Mazda 3 Tires

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
January 31, 2013

Four of these tires with studs makes a front-wheel drive car a brilliant performer on ice!

We live on a gentle hill that became slick as snot after freezing rain last week. It was so slick that it was perilous to walk down the sidewalk. But with their studs, these tires did great -- going down the hill our Mazda 3 never lost any traction. Even when I tried stepping hard on the brake, these studded tires did not slip even a little.

Besides ice, we've driven on a couple of inches of snow and with a set of four we had no problem in our front-wheel drive Mazda 3.

I bought these from TireRack, who also installed the studs and mounted them on rims. What we received from TireRack was ready to mount on the car, which we did at a cost of $25 at the local tire shop at the beginning of the snowy season. This was a good customer experience.

Initial Review, 42,000 Miles on Tires
February 12, 2013

Rock Solid performance through 6 seasons of winter in Ottawa Ontario, where snow arrives and generally stays, and ice and slush conditions abound from late November through to early April. Never stuck and never in a steer and pray condition. Great tire to mate with the 2.3L dZi Turbo that gives the CX-7 its ZoomZoom.

Initial Review, 10,000 Miles on Tires
February 12, 2013

Since I bought these we have not had deep snow so I can not coment on there deep snow ability. They are very good in light snow and they have worn very well, still showing almost no wear after almost 10K miles. The negatioves about these tires are they significant noiser then the bridgstones that come with the car and you loose about 1.5 miles a gallon (36.8 with the factor Bridgestoe all- seasons vs 35.2 on the Altrimax snows), handlin g in the dry and wet is about the same, they are much, much better even in light snow slush and black ice. The MPG is not a bad trade off for the better winter ability of the tier. The noise was expected afteall it has a much more aggressive tread. I also take my dog to the park often and these tires are also much better on dirt roads, makes the car feel like it has 4 wheel drive, much better traction on dirt, no slipping or sliding.

Initial Review, 4,000 Miles on Tires
February 12, 2013

As a winter and race track instructor I really appreciate the excellent ice and snow handling characteristics and much lower noise level this latest member of the x-ice family present.

Initial Review, 125 Miles on Tires
February 18, 2013

Ran last autocross season on the Z1 Star Specs and loved them. They were the Street Touring tire of choice and for good reason. They were done after one season and so it was time for a new tire. The ZII had a huge reputation to live up to because of the great success of the Z1. Just recently ran first autocross of the season this past Saturday in rain/snow/sleet/hail/puddle weather condition on asphalt that is slick with sealant even on a dry hot day. So you can imagine the slippery-ness of the surface. And the ZII held great stability and grip. I'm placing a big part of my class victory that day on their amazing wet grip and handling even in extended sub-freezing temperatures.

As for the 'Comfort' ratings I find them to be Not Applicable. These tires are a purpose built tire for autocross/and light-moderate track day use that you can also drive home on. There is road noise and the tread will wear faster than most other tires. This is to be expected and the people who buy this tire more than likely mount them up only for events. I do. However, for the Z1's I had the tread held up very well considering they had 100+ autocross runs, 6 run's on the Tail of the Dragon and driving to/from events on them. The comfort is ok as well. But again you don't buy a tire like this for the comfort of the ride. You buy it to drive. If you wan't a comfortable kush ride then look elsewhere. If you want the most out of your car short of R-Comps or Hoosiers then this is the tire to buy.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
February 04, 2013

Took it out on a track day on Laguna Seca over the weekend. Steering response is fairly good. Adequate grip level for my stock speed3 on track. Fairly predictable towards the limit of adhesion, but the tires dont really squeal that much in terms of giving you warning. Ride quality is good, not as harsh as the OEM Dunlop SP2020, but not as soft as the Hankook Evo V12. Noise level is good as a Max summer performance category.

Initial Review, 2,000 Miles on Tires
January 25, 2013

I have these tires on my BMW 540i as well as my Mazda 3. They are outstanding in all winter weather conditions. My Mazda was very scary to drive on icy roads before with the OEM tires. Now my confidence level is through the roof and it has become the "little car that could" in all conditions.

Initial Review, 8,500 Miles on Tires
January 21, 2013

Great tire. I have had Toyos, Yokohama, and Generals on this car. (Daily Driven)
I have moded this car with suspension change, springs, shocks, sway bar, and alignment. Oh yeah, the power is up another 60+ hp
Previous tires just did not work as well, These Michelin's are wonderful on this car. Grippy, predictable, reasonably quiet, they hold the road. I have tried them, more than once in the mountains of Georgia, Tenn, and the Carolinas. Jan 2013 Here in North Bama we had 7" of rain and 3" of snow. I put on ~250 miles and not a problem, went through some serious standing water and slushy roads. Wear is great, much better than previous tires. If I had to find a fault is the ride comfort is not like your 15 inch tires. But they are pretty darned good for a performance tire.

These are with out a doubt the best tire I have owned. Yes I have had several Cars prior to the MSM, Porsche, BMW, Mazda

Initial Review, 3,500 Miles on Tires
January 19, 2013

With all the positive reviews of this tire on here this seems almost unnecessary. These tires are phenomenal! I have a front wheel drive Mazda hatchback that I brought out to tahoe with performance tires. After the first snowstorm the combination of ice and hills convinced me I needed to go trade my car in for an AWD Subaru. Instead I stalled and bought these snow tires. I am now convinced that FWD cars can actually handle really well in the snow... with the right tires.

I was warned by my local tire shop not to drive long distances on hot pavement with snow tires but within a week of having these put on I had to drive to LA. I put 1000 miles on them within a week and most of that was on hot dessert highway. At the end of the trip I could still see the same texture on the tread of the tire as the day they got put on. So these tires hold up really well even when being driven on hot pavement for a while.

I've had the pleasure of driving these tires on snowy, hilly terrain close to a dozen times now and have only had to supplement them with tire chains when driving through about 18 inches of snow.

I would definitely recommend these tires.

Initial Review, 1,000 Miles on Tires
December 27, 2012

I put these tires on my '99 Mazda Protege which I use to commute back and forth to work and leave the truck parked to save on gas. I purchased these in August when Tire Rack had a closeout on them, and Michelin was offering a $75 rebate, which means I got the tires for around $60/ea! Anyway, we had our first couple storms the other weekend. First was just a inch or so which turned into pure ice on most of the roads. Could not believe how well the tire performed. A couple days later we got hit with 13" of snow, along with the ice still underneath. I decided I had better take the truck out since it is 4wd. Was I shocked! I couldn't believe how much better my little Mazda was than my 4wd Silverado. Now, the truck has Destination A/T's on it which are awesome, but have about 50,000 on them so they are down to around a 1/4 tread left. The roads were completly messed up for the next 3 days and I had no problem with the snow tires on the packed snow, honestly driving around other vehicle's stuck on hills. I will never not have a vehicle without snow tires on it again!

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
January 22, 2013

Wow...only had these tires for a short time but they are a great snow tire for my car.

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
January 15, 2013

This is a good all around tire that performs admirably in the snow, ice and cold wet roads without giving up anything significant in normal driving in terms of road noise, cornering stability, etc.

It does not have the all out traction on ice and snow as my previous Michelin Alpin's but it does very well and is much better in puddles and cornering hard on roads, wet or dry.

In deeper snow with a slippery base it's very good at stopping and starting but the Michelin Alpin's had much better corner grip when pushing hard (but only under these conditions).

Initial Review, 4,000 Miles on Tires
January 15, 2013

I was very worried when I was purchasing this tires since they were performance oriented, but I have been very pleased of how good this tires are for a west
coast-vancouver bc.Even though they are a performance tires I found tue sidewalls to be a bit soft, cornering and braking:-(.Otherwise they are performance/winter dedicated tires, it seems like they are even better than the michelin xice2 that I had on my previous vehicle which honestly ----ed when you consider the agressive driving. They exhibit very predictable cornering on both snow, ice , dry and wet conditions-in the wet they surpass some of very good tires considering they are winters.The wear characteristics could be a bit better in my opinion though, but you gotta pay to play haha. I feel very confident with this on the vehicle and it was a very good choice

Initial Review, 3,000 Miles on Tires
December 29, 2012

Actually purchased these in the summer to use as winter skins, as my previous Pirelli Subzero was not available in my weird tire size anymore. On initial install (after storage for three months), experienced vibration and poor wet performance. However, after the first 1000 miles these gremlins vanished. Now wet performance is a good 80% of my autocross Yokes and snow performance is comforting. Was worried that the Generals would be poor in the cold and ice/snow, but this is not the case. Drove through the most recent Iowa blizzard at reasonable pace, easily out maneuvering most of the snow bound traffic. Roads are ice covered now and the G-Max does very well in stopping (most important) and have not had an issue with getting started. Very satisfied with the tire and the price is competitive. Compared to Continental Extreme Contact DWS (my daughters cars), performance is slightly better in the wet/dry and almost equal in the snow, for less money. Cannot comment on wear, as I have just started the winter season. However, I always default to better performance vs. longer life. Life is too short to buy cheap tires.

Initial Review, 800 Miles on Tires
January 02, 2013

I just purchased these tires about a month and a half ago, and Im in love with them. Ive never owned winter tires that preform so well. These studless tires worked even better than the studded tires I used last year. Just to give a little perspective; one night i was coming home from work and it was snowing pretty hard. The roads were covered with snow and as I started up one of the biggest hills in Spokane, I noticed numerous vehicles stopped in the middle of the road and also on the side of the road. They apparently did not have sufficient traction to make it up the hill. I found it sort of funny because (other than the snow on the road) there was no indication that the road was slick. I literally had not slipped the whole way there, or the whole way up the hill for that matter. I had perfect traction. Ive had no problems with them at all and I would definately consider these tires to be top of the line.

Initial Review, 30,000 Miles on Tires
December 06, 2012

I've had these tires on my car for 3 winters, I live in Canada so their REAL WINTERS! I am buying these tires again after this season because for the price they are great! only complaint is they are very noisy, but I'll take noisy/grippy tires over quiet/slippery ones any day.

Initial Review, 500 Miles on Tires
December 09, 2012

These came stock on my Mazda3 and they are garbage. After 500 miles I'm browsing Tirerack to replace them. I should not be spinning tires when shifting to second gear at 25 mph. I should not have sideways slippage when I take a corner at 20 mph. But with these garbage tires, I do!

Initial Review, 50,000 Miles on Tires
December 06, 2012

After extensive research I purchased a set of these tires to replace noisy tires from previous owner (Mazda 3has more than average road noise). Immediately road noise was silenced through he life of these tires. Ended up replacing with a new set of the same tire due to a gouge in one tire around 50,000 miles, which is a shame as the tires still had "DW" and close to "DWS" left. I have driven more than 65,000 miles on this tire and it has handled everything - from high speeds to MN winters. Most impressive was a time in spring where I was forced off the road onto the shoulder by a semi, going 80mph and the car somehow never missed a beat on wet gravel. Highly recommend these tires.

Initial Review, 5 Miles on Tires
December 20, 2012

I was super impressed by the tires ability through snow. I had to replace my stock sport tires right before a blizzard hit. I went through the streets of my neighbor hood and highway with no problem. The tires worked so well traction control never even turned on and hills were no problem.I would recommend these to tires To any sport sedan. the price was great. A will see how well they last.

Initial Review, 29,050 Miles on Tires
March 21, 2012

I have Kuhmo tires on three Mazda 3s, they have been great so I bought this set for my truck.
At first, they were awesome in ice and snow and a great tire. They were rated 50 or 60 thousand miles. At about the 20k mark, these tires were showing extreme wear and now they need replacing with 29000 miles as they are unsafe to drive on wet pavement. They replaced goodyears with 59K on them.
I would have never paid 220 buck each for a 30 thousand mile tire. What a bummer