Last night I got caught in the snow driving home and was able to test out my new Dunlop M3 Winter Sport tires. I had a 40 mile drive ahead of me on barley salted roads so I considered this a fairly good test. There was only about two inches on the ground but in my experience that is usually when it's the slipperiest.

I got to tell you that this is the best car that I have ever owned in terms of driving in the snow. Maybe it's the tires, maybe it's the car or maybe I just found a good combination but this thing is an animal. I was able to keep speeds at a very decent pace most of the ride (45-50MPH) on the highway sections. The only time I was worried was when I would get along side those soccer moms in the SUV's who always seem to be driving as if no one else is on the road. One hand feeding the kid's and the other on the cell phone.

From light to light I had no problems taking off from a start on level ground or on slight inclines. Braking and cornering inspired confidence as well; no ass out slides and no rear end floating (unless I wanted to... ). One point to note is that this was without any extra weight in the trunk, in fact my car has the spare and all the extra crap removed. With a few bags of sand in the trunk this car would be hell on wheels in the snow. All in all I felt pretty confident that this thing could go thru what ever you throw at it.

Now I'm not hear to advocate brisk driving in the snow with any car but I must say that I'm impressed with how this thing performed. All the stories I have read about people sweating bullets because they get caught in the rain really make me wonder. I've never had issues in the rain either but I guess a little bit of common sense really does go a long way.

Two thumbs up for the Dunlops... Link

 

good to hear. I just put the M3s on my car. No snow yet, but in dry or rain + cold (IMO) they are better than most tires (at these temps).

95% of the time I drive it's not snow covered, so I wanted good dry/wet + cold performance and these tires are better than I expected. The first 100 miles I was worried, but after they rubbed in they stick like you won't believe.

If anyone is on the fence about the M3s, get them b/c they work.

 

Good veview.
M3 is definitely on my TO BUY list down the road. But I think they come with Pilot Sports and Contis!

 

Just wish Dunlop UK imported them into the UK but they don't

 

That's because they aren't fog rated for the London'rs

 

I dunno about the S2 being an "animal" in the snow even with those tires. Do they make thaat big of a difference? I was driving home and got caught in about 2-3 inches of powder on the ground and with summer tires i know it's going to be bad, but It was hooooorible, I couldnt do over 15-20 or my ass would kick out with even the slightest amount of gas. I would never drive that thing in the snow anymore even with M3's I dont think. Be careful man!

 

Summer rated tires are rated that way for a reason man. Xviper drives his S2k year round in Canada. There are some pics of him driving around in like 6 inches of snow

 

Were expecting 6-8" tonight so I will re-visit this thread once I have some more miles under the car in the snow. Right now the only limiting factor I see would be on unplowed highways where the front spoiler would end up acting like a snow plow. At that point I would be expecting a check in the mail from PENDOT

In the dry these tires definetly don't have the grip the S02's did; I was able to fish tail the rear end going up hill by flooring the gas which is something that never happend before. For that split second I was having flash backs of the fun I had with my mustang. In the snow so far though they seem very good.

 

OK 1/2 mile of hills, 2" untreaded (ie packed down snow) my S2000 did great. After that, all treated roads just wet. But with the M3s the snow was a non-issue..

 

I've got Blizzak LM22's on my car and I'm on the fence about adding sandbags to the back. It works wonders for a truck in the winter, but a truck is dealing with a 80-20 weight distribution instead of 50-50. I'm a bit concerned that addition of the sandbags will promote understeer in the front and not improve oversteer of the back much.
Please post up when you've added the sand if it improves it even further.