Originally Posted by
EP3toMS3
Thanks for the reply, aLmk. I sort of figured there was no perfect compromise or everyone would be running them. I do live in Alabama, and snow accumulation on the roads is both rare and typically leads to road closures, so I'm still leaning more toward running an extreme performance tire but perhaps without the ultra-aggressive tread pattern (or lack therof) of the NT05.
The Conti DWS is a great suggestion. I've heard some good things about them on the mazdaspeed forum, but the topics there don't really address the milder climates that just get cold snaps, it's either Blizzak or extreme summer tires, and those look like a pretty rigid compound rated at 50k miles / 540 TWR. It would probably be smart of me to get those or something similar, but I think I'm going to try my luck with something softer so I can run them year round.
Yoko S.Drives, Pilot SS, and Cooper RS3-S have my eye at the moment, all being 300TWR and having plenty of siping to evacuate water and maybe offer enough grip to get me to work on semi-slick roads. If I have good results with whatever I choose, I'll report back!
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