gmr.cornell

4 snow tires is the way to go. I drive my Mazda in upstate NY (Ithaca), where we get pretty heavy snow for about 4-5 months a year. I got 4 17" rims with dunlop Wintersport M3s, and the car handles beautifully, no matter how the road is. I've driven through heavy snow storms on I84 (right after Albany) and there was no occasion where I felt that I'd loose control of the car (and I was still doing a healthy 60 mph)..

BUT - the stock tires suck on snow/slush. Do NOT ride in winter on them..bad idea.

Remember to wash your undercarriage as often as you get a chance - to get rid of all the grit salt. That should keep the car in good shape.

As usual, don't race the engine till she gets to normal operating temp - and you might consider using the standard 5w-20 during winter atleast.

But honestly, it is no different from any other car. RWD cars have a reputation for being difficut to handle on snow - but so far, I've not had any trouble.. and while I am not an idiot on the road, I push the car pretty hard.

Hope this helps!

Mohan

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Actually, it is drastically different from 'common' RWD sports cars. RWD has a reputation for being bad in the snow, but that is normally due to several reasons:
- Owners not getting snow tires
- Lots of low end torque
- Front biased on weight (easier to break the rears free)

The 8 doesn't have the low end torque these do, at low end it is more comparable to a Corolla or Civil, or lower, in the amount of power trying to break traction. And it's 50/50 weight split gives more weight over the rear to counter the 'front bias' related problems of other sports cars.

So the RWD nature of the 8 just makes snow fun, instead of painful, as long as you have snow tires. Without them, well, you still are failing on the most critical point.




^My co-workers still refuse to listen to those points, even though I handle snow just fine.

YUL PHL

iTrader: (1)

very true.

I got some old Mazda 3 17's and put some Hankook iPikes on them. Best setup for sure.

I could actually push the car to its limits in the slush and hard pack snow