Bringing this back on topic, does anyone have a good suggestion for All-Season tires, stock 17", that perform decently in the snow? I don't want to buy new rims and would rather not have to have the tires mounted for each change of the season. I have heard that the Kumho Ecsta's are pretty good and rather cost-effective...
Had a set of the Kumho Ecsta ASX's on our previous
3, and they were superior in every way to the factory Goodyear Eagle RS-A's that are on our current
3. Better handling, quieter, cheaper (about half the cost!) and not only did they handle wet better (the RS-A's don't seem to like anything that isn't both warm and dry), they handled light snow (0-3 inches) better.
If I were you, and only wanted to run one set of tires year round, and you drive in snow, about the ONLY tire I would consider is Nokian WRG2 or WR. Both of these are about the only all-season tire that are rated for winter use.
http://www.nokiantires.com/tyre?id=11899&group=1.02&name=Nokian+WRG2
They actually carry the:
Winter tire designation of a true acceptable winter tire.
They even make it in a run flat version if you want to ditch your spare tire.....
I heavily considered these, and they seem like the holy grail of all-season tires. I'm sure they'd handle snow better than the ASX's did, which, while capable, were by no means as good as full-on snow tires.
What I ended up doing was getting a set of 16" steelies w/ Goodyear Eagle UltraGrip GW3's from Tirerack.com because I could get the dealer price via the friend-of-a-friend network. I'm really pleased with how they handled this past winter, although I've noted they have a distinct tendency to pick up pea gravel. When I get some free time (yeah, like
that's ever gonna happen!) maybe I'll take a metal shim or a street sweeper bristle to the tread and clean it out.
Along with driving style, this is really the most important question to answer. If you get snow most of the year or you otherwise drive in snow a lot, then I'd say the Nokian's are probably the way to go. But if it's less than half the year, I'd go with a separate winter set, especially if you're not due to replace the original set any time soon.
P.S. I've noted that Mazda has chosen a different OEM tire for the 2010
3: Yokohama Avid S34's, same size (205/50R17). No idea how they handle/rate. I'll post something specific somewhere if I ever get the chance to whale on 'em..
