Mazda Ice Academy: Trial By Ice And Snow CX-5, CX-3 And MX-5

[Kedis82ZE8]

Why not Xi2's? Leave them on full-time.

The Blizzaks appear to excel in deeper snow and I really need that capability. I've got a lot of room in garage to store tires and this is a quick 30-45 minute job at my leisure.

EDIT: V2s aren't on ratings here but would expect them to be as good or better.

 

[Unobtanium]

You seem to have an aversion to swapping out tires. It's not a big deal (I do it myself in 30 minutes) and this mod gives an incredible performance boost in cornering and braking summer and winter vs. any other mod you can do. Yes, one size fits all might be a good solution if you don't care about driving performance. But for those who do, there is no "one size fits all" solution that even comes close to the performance of tires designed for specific conditions.

Yes, I also use a different bicycle for forest trails than I do when riding on pavement. They both have tires and frame geometry designed to perform under different environments.

I dislike the expense of it. I don't want to haul tires to work. I don't want to deal with it at my apartment. I'd rather just buy Xi2's and be done.

 

[Unobtanium]

The Blizzaks appear to excel in deeper snow and I really need that capability. I've got a lot of room in garage to store tires and this is a quick 30-45 minute job at my leisure.

EDIT: V2s aren't on ratings here but would expect them to be as good or better.

I can totally live with that for 40K mile treadlife.

 

[MikeM.]

I'm gonna go with 17" Blizzak DM-V2s that Mazda used in their ice academy.

Kedis, I believe Mazda equipped all the crossovers with Blizzak WS-80's (not DM-V2's) and this is a more appropriate tire for the CX-5. You will lose 4 lbs. rotating weight, get a slightly narrower tread for better deep snow performance and hydroplaning resistance, and the higher speed rating (130 mph vs. 112 mph) instills more confidence against blow-out when running at freeway speeds on bare pavement. They will have a better ride quality as well.

While I generally look at the user ratings at Tire Rack for the hell of it, I don't put much stock in the actual ratings. You have to remember, these ratings are entered by people who often have very limited experience on snow/ice, often the same week they are installed. Many of the ratings are entered by complete idiots. And they are not vehicle specific. It's far more important to get a tire that "gets along well" with your intended vehicle than to split hairs using Internet polls.

I will say that as an avid winter tire user and one who has been pushing the limits of what is possible on back-country snow covered roads I am becoming more and more impressed with my Goodyear UltraGrip Ice's. They are a perfect match for the types of conditions we see most commonly in the Cascade Range. The Blizzaks will give up considerable bare pavement performance/driving enjoyment relative to the Blizzaks. I'm also very impressed with their low wear rate. I was afraid their winter performance would degrade as they aged but, in the middle of my 4th winter, I can say that hasn't been my experience. Highly recommended. I did not expect them to be that good!

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

You are right... I saw DM-V2 mentioned in one of the scattered articles... now erroneously. I will go with the WS-80s instead.

Any worthy deals waiting until the off-season in early spring or summer? or are prices pretty much the same year-round?

Looks like Costco sells them too.

 

[MikeM.]

Any worthy deals waiting until the off-season in early spring or summer? or are prices pretty much the same year-round?

I know my tires are going to spend at least 3 years on there (current winter tires are looking like they will be in great shape through 5 winters) so I prefer to buy them while they're fresh because they do age and one year is one year. Plus it's a crapshoot waiting for a sale. If it's a good winter continent wide, retailers often run out of the best tires. Tires are important to me so I don't look for low prices or sales. I wait until I've selected the tire I want, then I look for the best retailer to order from. Are you planning on installing them this season?

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

These would be for next season. Maybe I should just wait until latter summer to get some fresh ones?

 

[MikeM.]

These would be for next season. Maybe I should just wait until latter summer to get some fresh ones?

Of course that's up to you but I would wait. Still, no guarantee you get the new year production. Of course it's not critical.

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

I'll have to make sure I check the date code on tire before purchase.

 

[banjos-n-beer]

I'll have to make sure I check the date code on tire before purchase.

I was just going to suggest that myself!

For those that aren't in the know...

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

 

[fdew]

tires need to be rotated so changing them to and from snows takes care of that. The cost is about the same as one set because when one is being worn the other set isn't. Storage can be a problem. If you have a local garage that you have do all your non warenty work they may store the off season tires for you. As Mike says, it is the most significant mod you can make.

 

[yugrus]

Had some fun in snow tonight. Had to wait for some precipitation build up, couldn't wait any longer. Looks like the forecast was right, around 6" here so far, more at some places. The plows didn't go through the secondary routes and most parking lots, perfect.
The car didn't have problems going through the dry snow. If it wasn't for unusual bumpy ride, I couldn't tell if it was there. Tried to do some slalom in the parking lot, and was gently but firmly put in place by TSC. Turned it off and did my first tailspins in life in AWD car. Yes, you can do it, no problem. I had Blizzaks on, which increased the initial speed required, but lots of fun anyway. The car gets straight very fast, even under heavy acceleration during the spin. Waited for this all winter long!

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

I haven't seen this commercial yet...

 

[jhu8]

Yeah that's a new one. Cool stuff they did with the awd system.

 

[MikeM.]

I haven't seen this commercial yet...

Very effective commercial! If I was producing it I would have overlaid some green 3D vector graphics and data streams moving at warp speed to convey a sense of all the data being analyzed in real time.

A joke for all you rad snowboarders:

Q: There are three snowboarders in the back seat of a car. What kind of car is it?















A: A police car.

Q: What's the first thing a snowboarder says when you meet the first time?

















A: Sorry do-o-o-o-od!

 

[Kedis82ZE8]

http://www.auto123.com/en/news/2016-awd-compact-crossover-comparison/61997/

 

[jhu8]

http://www.auto123.com/en/news/2016-awd-compact-crossover-comparison/61997/

Very nice comparison. I'll be honest, I didn't know how advanced the CX-5 was in the AWD department when purchasing it. I knew it had AWD, which I wanted, and of course it drove amazing. This makes me so much more happy with my purchase that us CX-5 owners have not only a vehicle that drives and handles close to some sport cars, but also has AWD for exceptional handling and traction. Good work Mazda. Good work.

 

[Unobtanium]

Very nice comparison. I'll be honest, I didn't know how advanced the CX-5 was in the AWD department when purchasing it. I knew it had AWD, which I wanted, and of course it drove amazing. This makes me so much more happy with my purchase that us CX-5 owners have not only a vehicle that drives and handles close to some sport cars, but also has AWD for exceptional handling and traction. Good work Mazda. Good work.

I pushed the car a bit today, and the AWD did make a difference. The more I have experience with AWD vehicles, the harder it is for me to justify buying another RWD performance car in a few years. I really hope they bring the EVO back or make the STi not look like an econobox, because the 9114S, and GT-R are honestly more than I'd spend again.

 

[jhu8]

I pushed the car a bit today, and the AWD did make a difference. The more I have experience with AWD vehicles, the harder it is for me to justify buying another RWD performance car in a few years. I really hope they bring the EVO back or make the STi not look like an econobox, because the 9114S, and GT-R are honestly more than I'd spend again.

Yeah I can't say I've pushed mine hard enough yet. But good to know it helps! Like I've said before, AWD isn't just for snow. I'm a big mustang guy and yeah, unless it's dry, good luck. Especially the mods and tunes I had on it. I'm guessing the CX-5 has the ability to brake certain tires when taking a turn hard, thereby giving more power to the other tires. Similar to how Acura's SH-AWD works. But I guess that systems actually diverts power to the tires on the outer edge of the turn. I think lol Something like that.

 

[Unobtanium]

Yeah I can't say I've pushed mine hard enough yet. But good to know it helps! Like I've said before, AWD isn't just for snow. I'm a big mustang guy and yeah, unless it's dry, good luck. Especially the mods and tunes I had on it. I'm guessing the CX-5 has the ability to brake certain tires when taking a turn hard, thereby giving more power to the other tires. Similar to how Acura's SH-AWD works. But I guess that systems actually diverts power to the tires on the outer edge of the turn. I think lol Something like that.

I dunno how it works, but it handled the corner on-throttle better than FWD or RWD would have, and I could "feel" the system doing "something", as nebulous as that sounds.

Mustangs have had traction issues for a while. I hope 2015's changes fixed that. I really like the new mustangs, but GM is destroying them with the ATS based Camaro so badly it isn't even funny. The mustang guys will have to go back to racing the imports again like they had to do in the late 90's/early 2000's, or get forced induction, again, a'la LS1 era.