Down side of winter tires

^You have (even my) approval on that..and don't be so quick to rip them off in late March- they're still better than whatever is going back on for summer- trust me.

If you are referring to the OEM all season 19" Toyo's that come new on CX-5's you are absolutely right!! The experience I had with my previous CX-5, and as many others have agreed on, is that when they are new they are quiet and grip like crazy, BUT, they wear out WAY to quickly. As I found out Mazda gets their Toyo's speced out specifically for CX-5's and the trade off for performing so well is wear. I missed my opportunity to negotiate a different set of all seasons when I bought my 2018. Drats!!!
 
Well I was referring specifically to snow/ice performance but anyway. I'm with you the Toyos do wear a bit fast but given their grip and ride/handling balance I felt it was a worthy trade off just not at 269/tire or whatever they were for the longest time. In my experience a tire that goes 50+k (at least in my driving) is bound to be heavily flawed by poor ride/noise and almost certainly wet performance at least later in the lifecycle so if I find something I like and get 30ish-k good miles out of it- I'm fine w/that- case in point the OE Toyos now @139/tire.
 
From Tire Rack:
"When the Blizzak WS70 is 50 percent worn, a tread depth indicator molded into the tread design lets the driver know that only 10 percent of the remaining tread is the Tube Multicell compound."

They have TWO tread depth indicators. A high one for the multicell, and another "it's toast, Tony!" one.
 
They have TWO tread depth indicators. A high one for the multicell, and another "it's toast, Tony!" one.

It's the high wear bar I'm almost down to so I should be able to take advantage of the last bit of multicell compound for another few months.
 
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