Living in NJ, the standard summer tires aren't going to cut it for the winter.

I am going to switch to All-Seasons and it appears that we have a choice of a few good ones. Looking for any input on which you would choose:

1. Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3

2. Continental Extreme Contact DWS

3. Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetrical A/S

4. Hankook

5. Yokohama

6. Bridgestone

 

Not even close.

Michelin Pilot A/S 3 by a mile. These tires are too good to be mentioned alongside the other tires.

 

My A/S 3s got me through last winter pretty well. Wasn't perfect, and any slush on the road made things tricky, but I got around alright

 

I had DWS's on my ISF and they were great tires in most instances but with snow.... let me put it this way. I came closer to dying multiple times trying to drive the ISF without full snow tires last winter than any other time in my life.

If you are going to be driving in Snow I would think the dynamics of the RCF would lend itself towards needing a full set of winter tires.

 

I put the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3 on my CTS-V last year and they are fantastic.. At first my wife wasn't too happy that I was putting new tires on a brand new car until she experienced the tires firsthand in the cold.

To be honest it doesn't come out in bad weather but trying to drive on the stock Michelin Super Sport summer tires below 40 degrees was tricky, below 35 degrees was dangerous. The rubber compound of the summer tires gets as hard as hockey pucks in the cold and the rear end kicks out. And until the tires warm up your braking distance is compromised. BTW this is on DRY roads on sunny, but cold days..

IMO the slight trade off in handling is by far outweighed by the benefit of traction.

If you're planning to drive your RC-F in snow you may want to consider a dedicated snow tire / wheel combo.. This would give you a lot more peace of mind when the white stuff hits.

 

Bridgestone Blizzaks, nothing else. I have DWS's, they are excellent in rain, dry weather, and maybe an inch of two of snow.

IMO if you can afford an RC-F, you an afford a beater that costs a few grand to get you through the snow and inclement weather!

 

I agree.

I have a beater. A 2009 Subaru Outback with 80k on the clock.

But still, I like driving the RC F as often as possible.

I would never drive in snow (especially deep snow) with the car because even with blizzaks it would still just plow with the front end.

But I will drive in cold temps, rain, and imperfect driving conditions.

 

Im going for nokian hakkapeliitta 8 but then in in Sweden. What do the ppl in Canada use?

 

I live in Calgary, Alberta. The climate here is such that, we get snow (about 25 - 50 cm for 2 - 3 days) and bad temperatures for a few days and then it warms up gets up to 9 - 13C and there is no trace of snow anywhere for like a couple of weeks. It continues like that from November to March. My RCF is hibernating, but my other car has Nokian WRG3 All-Weather tires and they are more than sufficient to handle the winters in Alberta. I have seen people use Bridgestone LM25 Blizzak tires on RWD sports cars and heard they fine in Alberta winters. My WRG3 do OK on the warmer days when suddenly temperatures go up ino the teens during the winter. They are categorized as performance/winter/all-weather tires. They have the snowflake on them, but they are not anywhere close to as good in the winter as the Hakkapelitta R tires. We don't get that much accumulation at any given time so I have been able to do very well with the WRG3 even in snow drafts up to 2 feet. If you get say, 3 feet deep snow or more, I would definitely say you made the right choice especially on a RWD car by getting the Hakka.

 

Just have a set of rims/tires for summer and another set for winter. Don't try to compromise. Having two sets, they last long time as well. Alll season tires are neither really summer tires nor winter tires. There is all weather tires too but they are also compromised tires, don't wear well. Don't be penny wise and pound foolish.

 

I drive my RCF year round in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Not interested in driving a beater throughout the winter months. I would not recommend driving the RCF in winter weather on all seasons.

I use the Bridgestone Blizzaks LM 32 performance winter tires. In the range of 5 to 10 cm of snow it gets a little tricky, more so because I'm lowered on RSR springs. The car surprisingly performs much better than I expected for a 467 hp rwd car. I was concerned about choosing the exact same staggered dimension as stock. I did not get stranded once last winter and the Blizzaks got me through just fine. Also since probably in Toronto the streets are clear 60 to 80% of the time you can put down most of the performance this car offers even during the winter months because of the winter performance tires. The car is still so much fun in the winter. Only drawback even with the 275 in the rear the RCF power really shreds the winters fast. In one season I'm at 8/32 in the front and at 5 to 6/32 in the rear. I'll have to take it easy to make it through this winter.

Again if you get any amount of snow were you live don't use all season tires. All season tires don't do any season particularly well. I think with the power and setup this car has, after 2-4 cm of snow you will struggle. And winter weather can sometimes be unpredictable. Do you really want to worry all the time driving around in your all season tires.

wolfman

 

+1 my last car was rwd and I can say from multiple embarrassing experiences that the RE970s I had on there were great in the cold, dry and rain but even a little black ice or god forbid snow and it all came apart. I have the blizzaks that go on that old car (I kept it) and the RCF stays in the garage. Technically I could run the Lexus with all seasons and enjoy it more (heated steering wheel - am I right?!) but I would not want to chance it to snow and would prefer to spare it the salt that comes along with it.

Not everyone wants 2 cars and I get that so let me say that all seasons in snow on RWD are not good. My WRX is fine with them and AWD.