We recently purchased an '05 MCS and opted for the 205/45-17 Goodyear all-season RS-As on the S-Lites. The original intent was to use these tyres through the coming (imminent) winter months, whilst they're new & the tread is good, and to supplement these with a set of new lightweight wheels and high-performance "summer" tyres when the weather improves (and we fit the JCW kit ).

But, I'm beginning to wonder if these will be OK for use in snowy, Upstate NY conditions ? The MCS will be my wife's daily commuter (only 5 miles, or so, each way) and the roads tend to be heavily salted and cleared quite quickly. Are they up to the job ? I've been toying with the idea of buying some 16" X-Lites (or even cheapo steelies) fitted with Dunlop Winter Sport M3s.....but then I'd have to forego the lightweight wheel/performance tyre option, since I can't really justify purchasing 3 sets of wheels and tyres

Should I risk the RSAs or are they well up to the appointed task ?

 

Once the roads are cleared and salted, any reasonable all-season tire should be OK...including the Goodyear runflats. But the problem is on those occasions where your wife is at work, and it snows during the day, and she needs to get home before the roads have been fully plowed. On those days - which in upstate NY could occur frequently - she'll want to be riding on something other than an "all season" performance tire.

I had the Goodyear runflats, and while they were OK tires, I gladly gave them up in the winter for real snowtires. That made sense for me in the northern tier of Massachusetts...and I'd think it would be even more the case in upstate NY. I think the biggest problem with the OEM tires (on the MCS) is that they're too wide for good snow traction. Something skinny and tall (i.e., the 15" wheel/tire combination) is much more practical for actually carving through unplowed roads. It's not much for dry road performance, but let's face it, it's winter...and the roads are all salty and yucky. Best, IMO, just to make it safely through the season and save the performance driving for the other 8 or 9 months out of the year.

 

I drove on my RSAs in some pretty nasty winter conditons. They were not great by any stretch but to their (well probably MINI's) credit, I never got stuck. If she's cautious, she'll do fine on them.

 

jsun,

Thanks for your insight......I think you make perfect sense. I even run dedicated winter tyres on my AWD Audi, but then I tend to drive more enthusiastically than my wife. However, safety and peace-of-mind is paramount for me and I don't want to take a gamble......I thought we might be OK for the first winter season but the all-season RS-As received some ****-poor reviews on Tire Rack's website.....decisons, decisons.

 

I will second the motion for a narrower and taller tire for snow and slush conditions. Also I was not excited about my GY RSA's on snowy roads the one time I drove on them. Compared to my winter beater car with narrow snow tires it was frightening in my new MCS.

In NW Michigan we get the same winter conditions as Buffalo, lake effect snow everyday for 3 months, starting tomorrow!

 

When our RS-As were new, they looked pretty capable of driving in snow.
After 15,000 miles though, I doubt it. All the cuts in the tread for snow traction are gone and it looks more like performance tread now.

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm definitely leaning towards the 16" X-Lites with Dunlop Winter Sport M3s (want to keep the run-flat option) which means I'll probably end up keeping the S-Heavies as my "performance" wheels and dump the RSA's......should have some fun come Spring trying to wear them out ASAP

 

Have fun in the Spring with them. They've been great in the dry and pouring rain.

Biggest negative on these is that they are the heaviest at 30.5 lbs each

 

You should do fine with the RSA'a, I drove with mine from Richmond Virginia in Feb 2003 Northeaster snow storm to LI New York, no problem and use them this past winter no problem and will be using them once more this winter.

They work just fine for me.

 

GET SNOW TIRES!!!!!
I went last year thinking the all-seasons were good.
Now that I have snows,boy was I wrong

 

I had no problems last winter driving on rs-a tires in new york. This summer I changed to falken ziex non runflat tires for a plusher ride, I hope they do well in the snow too.