maranelloboy05

What are the opinions on these tires? I bought a used set from another s2k owner with ~70% tread left and I can't stand them. Hydroplaning like crazy in the rain and they feel like they have no grip in the dry either. I took them out today in our first snow and it was terrible, VSA was constantly flashing with me being extremely careful and really very little snow on the ground. Not sure if them being used had anything to do with it, but I seem to be driving on a very different tire than other people I've talked to that have them. Last winter I drove in the same basic conditions as today on DZ101 summers and they felt better and in the rain my bald RE050s hydroplaned less than these.

Bloody Hatch

I bought them new based on reviews and I liked the grip on the wet and snow. Don't have VSA but on a bad windy snow day, the car stayed straight. Unfortunately, after 10k miles the rears were worn and only had enough grip for dry conditions. I'm on my second set of rears with 85% still on my fronts. I'm hoping to get some summer wheels so my winter stocks can last longer.

S2K Al

I had these on my Evo, pretty sure they are not meant for snow. They were my non-winter tires, and they were pretty great. Did not run into hydroplaning issues, very good dry grip. Not sure if the different platform changes their behavior very much.

maranelloboy05

Sure you didn't have the DWs? The DWS is supposedly Dry Wet and Snow.

S2K Al

Ah! You may be on to something. Been a while since I had the Evo.

ian05s2k

I have had great experience with them on my wife's mazdaspeed 3. I live in Utah and we get a decent amount of snow. I have found that they have been more than adequate for our needs. Being from Alaska though there is a hierarchy to tires in the snow. Best would be studded winter tires, then studless snow tires, then all seasons, and so on and so forth. I believe tire rack or maybe someone else did a comparison of all seasons vs actual winter tires. I wonder if possibly your expectations were more along the lines of what a winter tire could provide but ended up actually getting an all season tire. All in all, I believe the continental dws is my top pick for ALL SEASON tires. If I was in Alaska or someplace where there is a large amount of snow and ice, I would definitely choose a studded set of hankooks.

maranelloboy05

I'm honestly not too concerned since we really don't get much snow here, the roads are already basically clear and we won't get another inch for at least a month or two.

That said, I drove from Dallas to Indianpolis in a snow storm on summers last winter and they performed better than the DWS.

ian05s2k

Can you still see the D, W, and S that is imprinted into the tread of the tires? My brother's wore down enough where there were only the D and W and they weren't telling a lie. So long as you still have an S on the tread you should be golden. Either that or I wonder if you got a bad batch or something. Mine have always been very confidence inspiring and provided great snow experience. Do you happen to know what pressure you are running them at as well? I have found that I personally feel like they perform best at about 37psi, where as the recommended is 32 or 34. You could possibly give that a try as well. Sorry your experience hasn't been as good as most others with them.

daktruckie99

I had these tires on a Mazda 3 and drove through 2 New England winters with them, they were good. Not a true winter tire, but it was a great all season tire. They have to be mounted correctly to get the correct dry and wet performance, make sure you can read the word OUTSIDE on the sidewall. If they're reverse mounted you may be seeing this terrible performance.

-Mike

aeonracer

Ran these for about 3 years, and never gave me any trouble. They refused to hydroplane, were decent enough in the snow (never any drama), and although their dry performance was nothing to call home about it was good enough. Great all around tire. I loved them so much that I put them on the daily when the time came.