2013~2016 CX-5 Tire Choices

[ColoradoDriver]

I can't speak for snow use because it's an all season (three season), but been very happy with my Pirelli Scorpion AS Plus 3's. Quietest tire I have ever used, and extremely good grip around corners. Wet has been good.

I run winter tires in the snowy months, though I kind of regret putting them on this past winter as we basically didn't have much of any snow this year.

 

[Lazy2.5]

Here in Ontario, dedicated snow tires are highly recommended in the winter months. I decided to save and bought some Starfire budget tires. For the most part, they performed well in the snow.

I guess it just comes down to how many days of the year you will actually be driving on snow or ice. I wouldn't want my tires to be holding me back over the rest of the year when you don't need additional winter traction.


Once it is time for new tires, I may end up getting crossclimates, but only because I don't have to commute and can simply stay home when it snows.

For those of you that must drive in the snow and ice even if it's just a few days a year, of course you are still better off doing what it takes to make sure your tires are up to the task, whether it means investing in dedicated snows or true all weather tires.

 

[N7turbo]

Once it is time for new tires, I may end up getting crossclimates, but only because I don't have to commute and can simply stay home when it snows.

Then skip the CC2. Why spend the money?

 

[Lazy2.5]

Then skip the CC2. Why spend the money?

I still need my vehicle to be ready for snow use

 

[N7turbo]

I still need my vehicle to be ready for snow use

But if you stay home when it snows, you fall into the category of people who don't need them.

 

[Lazy2.5]

But if you stay home when it snows, you fall into the category of people who don't need them.

Lol. Well, 2 winters ago I left my AS tires on and told myself that i'll just stay home. I ended up getting caught in the snow a few times and decided not to take that risk anymore.

 

[N7turbo]

The AWD CX-5 handles snow really well. Unless it's snowmageddon, in which you'd stay home anyway, AS tires can handle the occasional snow just fine.

 

[zx10guy]

My opinion. AWD gets you moving but does nothing to get you stopped. That's one of the reasons why tires are important.

When I got another car for daily driving duties, my 135i was relegated to garage queen status. Until I got the CC2s for my daily, I would go through the hassle of swapping the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires with Bridgestone WS80s mounted on their own wheels as a just in case.

I guess it's all about one's comfort level.

 

[Lazy2.5]

The AWD CX-5 handles snow really well. Unless it's snowmageddon, in which you'd stay home anyway, AS tires can handle the occasional snow just fine.

Even my FWD 6 - It was a little slow off the line due to tire slip (Mostly due to the open diff) but once it was moving, the car did very well, and the mechanical parking brake came in really handy on many different occasions. It was a lot of fun.

As for AS tires, ones that are rated for light snow would do ok in light snow, but where I live, unless they are snow rated, it's dangerous.

 

[Lazy2.5]

My opinion. AWD gets you moving but does nothing to get you stopped.

This is factual information, not opinion.

Once you are moving, it's just a significant amount of additional weight that you have to stop and steer, though the fact that power is being sent to the rear, and the small improvement in weight distribution should help to offset part of the weight penalty while steering.

When I got another car for daily driving duties, my 135i was relegated to garage queen status.

I had an early model F10 528i years ago, that was RWD and fitted with the N52 engine. That thing was tremendous in the snow. We don't ever have to deal with snow that's deep enough to need crossover/SUV/truck ride height and AWD here in Ontario. Just another marketing ploy to sell people things they do not actually need.

If you drove normally, the car did very well in the snow, even with the open diff. If you wanted to have fun, you could slide the car all over the place with one hand on the wheel easy.

My FWD 6 obviously requires far more finesse to get it to oversteer in the snow, but you can, even without the e brake.

I would like to have AWD (in the snow) - but I don't need it.

Until I got the CC2s for my daily, I would go through the hassle of swapping the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires with Bridgestone WS80s mounted on their own wheels as a just in case.

I guess it's all about one's comfort level.

It's just not worth taking the risk, if you will end up driving, and you get regular snow/ice conditions where you live.

With that being said, AS tires do really well in cold/freezing conditions. Just not anything beyond a light coating of snow. Even in light snow, they can be sketchy.

 

[N7turbo]

My opinion. AWD gets you moving but does nothing to get you stopped. That's one of the reasons why tires are important.

Yup.

But for the occasional snow, AS tires on these cars do just fine. My experience with them started in 2014 so it's been 12 years that I've driven in Nebraska with CX-5s, both FWD and AWD, in snow up to about 4 inches. Generally I would stay home until the roads are clear if it's deeper than that.

 

[zx10guy]

This is factual information, not opinion.

Once you are moving, it's just a significant amount of additional weight that you have to stop and steer, though the fact that power is being sent to the rear, and the small improvement in weight distribution should help to offset part of the weight penalty while steering.

I had an early model F10 528i years ago, that was RWD and fitted with the N52 engine. That thing was tremendous in the snow. We don't ever have to deal with snow that's deep enough to need crossover/SUV/truck ride height and AWD here in Ontario. Just another marketing ploy to sell people things they do not actually need.

If you drove normally, the car did very well in the snow, even with the open diff. If you wanted to have fun, you could slide the car all over the place with one hand on the wheel easy.

My FWD 6 obviously requires far more finesse to get it to oversteer in the snow, but you can, even without the e brake.

I would like to have AWD (in the snow) - but I don't need it.


It's just not worth taking the risk, if you will end up driving, and you get regular snow/ice conditions where you live.

With that being said, AS tires do really well in cold/freezing conditions. Just not anything beyond a light coating of snow. Even in light snow, they can be sketchy.

Yup. I never depended on AWD. I've always had cars that moved the car from one end or the other. If I could have gotten my CX-5 as FWD only, I would. Don't want the additional complication/headaches of maintaining an extra mechanical system along with the additional weight. I've made out fine with driving either FWD or RWD cars.

My E82 N55 RWD car did fine in the snow too. As long as the snow wasn't so high that ground clearance becomes a problem. I remember laughing my butt off when I drove past a Subaru WRX stuck in the snow with all four tires spinning while I was motoring along with my RWD car with proper winter tires.

Yes. AS tires can handle light winter conditions. I just prefer to have the extra margin an all weather tire gives you hence my choice of getting CC2s. But I'm no fool where I would just toss away the stock AS tires. I'll run them down and then switch over to CC2s maybe CC3s if Michelin finally decides to bring them to the NA market.

 

[zx10guy]

Yup.

But for the occasional snow, AS tires on these cars do just fine. My experience with them started in 2014 so it's been 12 years that I've driven in Nebraska with CX-5s, both FWD and AWD, in snow up to about 4 inches. Generally I would stay home until the roads are clear if it's deeper than that.

Yup.

AS tires can get many through various light winter conditions. I'm in the Mid Atlantic so we get all sorts of different winter conditions. From light snow to pretty deep snow to just cold temps to ice. I generally stay off the roads during winter storms if I can. But when I have to be on the road regardless of how severe the winter precip is, I enjoy the extra margin I get with an all weather tire such as the CC2s. With how bad winter weather can be (not always though), I just like having an all weather tire where I just mount them once and forget about it until they wear down for replacement.

 

[jadmt]

sometimes your road trips starts out 70° and sunny and you wake up to a touch of snow.

 

[GFrosty]

Some supposedly "all" season tires can handle smaller amounts of snow, that's true.

Many cannot, though. I live up on a hill, along a ridgeline. Not tremendously steep, but it might as well be a cliff face when it gets the least bit slippery. Some of the neighbors have typical "all-season" tires. Plenty of tread depth. "Top" tire names. (And many of them are driving AWD vehicles.) But many of their vehicles end up in the ditch whenever the hill gets seriously cold with more than a half inch of snow. (Which is why I generally refer to the broad category of "all-season" as what it mostly seems to be: "three-season".

Of course, everyone's situation differs, as does the severity of the challenge our tires' grip is faced with during the winter months.

Anecdote -- In nearly 50yrs of driving in all sorts of weather, the only time I've ever gone off the pavement during inclement weather was in a mid-'80s Subaru 4WD wagon running very good snow+ice tires at far below the posted speed. A patch of black ice ... and the tires let go. Not a thing I could do about it. Since then, it's AWD plus winter tires or one of the better all-weather compound tires, for me, given where I live.