Snow tires for Mazda 3?

DaveV

Member
Hi peeps, new here - I have been considering a Mazda 3 hatchback, but have heard they are terrible in the snow with the stock tires/wheels. I live in New England and am a skier, so I would need a winter setup. I know Tire Rack sets up snows on second rims, does anyone know if I can run some steel rims with snows for the winter months? Thanks in advance..
 
DUDE... newengland ftw!!! hahaha... anyways yes you can put on some steel wheels i have some protege 5 wheels for my winter wheels, they weren't any more expensive and they look so much nicer... you want an offset of 45mm or so and you can't go lower then 16" due to brake clearances
 
DaveV said:
Hi peeps, new here - I have been considering a Mazda 3 hatchback, but have heard they are terrible in the snow with the stock tires/wheels. I live in New England and am a skier, so I would need a winter setup. I know Tire Rack sets up snows on second rims, does anyone know if I can run some steel rims with snows for the winter months? Thanks in advance..

The stockers absolutely blow in the snow, it should be illegal they are so bad.

Just get some accessory 16" steel wheels from the dealer and some 205/55/16 snows. I am running the Blizzak REVO1.....incredible tire. I can't believe Bridgestone made a better tire than the WS-50's, but they have.

Yes they are expensive, and yes, they are worth every penny.
 
MightyMouse said:
The stockers absolutely blow in the snow, it should be illegal they are so bad.

Just get some accessory 16" steel wheels from the dealer and some 205/55/16 snows. I am running the Blizzak REVO1.....incredible tire. I can't believe Bridgestone made a better tire than the WS-50's, but they have.

Yes they are expensive, and yes, they are worth every penny.

Hold the pony there lone ranger. While snow tires like the blizzak or better all-purpose tires like the triple tread assurance will beat the stock eagles, I wouldn't go around saying that stock setup absolutely blow and should be illegal.

having lived in NE AND in NorCal, i can tell you that tahoe winters are lot worse in terms of road conditions (mountain passes, steep grades, etc) and that being said I've done a lot of research in the Mazda3/snow driving category.

the truth is, if you want good traction and spend a lot of time in snow, go AWD. if you really want a mazda3, then forget dropping loot into entirely new wheel/tire combos that look like sh#$ when you're going to be using chains most of the time anyway. I would look at chain alternatives like spikes spider. you improve traction significantly over what any tire alone can offer, you don't have to buy ugly ass and small steel wheels, and even better you will save a lot of money.

i have spikes spider on right now for the entire winter. it cost $300, took 30 minutes to install the hardware, and each time i need to use chains, it takes me a minute to put them on. worth every penny. i used them for the first time during the huge snowstorm that hit tahoe this past new year's, and my little 3 was literally kicking the crap out of audi a4s and 4x4 broncos who drivers seem to think they are invincible to ice.

just my $0.02
 
mmathias said:
Hold the pony there lone ranger. While snow tires like the blizzak or better all-purpose tires like the triple tread assurance will beat the stock eagles, I wouldn't go around saying that stock setup absolutely blow and should be illegal.

having lived in NE AND in NorCal, i can tell you that tahoe winters are lot worse in terms of road conditions (mountain passes, steep grades, etc) and that being said I've done a lot of research in the Mazda3/snow driving category.

the truth is, if you want good traction and spend a lot of time in snow, go AWD. if you really want a mazda3, then forget dropping loot into entirely new wheel/tire combos that look like sh#$ when you're going to be using chains most of the time anyway. I would look at chain alternatives like spikes spider. you improve traction significantly over what any tire alone can offer, you don't have to buy ugly ass and small steel wheels, and even better you will save a lot of money.

i have spikes spider on right now for the entire winter. it cost $300, took 30 minutes to install the hardware, and each time i need to use chains, it takes me a minute to put them on. worth every penny. i used them for the first time during the huge snowstorm that hit tahoe this past new year's, and my little 3 was literally kicking the crap out of audi a4s and 4x4 broncos who drivers seem to think they are invincible to ice.

just my $0.02

Actually, there are some governments that agree with me, our local government is looking into making all season tires illegal for winter use. All tires being used in the winter will have to have the snow flake inside a mountain logo (approved for extreme winter conditions). OF which there is only one all season tire, made by Hakkapalitta.

Tire chains? Not everybody lives in the country. You must live in an area with a population below my shoe size (eek2) . You can't use tire chains in a city. I couldn't imagine using chains on cold dry pavement at full highway speeds. And this is exactly one of the best points about winter tires, the rubber compound is a lot softer at extremely low temperatures (below 0 Faren.) and grips the pavement a hell of a lot better. The stock tires would be solid lumps and slidding around all over the place at that temperature. Ask me I know. When I first purchased the car, the steel wheels for the winter tires were on backorder, so I had to drive on the new OEM tires for 3 weeks in the winter, scariest driving I have ever done, I even skipped going up to my chalet for the last weekend I had the stockers.
 
mmathias said:
I wouldn't go around saying that stock setup absolutely blow and should be illegal.

Why not? The stock badyears do absolutely suck in all driving conditions. Wet traction sucks, dry traction sucks, snow traction sucks and treadwear sucks. They're over-priced, too.

I don't know about creating legal issues but I definitely would not recommend them to ANYbody for use on ANY vehicle.

And like Mighty Mouse said, most places do not allow tires chains or studs.
 
I just got some Blizzaks mounted to my stock wheels for winter use since I planned on getting some nicer summer wheels and tires anyway. 205/50R17 Blizzaks are expensive though...
 
I bought an extra set of oem 17'' rims from ebay and bought some hankook winter tires for $90 a tire and they have been great this winter
 
The OEM Eagle RSAs were some of the worst all-season tires in the snow I've ever experienced. They were downright scary. And I'm not exactly inexperienced in driving in snow. I'm 39 years old and live in Michigan. I have about 575,000 miles under my belt, and have had many, many different tires on the five cars I've owned. The Eagle RSAs were by far the worst in the snow. I would get dedicated snow tires, but there area many all-season performance tires that do much better in snow. I generally use the OEM wheels as snow wheels and buy good aftermarket wheels for my better-weather wheels.
 
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I'm really happy with my Hankook iPike W409s I just bought. I've always purchased very performance-oriented snow tires in the past, but you sacrifice a great deal of grip in the snow when you do that. These have a very aggressive snow tread pattern (and are also studdable if that interests you), and are proving to be fantastic in the snow, especially combined with my Quaife ATB differential. My 3 is almost unstoppable now. I'm finding I can easily out-accelerate just about everyone else at stoplights with no traction problems, and the car just rips through the nasty Michigan winter roads we've had for the last couple weeks. They are pretty "squirmy," sacrificing steering and handlig precision on dry pavement, but the huge improvement in snow and ice grip is well worth it for four to five months out of the year.
 
Well, here is my two cents. Snow tires are better than no snow tires, that's for sure. However, I have the Michelin X-Ice i2 (X-Ice 2), second generation of X-Ice tires. I'm getting rid of them because they perform poorly on my 3. I'm not an aggressive driver and I am really light on the pedals.

I have been reading here and there and there are many reports the Mazda3 doesn't do well in the snow, period, no matter what kind of winter tire you have. It just depends on the degree of crappy performance.

Does this mean you shouldn't get snow tires? That's really a personal decision. In my case, I'm buying some chains and not driving when it snows or if there is a risk of snow. My Mazda3 is really a 3 season car or a 4 season car if there is no snow.
 
I'm sorry, but the Mazda3 does just fine in the snow. There's nothing special about the car that would make it perform badly in the snow no matter what tire you have. My car did just fine, even before I had the Quaife installed, and with the Quaife and Hankook iPike W409s, it's absolutely fantastic--the best I've ever experienced.
 
I'm glad you have had a good experience with your 3 and in snowy conditions. As mentioned, I have not. I have tested the tires in dry, and wet snow and everywhere in between. I believe the term "handling" can be ambiguous and it it's also quite relative and dependent on many variables.

When I say my Mazda3 doesn't perform well, I'm comparing it to the cars that I have driven in the past in snowy/wintery conditions. I find traction (getting going quite poor) as well as braking in issue in snowy conditions. On the otherhand, if I am on the highway already moving on a level grade with no hills, I have no complaints. FWIW, my 3 lacks LSD or traction control and it's also an automatic.
 
I find it hard to believe there's anything special about the 3 that would make it any worse than any other FWD car in snow. I've got more than 500,000 miles under my belt, and have always lived in snowy climates, and I've never noticed any huge difference in any of the FWD cars I've driven--it pretty much all comes down to tire choice and driving habits. Now, it might be different if you're talking about a car that's much more powerful with a touchy throttle response, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 
I guess everyone's experience is different. I know in my weaker Civic, I had very little problem in the snow with my all season tires. I'm hearing more now of mixed reports and feedback about how Mazdas and Protege's perform in the snow, with more people leaning toward the negative as far as snow and wet handling and traction goes. However, I believe it's hard to get an unbias opinion in a forum devoted to Mazda. lol.
 
I'm rocking Pro 5 rims (16's) with 205-55-16 Semperit Speed Grips.

Happy with them so far.

Winter boots are a must for our cars if you live in the snowbelt.
 
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