Winter Sport M3's...
 

Best snow tire for the $$...very fairly priced...at Tire rack.. Wish I had the m3's.

Dunlops Winter Sport M3

Surprisingly, they trounce the Blizzack LM-22's in TireRack's reviews, which was the reiging champ back when I was shopping for snow tires 3 winters ago.

Maybe I'll get some M3's for the SVX and then just sell my WRX rims w/ the Blizzacks on 'em, since swapping the Blizzacks onto the stock SVX rims means running a pretty narrow tire on a 7.5" rim.

<hijack>
Anyone interested? Stock 16"x6.5" WRX wheels (minor rash on one of 'em) with stock WRX sized (205/55/16 IIRC) Blizzack LM-22's, $600 OBO. Tires have 2.5 winters on 'em, plenty of tread!

Wow, $105 each in stock size. That owns, maybe I'll just go that route this winter.

I still like my 240 Winter Sports :D

maybe I'll try something different in 5 years when these are worn down :lol:

Well, I checked into M3's for the SVX, and wouldn't you know it, they don't make 'em in the stock SVX size (225/50-16)! The closest size in M3's is a 215/55-16, and those will cause my speedo to read low, as well as cost me $113/tire. The only size in M3's that match the OEM revs/mile are the 205/55-16's which are exactly the size Blizzacks I already have for the WRX.

So, instead of paying money for wider snowtires that don't match the OEM overall diameter, I'm just going to swap the Blizzies onto the SVX rims and be done w/ it.

So, all I'm gonna have for sale are some OEM WRX rims sans tires... any one interested in them? :lol:

Damn, well there goes my option for what to do for snow tires... M3 here I come! (or perhaps M2)

Hmmm... will M2s be on closeout here soon?

On sale at Tire Rack for $89 a pop (16") last I checked.

I don't think *any* snow tires will be on "closeout" until say next April. And by then they're out of stock (and have been out of stock since December). Especially the M3's... those things sell out in larger sizes by November... which is why MattR's on the M2's, no?

Yeah, the M3's sold out by October last year! I hope they're not gone already. As far as I know, the M2 is being discontinued, so there may not be a lot of options there.

However, like mike said, his Pirelli's are pretty sweet too, I'd run all three with no problems. (Blizzaks, M3's, Pirelli 210)...all very capable.

Actually, the 175/65/15 & 255/45/17 are on closeout, and the 205/55/16 are a "special"

Hmm, can anyone here run 255s?

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes....inter+Sport+M2

Well, 205/55-16 is the perfect size for OEM impreza wheels! Get some of those Nick!

They are also kinda perfect for the rims I already have, without plopping down the money for your wheels :twisted:

Can you fit 255s on the SVX?

I might be able to (it might require some minor fender rolling), but why would I want snow tires that goddamned wide!? :shock: :lol:

Narrow > wide when it comes to driving in snow. Plus they're cheaper, and get better fuel mileage.

Yeah, I know. I just think it'd be ... comical, to have winter tires so wide.

so what you want Scott to be your personal joke boy? Big Pimp'in 255's :lol:

I've been debating between the M3s and Nokian WRs. It seems to me that the WRs will have 2-3x the treadlife and better (possibly quite a bit better) dry traction. The one thing I'm unsure of is what the exact difference between the two tires would be in the snow. I will probably drive about 7000 miles before I remove the tires in April/May and if I'm only going to get one season out of the M3s, then I'll go with the WRs.

Any thoughts?

I have one full season on my m2's and they show little sign of wear...You'll get way more that one season out of the M3's/

Re: Winter Sport M3's...
 

Wow, Nice tread(m3) .. very agresive..

I just got the M3's from tirerack. They're going on my Rota Torques. I think they changed to a much softer compound than the M2's which would explain the better ice capability. They are noticeably softer than my old M2's were.

Snow is on it's way tonight. Were expecting over a foot in Truckee by Wednesday. Pretty crazy! Tonight I'm changing tires on the wife's car and the STI. I'll try and get some snow pics to charge you all up for the ski season! (just around the corner)

did you get new Rota's with the lager lug pattern? same as the old ones or new color?

New lug pattern, Same wheel and color as before: Rota Torque 17x8 in bronze.

sweet! :D 8)

No comments on the Nokian WRs? Does anyone have experience with them?

How do the M3s handle in the dry? I figure 95% of my winter miles this year are going to be in the dry or rain. That and the increased treadlife were the primary reasons I was looking at the WRs. Next year, I'm hoping to be back in Colorado, and depending where I end up, I could do a lot more driving in the snow. That's one of the reasons that if the M3s are still great after 7000 miles or so, then I might go there anyway. Ahh, choices.

Sorry, I've never owned a pair of Nokians, I've heard great things about them though. The Dunlop tread life appears to be great on the M2's, but Nick said that his M2's had a much harder feeling compound than the new M3's, which means the M3's may have a shorter mileage life. I don;t think it's going to be so short that they only last one winter.

Also, Dean just bought a pair of Hancook 300 Snows..I'm very intereted to see how they look and perform. They are $100 a tire or thereabouts, so that might be another option to consider.

As I recall from the Audiworld discussions on the Nokian is an incredible pure snow/ice/ugly stuff tire for people who live where the streets don't clear to pavement for much of the winter.

Well the M-3's performed amazing this morning. They pulled the STI through 16" of wet rutted snow. I hope I didn't rip anything off the bottom of the car. I heard some nasty sounds as I was going up the street. Considering the density of the snow and I was basically plowing the top 10", it made it up my street and out to the main road that was fortunately plowed. It is crazy up here right now. It is still dumping. Downtown Truckee only got what looks like 8 inches. I can only imagine that over 7000 feet got over two feet of snow. Looks like we will get another 6-12 inches today. These early storms suck! The snow is so damn heavy. I was up at 6:00 snowblowing the driveway and shoveling my decks (2 hours). To top it off they didn't cancel school so I had to get my two children to school on time. Somehow I made it.

Have any of you STI owners played with the DCCD in the snow. It is amazing the affect you can have over the car in a rising corner in deep snow. Tons of fun, even with my two scared children in tow.

The STI is an animal in the snow, I absolutely love driving it in snow. You're right, If you really want to feel the DCCD at work, go out in the snow...It's realy cool to play with the power bias...

in deep snow I just put it in lock :lol:

but then again auto still seems to be the best to keep control :twisted:

Hey Joel,

I have used the Nokian Hakkapalitas (sp) for a season and a half. These were studded 205/70/15's for an outback. The tires were stellar. As others have mentioned, these were great in real ugly conditions. I lived at the lake and could get through anything with these tires. I wouldn't run a studded tire living in Reno though. Too much increased stopping distance for down here. (I'm not sure if the model you mentioned is studless or not).

Overall Nokian has a solid reputation for snow tires.

Thanks for the responses.

Actually, the Nokians I'm looking at are the WRs, their "all weather tyre" with a heavy winter bias. I've read that it has outperformed a number of true snow tires in the snow, and that's why I was considering it.
http://www.nokiantyres.com/passenger...name=NOKIAN+WR

Interestingly, I located a thread on Nasioc doing the exact comparison I've been trying to do. I'm leaning toward the M3s because the dry handling seems to be about the same as the RE-92s (if that's believable), and I can live with that.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...4b13&p=7825326

I don't know what the were is on the M3's because I've only had mine on for about three weeks. The dry handling appears to be pretty good. I'm used to re070's, so snow tires are completely new to me. Every now and then I forget that the snow's are on and I get a little excited around a corner. The hold pretty good, but definately break free before the Re070's do. The two tires are definately not comparable. But so far I'm loving the snows, the ride is really good in dry and wet. I haven't really had a chance to try them out in the snow yet though.
I definately recommend them, or maybe you might want to try the tires that MattR was talking about that Dean purchased, they're very reasonably priced. Good luck.

I've had these on for a couple of weeks in 205/55/16. With the Kragen deal they are $57 each from Discount Tire. They are surprisingly good in the dry so far, and fairly quiet. Much softer sidewalls than the Azenis ST-115, but no surprise there. I can't wait to get some snow to try them out in. Last year I was on nearly bald Dunlop Sport 9000's, I'll never try that again.

Got any hookups w/ TireRack? Nick's buying my some M3's from there in exchange for my WRX stockers w/ LM-22's. Save him some money! ;)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.......M3's