Winter tires

I read a few other threads and still cant decide 16’s or 17’s for winter wheel/tire combo.. Any one have experience with going a step down in rim size but adding more sidewall ? Pros vs cons ?

My only fear is steering becoming softer or becoming less snappy. I know that is also dependent on tire sidewall design etc... And driving in snow should not matter, but I still care for dry pavement. Although the CX-5 is not a sport car, I dont want to lose its snappy steering feel or not lose too much of it at least. My Mitsubishi Evo 9 steering was soo snappy, that moving it a mm would snap the car in that direction , almost like driving a go-cart. But when I changed the tires to all season and different brand, I felt a slight loss of that super crisp steering response due to the softer side wall tire.

I would probably get the RPF rims as the 16” weights in at 13.7 lbs per rim and the 17” weights in at 14.7 lbs per rim.
 
Holy freaking winter tires! Just got my DM-V2 on last night ($480 - $100 rebates at DT on BF), and I feel glued to the road even there hasn't been any significant snow/ice. Cornering feels so sure-footed, handling is great, don't notice any performance degradation from rolling resistance, nor any extra road noise (perhaps the Yoko was noisy to begin with). The tires are on 17" Konig's Inception, maybe a little lighter than the OEM.

It's not my first time driving a winter tires, I do have the Xi3 on my wife's Accord, but this feel different. To be fair, my wife also felt much more confident with the Xi3 and refused to switch car unless I also have snow tires on the CX-5).

When I brought the 17" Mazda wheels to my basement, I noticed they're slightly lighter than the Accord's 18", didn't have to struggle as much.
 
I bought used WS80 tires for my FWD Mazda. ($200 for four with just a few hundred miles on them) First snow here in Northern CO and I am so amazed. Just so good in fresh snow, packed snow and ice.

Sent from my B3-A20 using Tapatalk
 
I run Hakkapeliitta tires on Mazda 6 rims. I like them a lot. A friend and I car polled last year. We both had compact SUVs with snows. After riding with me in fresh snow he said "I have snor tires. You have REAL SNOW TIRES."

I have used hakkapeliitta tires for about 10 years on a number of cars. I don't think anything is better.

I hear ya, Hakka R3 SUV's on our 2017 CX-5 GT AWD...AMAZING in snow and on ice! Won't buy anything but now...
 
We use the Nokian Hakka R2 SUV with the std OEM size 225/65-17. Excellent winter tire, have used Nokian on last 2 vehicles and would definitely buy again. My brother works at a tire shop and I could have gotten a steal on a couple other brands, but opted to go elsewhere, pay more and get these. I know they work excellent on snow and ice.

https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-tires/nokian-hakkapeliitta-r2-suv/

Michelins also have a good rep around here. I'm sure that most do a decent job. Just beware some brands are dual compound, meaning the rubber has an outer layer meant for winter. Once you wear through that, they are pretty much an all season.

ditto

running R3's now, as good or better than the R2's :)
 
I have the Bridgestone WS80's installed on 17" rims, 225/65-R17. The tires perform very well in the snow so much so that it becomes very hard to have any "fun" in the snow. With the winters installed it's difficult to get the car to mis behave in the snow. I would say the "best" winter tires available for the CX-5 would be the WS80, X-Ice Xi2, and the Hakka R2.
I would rate the general altimax as a "better" winter tire, it's an older design.

(cool)...Giver! :)
 
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