I live in Idaho and think the CX5 handles exceptionally well in snow. What tires are on yours?

 

I have a Mazda3 and live in Texas. The 1st (Good Year RSA,) 2nd (Falken 512,) and 3rd (Kumho AXS)sets of tires on the car made it feel dangerous even in wet weather. The third set , the Kumho ASX's which were pretty highly rated at that time, were so bad that I completely slid through an intersection out of control in the rain once at about 15 mph and could not get any forward traction from a stop. I deemed these tires too dangerous to live and replaced them well before they were worn out.
But the 4th set, Continental DWS's allowed me to get to work one snowy morning when only those that lived closest by were making it. I was even able to pass a cop on the way.
Moral of the story; before blaming the vehicle you're in, replace the tires with a good set. Tires can and do make a world of difference, and factory tires are usually not the best choice.

 

We have the stock Grand Touring 19" Toyos. Despite their price on Tirerack of $269 a tire almost $100 more than the nearest competitor and being more expensive than the high performance speed rated tires I have on my other vehicle, their wear rating is not much higher. The first season they weren't as bad but this is the second with this vehicle and 27K miles later it's noticeable. I know you'll say it's the tires and I'll say why is Mazda outfitting an AWD vehicle in the North East with these poor performing tires? I actually think some of the lesser trims may have tires suited for the winter better as I've come to realize I believe it's partially do to a lack of weight over the front and possibly the width and unsprung weight. We had a 2010 Ford Escape V6 before the Mazda and that vehicle was far superior to the Mazda. It came with Michellen tires that must have had an 80K wear rating as when we gave the vehicle back when the lease was up we had 56K miles and they hardy looked worn. Not the Mazda. I even helped pull a Toyota Forrunner SUV out in a blizzard with the Escape where he was embarrisingly stuck spinning all 4 wheels and I looked at his tires on his high trim level model -- Toyos. I was zipping around in 18" of snow in the Escape. I remember driving on closed highways and busting through snow piles. I wouldn't even try that with the Mazda. It must be a Japanese thing to equip AWD vehicles with bad tires in the snow considering when you sell an SUV in the northern part of America, your primary purpose for AWD and higher ground clearance is snow. Speaking of getting stuck-- I almost forgot my 15 minutes of rocking the Mazda back in forth in a parking lot when one side ended up in 12-18" of snow and the other side was over solid packed snow. You should have smelled the rubber burning off the Toyos as I worked my way out of that and then the vibration at 50 MPH was so great from all the snow stuck in the tires that I thought something was going to fall off the vehicle. That tells me the tire / wheel combo are too heavy and large for such a light vehicle (again a grand touring issue) because I've had snow stuck in the rims or other vehicles and yes, it annoying at speed but never to the point that I physically thought if I went faster something was going to fall off. I was even on the phone and someone commented on the noise.

 

That part doesn't make total sense. Heavier = traction. Wider = less traction in snow.
The CX-5 overall may be too light and tires too wide. I don't know how wide the tires are (a measurement in inches would help as well as overall weight), but generally speaking narrow tires are better in snow.
A light vehicle with wide tires = no traction in winter. Weight of a 4 cyl compared to a 6 or 8 should be taken in to consideration!
Snow (or mud) stuck in rims will throw off the balance and cause vibration!

 

I have a 2014 Sport, 6M with front wheel only drive. I have replaced only the front tires with GoodYear VIVA2 225/65-17s and it does a fine job in the snow cover ice we generally get here in Tn. With the hills here the roads get about as slick as anywhere, the car did a very good job of getting me around.
I'm quite happy with it, AWD would be better is we had more snow days. Summer performance tires are not worth a tinkers damn in wet or snowy conditions, their literally not are designed for it.

 

Putting better traction tires on the front only helps with going but it can make stopping and turning very exciting. The front of the car stops and the back end swings around and passes the front. On a curve the front holds the road and the back swings out.

I consider it dangerous

Frank

 

Absolutely corrct. You have to balance them which requires winter tires on all four wheels.

 

First off, I never said any of the tires were winter tires. The GoodYears are so close in tread pattern it's hard to tell them from the other 2. There is no handling problem what so ever, I know I drive the car. If there was anything dangerous about it I wouldn't do it. I guess I could have put on a set of studded tires, but with 4 or 5 snow days a year down here it would be rather ****. It will be in the 70's here today so the danger has passed!

 

It's always best to replace tires as a set of four, but that can't always happen.
I don't think Fdew & Maineiac were trying to offend, trustyrusty436, but to simply state the standard rule of thumb that I've always heard as well; if only able to replace two tires with new ones, its always best put them on the undriven axle. In the case of a FWD only car, that would be the rear.
The theory is that its better to have forward slip angle than lose the rear end in an uncontrollable situation.

 

Buy winter tires....Toyo summer tires are NOT for snow, suicide.....