I'm finally graduating and I am taking the MCS for a road trip: Palo Alto, California to Boulder, Colorado, Dec 31-Jan 5... I cannot find any feedback about these tires for snow. Basically I don't have the time or money for different tires right now, the question is, how BAD are these tires gonna be if I hit a little snow?

 

My guess is that the odds are 750:1 that you will have some kind of major issue running those summer tires in the snow!

Don't do it is my advice.

 

Here's a fun story:

I was driving back to college in my old car with summer tires (nittos) which were fairly well-worn. By the time I got back there were 2 inches of nice snow in the parking lot of my apartment. I stopped, unpacked, and tried to park the car in a spot. No dice. Rear wheel drive, lot's of tourque, and summer tires = I could not move 1 single inch.

To answer your question, I would estimate that the tires are going to be very bad if you hit wintery weather.

Very bad.

mb

 

Contrary to popular belief, they are not to bad if they are pretty new.

I took my 04 MCS up to Lake Tahoe from SoCal when the car and the tires only had a couple of hundred miles on them. That was my break in run.

I didn't hit any terrible snow storms, but there were a couple of inches of packed snow all around the resort I was staying in. I had an opportunity to try to play a little in some deserted parking lots, and to my surprise the traction wasn't all that bad.

I am not saying these are the tires I would like to spend a Michigan winter with, but it wasn't like driving on ice.

Just my .02.

Bill

 

Having lived in Denver and driven in the winter with the AVS ES100's (I also had another car with proper snows), I can say the ES100's are at best "ok", but that's only if you're not actually trying to break a new path in fresh snow. Only if it's packed down, and only if you're driving during the day. I would not drive on cold slippery roads at night with the ES100's. Treat them with respect, because they are afterall summer tires.

 

I have AVS ES100 tires on my Miata. They are not even close to suitable for snowy road use. In fact they aren't even suited for cold weather use. The compound of the AVS turns to hockey puck rubber when cold. A couple of weeks ago I was out in my Miata, the temp was 23 degrees, with dry road conditions. I took a corner that I usually take at 35 at 25 or so & had the biggest sprint car like slide. I darned near spun the car. Later in the morning I had the same thing happen to me again. Great tires for the warm weather. If you drive to Denver in winter weather, good luck!

Chuck

 

On the way back from skiing the roads started getting accumulating less than an inch of snow and my friend in his prelude w/ ES100's slid off the road in a FWD going up a hill. He just couldn't get any traction at all and his wheels spun him in place into a ditch

 

I haven't had the unfortunate chance to drive my MINI in the snow, but I can say that when it gets below freezing, these tires really begin to lose their grip even on dry roads. . . .

 

My 04 MC has stock Goodyear runflat NCT5 EMT (16 in.). I am pretty reluctant to drive it in any type of snowy conditions.

Am I being overly cautious?

I can't afford to get winter tires yet, though I am not sure I'll need them here. This is my first winter north. so I have no idea what to expect, anyway

 

i would NOT recommend running ES100's in the snow or any cold climate
areas. those are summer tires to be used in 50F+ temps.

i'd recommend minimum all-season tires.

 

I REALLY appreciate the above responses... I'm going no matter what, but with this advice I will be so much more cautious. Having never had any kind of a "performance" tire on a vehicle, I wasn't aware of the disastrous nature of this compound in less-than-summer conditions. Kind of a bummer, but I'm glad to know this info...

 

I've run thru two sets of those tires on my MCS. They are NOT good on cold roads. They get very very very very slippery when the road temps are freezing. Had a ton of fun doing some powerslides and working on my throttle control. I would NOT recommend running them in snow or on cold roads.

 

...maybe I should get some chains.

 

You could always see how it goes weather wise and rent a car along the way that has good all season tires if you need to.

 

Dont even try. I had those same tires on my mr2 turbo, last winter, in Colorado. When there is snow or ice, your car might as well have ice skates!

Problem is they are all rubber, and no space, practically slicks. Of course if you have time on yoru trip, to stop if you hit weather, you can eventually make it thru on dry or wet roads.