Mazda3's come from the dealer with, um, mediocre tires. Those tires have their own (somewhat limited) set of characteristics for dry, wet, braking, handling, etc. and they are chosen by Mazda as "ready" to work in conjunction with the various Mazda safety features for braking, staying in lane, anti-skid features, etc. I want MUCH better (response and road holding) tires for my 2017 Mazda3. Here's the question: Does the potentially extra grip, better braking ability, wet weather performance, etc, etc. of higher performance tires help/hurt the "presets" built into Mazda's safety features? Maybe the question should be, "Price and ride comfort aside, can a set of tires be "too good, too grippy" for a car?"

 

There is no such a thing as "presets" vis-à-vis the built in safety features. My only recommendation would be to stay with the same overall diameter of tire as what came with your car from the factory.

 

Yes, Tnx.

 

I have Michelin Winter tires on my 04 Mazda 6 for 6 months and they definitely grip in ice and snow much better than all season tires. My Michelin summer tires have fantastic grip, but I don't race it so I cannot acurately compare to all season tires.

 

The good news about the most recent generation of high performance All-Season tires is they grip as well as the highest performance street rubber from only ten or so years ago. Unless I was tracking a car, there is no way I would bother with summer rubber (they wear out way too quickly); I'll just use top notch All-Seasons nine months a year and then optionally winter rubber for snow and ice season.