Why are you buying Z rated tires? Unless you plan to be going a thousand mph that’s wasted money
Get a winter set all seasons suck when it gets too cold
You guys are funny. I’ve been through countless Midwest winters on stock all seasons with FWD cars. Now we’re talking standard Mazda AWD and the best UHP all seasons you can get and suddenly they suck. Lol.
Worth watching to understand the difference between UHP AS tires and snow tires:
https://youtu.be/421HkK4Nqss?si=EQUZ8R2dyfgRc0ac
And the Michelins vs the Contis (spoiler: the Michelins win but command a higher price).
I would go continental to save a bit of $. My preference overall is Yokohama though. Much cheaper and are great performers. Wait till the buy 3 get 1 for $1 sale and you got yourself a set installed for $700.
Michelin Crossclimate (version 1) are the best tires I ever owned. Put them on all my cars including company cars and they never failed on me so far, all sets have driven over 70k km and are really silent
Thanks for all the quick responses so far! I’m surprised by how many have commented already.
I’m leaning towards the Michelins but only slightly. Reason: best all around and better in snow. Reasons I might not get them however: the tread width is quite wide for a 245 (8.6" vs 8.2" on the Conti), and is the price premium worth paying. Also, there’s a $110 mail-in rebate on the Contis bringing them down further.
It depends what part of the country you are in. Both of these aren’t particularly adept in the snow. If you get snow definitely get a tri peak certified tire. If you very rarely get winter precipitation I would go conti DWS 06. If you see snow I would look into vredestien tri peak all seasons. Michilin crossclimate2 is arguably better but worse efficiency. Vredestein is a better value and 95% as good.