I need new winters ASAP - Bridgestone Potenza's are terrible in wet or snow conditions. I'm looking at Yokhama Ice Guards or Hankook Radial W404 or the Zovac
tires. Anyone have advice on best performance on ice, packed snow and slush?

 

Winter tire & wheel package from Tirerack.com!
Put away your nice RH's till spring.
See my sig for what I got...

 

I'm very happy with steel rims and Wintermark HT tires from Walmart.

 

If you don't want to go the route of dedicated winter tires! I have been running Continental ContiExtremeContact Performance Touring Tires with great results in both snow and ice. These tires also provide decent performance in dry and warm conditions.

 

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I bought Yokohama Ice Guard tires in December and they are the best I have ever had on all my Mazdas, including studded winters. I looked around the web and found they had the best reviews and specifics for my area - slush, deep snow and lots of black ice. I feel like a rally driver with them, they really stick to the ice and especially snow over ice. BUY THEM next year and you'll see.

 

Just got my '02 P5 on snow and its sucks! It has Nankang's??? on it now, still trying to figure out the type

Anyone know where to get some inexpensive 15" steelies?

 

you can get steelie from tirerack for 38/piece, as far as to winter tires, there are so many, some mentioned above, another is the Blizzak WS-50 by Bridgestone, i personally am running Pirelli P zer Nero with great success here in Ohio.

 

The Potenza's on my MSP were horrible last winter. I'm surprized I survived, but I did have a number of near misses. So this past October, I just got a set of Bridgestone Blizzark WS-50's size 215/45Q-17R on 17x7 Konig 'Trouble' wheels. I picked the Blizzarks because of the reviews on TireRack, I also liked the agressive tread pattern. I liked the Konig's because they are 5-spoke and resemble the Racing Hart's. This set up exhibits only slight increase in road noice and somewhat more 'spongey' feel with hard cornering. So far this winter, we've had several snow storms, ranging from 1" of dust to 8" deep stuff and wet slush in between. In all cases, they have performed extremely well. I thoroughly satisfied with this set up.

 

Anyone know if '01 Protege ES steelies will fit a '02 P5??

 

I had a hard time finding winter tires for my '02 ES, but ended up getting Michellin X-Ice on 15" steelies from Tirerack. Price was decent, and it was fast and easy. I live in MA, and we have had a decent amount of snow so far this winter and ther are great.

 

Well, I guess I will answer my own question. '01 ES wheels are interchangable with '02 P5.

Got my steelies with Pirelli 210 Snowsports mounted yesterday. www.tirerack.com is fast! Took less that two days from the day I order them. PSI was perfect when I checked them. I highly recommend buying from them.
However, you may want to check www.1010tires.com too. They have reviews of the tires so you can be a little more informed when you purchase. If you scroll through the reviews you can usually find someone with a Protege listed there.