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need tires for mazda3

You have stated nothing about your needs or preferences.

Summer tires grip a lot better than all season tires, but don't last as long and aren't as quiet/comfortable.

The DWS are a great all season tire with fair snow capability even. But would be wasted in Texas.

The Conti DW version has better grip than the DWS without snow capability, but are a summer tire only.

You call it a commuter car - if you do a lot of highway driving, I would look at a quality touring tire or a performance all season (for the wet performance).
 
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i have the coti DWS tires, no complaints, i however live in NY where we do get snow so they get their use. they are quiet handle well for an all season and have a great wear rating. however as others have said you don't need the snow version
 
I also have the DWS and they are a great tire, but I also get some snow.

The treadwear on the DWS is 540 so they should last a good time. If you get a cheaper all season try to keep the treadwear number up in the high 400's to 500's if you want long life.
 
You have stated nothing about your needs or preferences.

Summer tires grip a lot better than all season tires, but don't last as long and aren't as quiet/comfortable.

The DWS are a great all season tire with fair snow capability even. But would be wasted in Texas.

The Conti DW version has better grip than the DWS without snow capability, but are a summer tire only.

You call it a commuter car - if you do a lot of highway driving, I would look at a quality touring tire or a performance all season (for the wet performance).

mostly highway driving with practically no snow (last season it snowed twice but nothing really stuck, it'd been 5 years since the previous snow). main concerns are wet traction and treadlife.
 
i'm in houston. other than rain we don't get much weather. we have summer and not-summer.

what part of Houston?

Just make sure you get some tread. I'm running the OEM dunlops that came with my car and when it rains, I can't go over 60 unless I want to scare myself to death.
 
what part of Houston?

Just make sure you get some tread. I'm running the OEM dunlops that came with my car and when it rains, I can't go over 60 unless I want to scare myself to death.

rofl the OEM dunlops in my GTI blew chunks as well. When it was raining I had to be careful otherwise the trac control would just go apeshit. I switched to the summer P-Zero Nero's and it was a world of difference
 
rofl the OEM dunlops in my GTI blew chunks as well. When it was raining I had to be careful otherwise the trac control would just go apeshit. I switched to the summer P-Zero Nero's and it was a world of difference

Yep, that's what I'm eyeing for next set.

edit: Were they a lot quieter too?
 
Yep, that's what I'm eyeing for next set.

edit: Were they a lot quieter too?

Quieter, wore better, handled better, all round a better tire. VW uses both as summer tires so I just requested for them to change my wheels with a GTI that had P-Zero's on them. Came at no cost to me.
 
i had michelin pilot exalto PE2s on my civic when i first got it. those things had amazing grip, both dry and wet. quiet too. i'm getting another set as soon as my current all seasons (potenza g019s) wear out.
 
The tires I put on my Miata (right before I had to sell it >:[) were Bridgestone RE960AS. They're high performance all seasons with great grip. There is a reason I didn't get summer tires. Contrary to what people up north believe, it gets cold in Houston, and summer tires suck in the cold. Summer tires also wear a lot faster. With their bigger tread blocks they suck in the rain too.


http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE960AS+Pole+Position
I had the RE960AS on my GTO and they were fine, but as with most all season tires their dry grip is unimpressive. You really won't see a big difference in dry grip among all season tires.

And, summer tires don't suck in the rain. Tires with poor tread design suck in the rain. My RE-01R's and the RE-11's that replaced them are some of the best street legal performance tires out there, and they are GREAT in the wet. The tread life isn't even too bad, in the 15-20K+ range depending how you drive.

Many all season tires have poor ratings in the rain. A well designed tire can have good dry and wet performance, regardless of whether it uses an all season or summer rubber compound.
 
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we don't get cold, just slighty nippy 😀



i'm west side of houston, near kt.

Stop spreading those myths, especially since there are northerners on this forum who have never been to Texas. If you can put water outside and it freezes, that's COLD, not nippy. If you can't survive outdoors without a coat, that's COLD. I'm glad to be out of Texas after that ridiculous winter!!

30F is below the range of a summer tire, even 50F is.
 
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discount tire's been coming up with the wrong size for my car, stock is 205/50 R17, discount seems to think it's 205/55 R16, so all their cheap pricing is wrong.
 
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