Winter Tires Recommendation for anyone who is thinking about it.

[belleth]

For the people out there that are considering winter tires. For the first time in my life I put winter tires on a car . Went to NH for Thanksgiving, and when my car would not make it up a tiny slope after a snow fall... decided that it was time to do something. I've found 16" rims from a Hyundai (direct fit Mazdas 5, even the hub center is the same), and bought these tires

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...autoMake=Mazda&autoYear=2007&autoModel=MAZDA5 Sport&autoModClar=

from tirerack.com. Gotta tell you, I'm impressed and happy I did that. Just came back from a trip to Canada, did a lot of driving in icy and snowy conditions, beautiful. The car did great and I felt pretty confident driving it. One thing that people say regarding the tires, is the soft sidewall, it is true, and the car does occasionally seem "hesitant" on quick turns, but this is winter tires, drive them soft, or they will wear too quickly and are not made for aggresive driving.

IMO it was worth it, and they are fairly inexpensive.

 

[daan]

I put the same ones on my 5. With the OEM tires I could barely get up my gently-sloped driveway, and the Altimaxes just plow thru everything MN/WI dishes out. The only problem is after 2 winters, they get SUPER noisy and don't work as well in the snow. (I have a set on a different car, there's still plenty of tread left but they need to be replaced after 2.5 winter uses.) Oh yeah get them off as soon as you can, running them after winter wears them out faster than using them in the winter! They're pretty cheap though compared to other winter tires so it's all good.

 

[the.jack]

If you drive them right they will last. Put 16" set on my wife's last car - a Saab 9-3 Aero (turbo 6, ~260 ft-lbs FWDer) - for two winters of ~40 mi of daily commuting (round trip), plus longer trips around the state (NY) then moved those to her MS3 which she got last March (needed to steelies, of course) for this past winter. Will definitely get another season out of them.

Also had a similar experience as daan winter 2010-2011 with both the stock tires on the 5 (purchased Dec 2010) and with some Nexen cheapo tire that replaced two of the original shoes at the dealer prior to purchase. Neither of them were worth a damn, even on wet inclines. So I knew I had to get something for this past season and, having already gotten 'Kook V12s on Drag rims, I put a set of Altimax Artic on the stock 17s. Worked out so much better. Still want an LSD, but at least I can stay in my lane when it gets nasty.

For price and winter performance you really can't beat them.