TreyP
2018 Soul Red AWD Touring CX-5
EDIT: Here is a performance review after this morning's drive in.
I put these on at the perfect time. The forecast for last night and today was "Icy", which is the first time I've ever seen that word used as a weather condition (as opposed to a driving condition). What it translated into was rain early last evening, turning to snow over night, with a temp of 24*F when I started the drive in this morning. The snow was between 1-2" deep, and the roads were a mix of slushy and packed/icy snow and ice. So even though it was not a deep snow, it was definitely slippery conditions.
My drive consists of everything from highway to single lane back roads. On the highway, no one was traveling faster than 40 mph, and it was fairly well plowed, so no great story to report there.
The real test came on the back roads that had not been plowed yet, but had been travelled quite a bit, so the snow was packed down to ice, with more snow on top of it. Because I wanted to test the tires, I did push it once or twice in areas where I knew I would be safe if things started to go bad. For example, I came to a stop sign, and tried for a jack rabbit start from there. I might as well have been on dry pavement because the car gave no sign that anything was wrong, it just took off like a shot.
Since there were no cars around, I also stopped halfway up the steepest hill there is and tried for another fast take off. This time I did feel a very minor slip, but the good thing is that the car did not go off track one bit. It stayed pointed perfectly straight in the direction I was going and recovered in less than 1 second.
There were maybe 2 or 3 other times when I was going a little faster than I should have for the conditions when I felt (again) an extremely small bit of slippage, but the car/tires recovered virtually instantly with no correction needed from me.
At no time did I feel that I was in any danger whatsoever, which I know for sure that I would have been had I still had the stock all-seasons on. I would say that short of studded snows, this was as good as it gets. When I parked the car I felt relaxed and very impressed with the Blizzak DM-V1 tires.
Bottom line is, winter driving is something to be taken seriously, regardless of your setup. You need to adjust your driving to the conditions, but a good AWD/snow tire setup will go a long way towards making the trip less tense while getting you to your destination safely.
----------------------
See post #6 for a deep snow review.
----------------------
(Previously posted...)
I had these Blizzak DM-V1 snows mounted onto the Mazda 3 wheels earlier this week and planned to put them on the CX-5 today. As it turned out, I wasn't a day too early.
Getting started...
A closer look:
Looks like a good bite
A comparison shot
I swapped out the black center caps from the OEM wheels, and used my black lugs that were on the summer setup for a little contrast.
And, done! Obviously these look just like the CX-5 GT wheels, but they are 17"
Now I just have to decide which wheels I like better. I may end up with another set of Mazda 6 wheels for my summers before the spring, but I have all winter to think about that.
I put these on at the perfect time. The forecast for last night and today was "Icy", which is the first time I've ever seen that word used as a weather condition (as opposed to a driving condition). What it translated into was rain early last evening, turning to snow over night, with a temp of 24*F when I started the drive in this morning. The snow was between 1-2" deep, and the roads were a mix of slushy and packed/icy snow and ice. So even though it was not a deep snow, it was definitely slippery conditions.
My drive consists of everything from highway to single lane back roads. On the highway, no one was traveling faster than 40 mph, and it was fairly well plowed, so no great story to report there.
The real test came on the back roads that had not been plowed yet, but had been travelled quite a bit, so the snow was packed down to ice, with more snow on top of it. Because I wanted to test the tires, I did push it once or twice in areas where I knew I would be safe if things started to go bad. For example, I came to a stop sign, and tried for a jack rabbit start from there. I might as well have been on dry pavement because the car gave no sign that anything was wrong, it just took off like a shot.
Since there were no cars around, I also stopped halfway up the steepest hill there is and tried for another fast take off. This time I did feel a very minor slip, but the good thing is that the car did not go off track one bit. It stayed pointed perfectly straight in the direction I was going and recovered in less than 1 second.
There were maybe 2 or 3 other times when I was going a little faster than I should have for the conditions when I felt (again) an extremely small bit of slippage, but the car/tires recovered virtually instantly with no correction needed from me.
At no time did I feel that I was in any danger whatsoever, which I know for sure that I would have been had I still had the stock all-seasons on. I would say that short of studded snows, this was as good as it gets. When I parked the car I felt relaxed and very impressed with the Blizzak DM-V1 tires.
Bottom line is, winter driving is something to be taken seriously, regardless of your setup. You need to adjust your driving to the conditions, but a good AWD/snow tire setup will go a long way towards making the trip less tense while getting you to your destination safely.
----------------------
See post #6 for a deep snow review.
----------------------
(Previously posted...)
I had these Blizzak DM-V1 snows mounted onto the Mazda 3 wheels earlier this week and planned to put them on the CX-5 today. As it turned out, I wasn't a day too early.
Getting started...
A closer look:
Looks like a good bite
A comparison shot
I swapped out the black center caps from the OEM wheels, and used my black lugs that were on the summer setup for a little contrast.
And, done! Obviously these look just like the CX-5 GT wheels, but they are 17"
Now I just have to decide which wheels I like better. I may end up with another set of Mazda 6 wheels for my summers before the spring, but I have all winter to think about that.
Last edited:
