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Ignorance is bliss (or i got lucky?)

JEDI

JEDI

Lifer
2015 Mazda3i Sport (bought new). 36k miles now.

I thought the OEM tires (Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus (H- or V-Speed Rated) ) were pretty good in the rain.
But they are poorly rated: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=GTAS 😱

Wet Traction = 7.4 (Best in class = 9.4)
surprisingly, I never had a problem with stopping, or slipping and sliding.

the 1st heavy rain after I bought my car, I did a controlled emergency stop.
at 25mph with no other cars behind me, I slammed on the brakes. car stopped w/o a problem.

if I would have known about the bad ratings, I would have had the dealer give me some other tires b4 I drove it off the lot.
Still plenty of tread wear left.

lucky I never had to drive in snow in the 2 winters I've had this car.
Snow ratings SUCK for this tire.
Snow = 4.6 (Best in class = 8.2)

not going to press my luck and will replace in Fall 2017 for Winter 2017.

hm... im kinda thinking if I didn't read the review, I might be ok in the snow?
nah. ignorance probably not bliss in this situation.
 
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All seasons suck in snow - if you're going to be spending much time driving in colder winters, I would strongly recommend a dedicated set of snow tires.
 
jlee said:
All seasons suck in snow - if you're going to be spending much time driving in colder winters, I would strongly recommend a dedicated set of snow tires.
Click to expand...
I live in the DC area. doesn't snow that often.
and when it does, im lucky that i can call out if i don't think its safe to drive and my boss understands that.
 
Depends on how you drive. Sounds like you are an aware and cautious driver. You could probably rock the worst rated tires on tire rack and still be fine. Plus 5 bonus traction and control because it's a Mazda.
 
I'll have to try snow tires some day. I've driven the past 5 winters in Boston, plus ski/snowboard trips to snowy mountains, on Continental all-seasons and haven't died, crashed or had significant trouble yet. A couple times I've had passengers or strangers get out and push but we were always on our way quickly. Rear wheel drive car too.

I've been looking at getting an all wheel drive replacement but it's mostly out of boredom and wanting an excuse to buy a 5-speed manual 325iX from the early 90s ... obviously trying snow tires first would be the practical option.

All that said, the one worst time I got stuck for a bit was a tiny back dirt road covered in ~3 inches of snow to get to an airbnb in Vermont for a ski trip. My buddy drove separately in his STI with snow tires and the amount of traction he had compared to me was ridiculous. Slamming on brakes, not careful at all with the throttle, etc and he was hardly slipping.

We waited ~10 minutes for the snow to freeze back up from me spinning at it, couple guys pushed to get me going and I made it the rest of the way. That was an extreme situation though and in every other scenario, including through some pretty severe winters, it has been a non-issue as long as I drive with awareness that traction is less than usual.
 
I get on fine here in NJ with a Focus with no snow tires. I am a cautious driver though and also try and avoid driving in the snow/immediately after a snowfall. Then again, I do train to work, so I don't have a dependence on the car to get to work. Might be a different story if I did.
 
rsachoc said:
I get on fine here in NJ with a Focus with no snow tires. I am a cautious driver though and also try and avoid driving in the snow/immediately after a snowfall. Then again, I do train to work, so I don't have a dependence on the car to get to work. Might be a different story if I did.
Click to expand...

I am quite confident that our definitions of "fine" vary. 😉

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I have yet to find weather conditions in which I can't get someplace.
 
rsachoc said:
That looks just like what I just drove in 🙂 then again, it was only a mile and I didn't go over 20mph...
Click to expand...

If you made it up a hill like that with all season tires before it was plowed, color me impressed. My neighbors were having trouble getting out of their driveways.

I was basically able to drive normally - no ABS activation unless I did it deliberately, no wheelspin starting from a stop, etc.
 
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jlee said:
If you made it up a hill like that with all season tires before it was plowed, color me impressed. My neighbors were having trouble getting out of their driveways.

I was basically able to drive normally - no ABS activation unless I did it deliberately, no wheelspin starting from a stop, etc.
Click to expand...
It wasn't as steep as the one in the second picture to be fair, but there were a couple fair inclines, although the prior road users had already marked a way for me, which makes it easier.
 
rsachoc said:
I am relatively new to NJ, so perhaps I will eat my words next winter!
Click to expand...

NJ winters aren't that bad. The vast majority of people here have inferior tires and somehow manage to survive. 😛

I do have dash camera footage of a Jeep understeering into a snowbank yesterday, though.
 
I have snow tires on my Jetta TDI and sometimes I still find the slipperiness hairy. To be fair, I'm in Canada and I'm thinking about driving on a sheet of ice or going 60+mph (I did the conversion for you American folks) on the highway while snowing.

Anyway, snow tires make a huge difference.
 
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