Thread: M3 winter tires
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      01-27-2022, 11:31 PM   #471
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Quote:
Originally Posted by barryc365 View Post
I think your the first person I've seen with this view.

They are a performance winter in fairness and not an extreme studless snow tire, but all of the reviews have had them coming out very close to the top in all sorts of snow and on inclines so was surprised by your review.

If you hit the gas on an incline from a stand still it's not unrealistic to expect some light traction control interjection.

For me the main thing is can I get to where I need to get to, without feeling like I'm not in control of the car. You're always going to have to be more cautious in snow either way. Hammering a RWD car with 500 BHP on an incline in snow is always going to be a bit of an issue. Maybe getting used to it not being a 4 wheel drive is the bigger factor than the tires?
My point was that the PA5 tire on a RWD isn't going to cut it if you're in an area that sees extreme winter conditions, which is a lot of the northern half of the US. The DSC kicks on even with gentle acceleration on compacted snow on a flat road. They feel like an all-season tire and look very similar to the Michelin CrossClimate 2.

Comparing the tread pattern between the PA5 and CrossClimate 2, the PA5 looks like it would be the all season and CrossClimate like a serious winter tire.

With more time behind the wheel, the PA5 doesn't do well with ice or compacted snow. Cornering even at slow speeds, the car slides around more than it should. Braking performance is fine if you're comfortable with threshold braking, but it's very easy to lock up and have ABS kick in. Based on that, my opinion is that this tire behaves very similar to a winter-biased all season (or "all-weather" as they're called now).

"Performance winter" shouldn't exist as a tire category as it's a "Performance all-weather" tire instead.

Stick to the Nokians and Blizzaks for real winter performance tires, don't go out of your way trying to get the PA5s.
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