I live in Connecticut, and haven't received one measurable snowfall yet this year (warmest winter in our history). As such, previous to today I had yet to be able to try out my Dunlop M3 Winter Sport tires that I put on the 8 in November.

It must have rained a little last night and then froze, because the road I take in to work was a skating rink today. I was all over the road, and the Dunlop M3 tires didn't hold worth a damn. Normally, I wouldn't put a lot of thought into this because obviously ice is slippery, but the Dodge Caravan minivan in front of me (which looked like it had stock tires on) did not slip once, and neither did any of the other cars around me.

I just spent $1000 on top of the line tires, and a freakin minivan can hold the road better than my car can????

Very dissapointed. I was looking forward to the first snowfall this year to really see how the M3's were to hold up, but now I'm not looking forward to it anymore.

Anyone else experience the same thing?

 

I've got M3s, hit some black ice yesterday morning here in Chicago. I was going about 35mph and the car fishtailed a little before the tires hit pavement and caught the car. Wasn't really a big deal at all...and being from Florida, I have zero driving experience in these conditions.

 

The answer is FWD. That Caravan had a lot of weight over the front tires. It is also horsepower limited. For these reasons it is less likely to be all over the road. We had a large snow fall in the beginning of December and I barowed my son's Ford Probe. It doesn't have any special tires on the car and it did OK in the snow/slush roads.
I use allseason tires because our winters have been mild recently. I also keep bags if bird seed in the trunk for added weight. Sandbags would be good too. Stay away from bags of salt for corrosion reasons.

 

i have the m2s. They work well in the snow. Ice is a different beast! Ditto to the above.

 

I'm just a little surprised that a top-heavy car that probably doesn't have traction is able to have more control than a much smaller vehicle with stability control. But I guess you're probably right.....FWD is much better than RWD for winter driving conditions.

This is my first RWD vehicle, so I'm just learning. But I was expecting with top of the line tires the car would at least handle as well as my last couple of cars (Mitsubish Eclipse and Honda Civic, both FWD). I guess I'll have to wait and see when the real snow comes.

 

Yeah, it's definitely a learning experience... I've driven on solid ice for miles before in these tires, and my car was actually doing marginally better than everyone around me. Terrifying like you would not belive (these were hilly rural roads), but I survived. Even got rear-ended by an AWD inifinity sedan just over the crest of a hill, and killed the momentum with little problem. Just the other day there was ice in patches on the roads. I found a long stretch, and skidded just a hair off-center, then came right back. All the other vehicles around me, FWD and otherwise, were having the same issues.

Snow you can deal with. It gives you at least some kind of purchase to work with, and is actually fun with these tires! Ice is another beast altogether. You just have to hope you have enough momentum to get across it, really. :-/ I don't think many (if any) current tires do exceptionally well on ice, so don't feel bad.

 

This is why I bought Dunlop Graspic DS2. It's a studless tire. I did 2000km last week and I drove in many condition ( ice, snow, -29 celcius to 4 celcius) and control was superb.

 

ice is different from snow especially flat ice, on ice studs or chains are the most surefire way to get traction

its not the tires its the surface.

 

should have gotten Blizzaks with the multi-cell technology, they grip well even on glare ice, have a set on my RIdgeline truck, they're unbeatable ...

 

I was about to purchase Blizzaks, but I read somewhere they only get like 15,000 miles of treadlife. My job is about 50 miles away from where I live, so the commute alone would mean that I would need to replace my tires every winter. At about $1000 a set, that is one expense I would not like to occur every year.

 

you need ice skates for ice. tires won't work for **** on ice. but snow is another story. those M3s will tear through the snow and get your 8 places where trucks can't even get to.

 

i've had my blizzak lm-22s for two winters now and they arent even half gone and thats roughly 14000 miles already. and im an insane maniac of a driver. i went through the stockers in 8500miles.

 

M3's here, great in the snow but not so much on ice.

 

the Blizzaks with multi-cell technology only have that compound for the first 55% of tread life, the remaining 45% is a regular winter compound

generally speaking they wear the most on dry pavement but mainly if you corner hard, etc., they don't wear at all on snow and ice

the 245/65-17 Blizzak DM-Z3 tires for my truck were only $125 each ...

EDIT: wow, 18" snow tires are expensive, I'd recommend a set of 17" wheels with 225/50-17 Blizzak WS-50 tires, only $138 ea from TireRack

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....e1=yes&place=8