Stock tires in winter

Noob question but how will the stock speed 6 tires do in a michigan winter. i know they are summer tires but will the AWD compensate or will I be a hockey puck? thanks all
 
As long as it's above 40, you should be fine.
 
It snowed lightly once before I put winter tires on just because of the appointment date.

But lets just say it was scary.
 
ok thanks. i have a speed protege with summer tires that absolutely sucked in winter (got all seasons now). the summer tires sucked in the rain too. how do the stock MS6 tires do in the rain? Just wondering if I should get winter or all seasons? thanks for all the help.
 
Last edited:
The bridgestone re050a are one of the best dry grip oem tires available. I love them for the summer and also have the same set on my 350Z. In snow, its a totally different story. They suck period.
 
Slippin' & Slidin'

(Friday Dec. 7)

I had about 20% of meat left on my original equipment Potenza tires.. and with AWD figured to nurse out another 3,000 to 4,000 miles. I did read all the posts about these tires acting like a hockey puck on snow and ice... but was skeptical.

A horrific 3 1/2 commute from my job in NYC to my home in northern Fairfield Couny in CT made me a believer.

The highways were not moving so I made my usual diversionary shortcut moves...to the backroads of Greenwich CT and Armonk NY. To make a long story short, my Mazda acted more like a toboggan than a car, especially one with AWD. On one 200 foot downhill road, I did the first 50 ft facing forward, the second 75 ft sideways, and the final 75 ft backwards. I consider myself lucky not crashing into the rock walls that were on both sides.

Even on flat areas that were covered with compacted snow, slush, and ice, the car was completely unpredictable and unstable...DRIVERS BEWARE!

I was able to get 2 Pirelli Zero Nero M&S installed on the front Saturday.. and hoping to get 2 more (backordered) within a few days. Just having the new all season fron tires made a big difference getting out of my icy driveway and slippery local streets this morning.
 
i bought my car in February, and almost spun it on the test drive. i had snow tires on it with less than 150 miles on the odometer.
 
(Friday Dec. 7)

On one 200 foot downhill road, I did the first 50 ft facing forward, the second 75 ft sideways, and the final 75 ft backwards. I consider myself lucky not crashing into the rock walls that were on both sides.

Even on flat areas that were covered with compacted snow, slush, and ice, the car was completely unpredictable and unstable...DRIVERS BEWARE!

I was able to get 2 Pirelli Zero Nero M&S installed on the front Saturday.. and hoping to get 2 more (backordered) within a few days. Just having the new all season fron tires made a big difference getting out of my icy driveway and slippery local streets this morning.


Most of your story sounds just like my experience. Especially the part where you go down a hill starting fowards and end up backward out of control. Even at slow speeds and maybe 3" of snow, the summer tires on this car are down right dangerous.

I grew up in cleveland and have driven many winters, even with cars that were RWD. I now live in norhtern kentucky, so I had hoped I could make a whole winter without dropping 600 bucks for tires.

I did make the winter, we only had two bad storms. BUT, it was a DEATH Race each time I got behind the wheel when it snow.


I also just picked up the PIrelli Mud and Snow All seasons and so far they are decent. No complaints. I will get the real test in the snow soon enough. In the rain they held up really well.
 
I can attest to the suckdom of the stock tires. Just go home after a 2.5 hr white-knuckler in snow that my old Magnum RT AWD or my old A4Q would have had zero problems with....handles like a pig on roller skates. Any suggestion snow tires?
 
av-1339.jpg
 
Pirellis

Drove almost 58 miles from work to home yesterday in combination of freezing rain, sleet, and moderate snow. Happy to report that the new Pirelli Nero Zero M&S tires I recently had installed performed admirably. They are exactly the same size as the original eqipment tires... so no worry about rubbing or speedometer being off etc....
 
Bob - Spending my second winter on 17" Conti Winter Contacts, (excellent) on aluminum rims, $800 from Town Fair thru Jay Drouin @ New London Mazda, but I bought the car from him at the same time & got a pretty good discount. I have a buddy with a MR2 who swears by Blizzacks, too. Get something besides the summers tho, you won't believe the difference. Extra rims make switching lots easier & all your tires will last longer. I just clean, bag & stack the off-season tires.

Those your Vettes, Bob? BB and SB pair? ...nice.
 
Humm I feel better now

Yeah, I watched a movie on utube with a kid in his speed 6 starting out very well on ice and slush. So I thought this car was wonderful in the snow. Found out it sucked this winter. Specially in indy during the big snow before xmas. I was wondering if I had already burnt my tires autocrossing (they looked good enough) or I was really crappy driver. Now I know Im not alone. That darn kid should have mentioned he had winter tires on his car. I about died in the first corner I came too.

BTW: anyone have an extra set of factory wheels they want to get rid of. I would like to buy them, so I can put winter tires on them :)
 
I bought my 07 speed 6 with 225 blizzaks lm-25v's on them already. I was suprised to see them on the car at the lot (used with 15k)...good deal too since we almost got a foot the very next day. Snow tires make all the difference compared to 3 season although I bet a good all season will work pretty well about 90 percent of the time compared to the snow tires...

new hampshire
 
Back