iM GAME FOR THE MINI MEET IF THAT IS WHAT YOUR REFURRING TO BUT WE ALL KNOW IT IS ALL UP TO DAN'S SCHEDUAL.

 

It would be nioce to see him before he takes off for 6 months. Ya for sure, @ the mini meet.

 

Dan...... What do ya say?

 

Just find out about this tread...Sorry
I am going to Golan Heights which is between Syria, Israel, Lebanon and Iran
Hot place as normal....
I would love to see all of you in a very near future sometime in November ??
Just tell me where and when, you all know, I will be there ...for a beer or two

 

Dan, I'm up for a Novemebr meet before you go, for sure. Lets wait till we get a bit closer and we'll work it out. If you'd like, I can give you a spanking on the golf course or on the street (with or without your K&N), your choice. If you won't both, no problem. I can accommodate your request. I just don't want you to leave too happy and remember the thrashing I will give you for the next 6 months.

 

Nothing to check out. If your car is Canadian spec, it definitely does not have TPMS. The tachometer is absolutely NOT affected by wheel size - it shows how fast the engine is turning, period. When your car is standing still or up on jacks, the tach shows engine rpm only!

The speedo and odometer are NOT affected by wheel size - their accuracy is affected by TIRE DIAMETER. I could have 15" wheels with tall profile tires, or 20" wheels with very low profile tires, and the overall diameter would be the same, and the accuracy of the speedo and odometer would be unchanged (hypothetical, of course, since you can't fit wheels smaller than 17" on an RX-8). Even if you did change the tire diameter, the ABS and DSC won't care, since they only know the rate the wheel is turning (ie wheel rpm) - they have no way of knowing what diameter tire is on, and don't care. Obviously those systems are calibrated for the stock tire diameter, but minor variations won't matter. It will matter if you put on staggered tires where the tire diameter is not the same front and rear, but that's a different discussion.

If you put on 17" wheels with tires that have the same diameter as the original 18" tires, then your speed and odo will be unaffected. 215/55-17 and 225/50-17 are essentially the same diameter as the stock 225/45-18 tires (less than 1% difference).

Reasons for putting on 17" wheels for winter:
- Size. There's a bunch of 17" winter tires available in 215/55-17 size, the important part being the 215 width. That's narrower than the stock 18's 225 width, and for winter tires, narrower is better. In 18" tires, the narrowest you can get is 225.
- Cost. 17" winter tires are cheaper than 18" winter tires. More importantly, by mountin them on a separate set of wheels, you don't have to pay a tire shop to swap and balance your tires twice a year. A long time ago, I calculated that if you drove your RX-8 for 3 winters, the overall cost would be the same to buy separate 17" alloy wheels and 17" winter tires compared to buying 18" winter tires and paying to have tires dismounted, mounted, and balanced twice a year (not even considering the wear and tear on your wheels and tires from all that work). By the 4th winter, it's actually cheaper to use 17" winter tires on separate wheels.
- Convenience. Did it snow last night? I guess I'll throw on the winter tires before driving to work this morning! The guy relying on his tire store to change over can't even get to his tire store because the stock tires are treacherous and dangerous and useless on snow - but if he could, he'd have to wait all day in the first-snow rush to get the tires swapped! With separate winter wheels/tires, you can install and remove them at YOUR convenience.

Regards,
Gordon

PS - I run Toyo Garit HT 215/55-17 on 17" Konig Holes, bought from www.tiretrends.com . If I were buying this year, I'd get the Dunlop M3 - they weren't available in that 215 size when I bought 2 years ago..

 

They'll definitely feel mushy' they're about the mushiest of winter tires. They're at the top of the pack on ice performance, otherwise on snow, or dry pavement, they're definitely not as good. If you find a lot of ice in your winter driving, go for them - otherwise, they're not the best choice. I've got the Toyo Garit HT, which are really good, but even they're a bit mushy feeling (nowhere near as bad as the WS-50). If you want Blizzaks, get the LM-22, a much better tire for the RX-8. If I were buying this year, I'd get the Dunlop M3; the Michelin Pilot Alpin PA2, Yoko Winter AVS 901, Pirelli Sottozero, and the Toyo Garit HT would also all be good choices (and I'd pick any of those before the WS-50)

Regards,
Gordon

 

Sup guys!! hi gord!

I work for a high end car dealership (Mercedes) and own an rx8. Regarding snows for MB we put the same speed rating as the summer tires. God forbid we have some guy come in and we say buy the WS-50 “rated at 160km/h” and he is klippin down the highway at 250km/h in his S55 AMG and a tire blows b/c it deal with the speed(weather some is stupid enough to go that fast in winter is irrelevant" the point is that we recommended a tire that can't keep up with the car's performance, that's why on S55's we put Pirelli 240's snow sports good to 250km/h.

My point is that we have a responsibility to the customer, and making sure that he has piece if mind when he drives away in his $160k car knowing that he has noting to work about.

My question is that the mazda dealership recommender WS-50's to me!!! when my car is perfectly capable of exceeding that speed, i believe that, that is irresponsible on there part. I believe they should only recommend tires that are H rated and up!!!

my 2 cests

tlovr out

 

Hey Thanks for the info. My original choice was the dunlops and it makes sense running on the 17".

 

Well I can tell you for sure, I have the WS50 and go 160km/h and even faster no problem with my tires during the winter but if you want more expensive tires and don't mind paying ridiculous price for tires rated 250km/h, go ahead... I love my Blizzak....Maybe sometime next winter, we should all get together and go to a empty parking lots and test, compares all differents winter tires all at once...I will be curious to see the results...

 

aren't is a bad idea to drive a FR in the snow?

 

Why? Aside from the occasional Austin Mini, rear wheel drive is all anybody drove until the late 70s or early 80s, when front wheel drive started to become popular. Canadians were driving RWD cars in winter for over 70 years! They weren't waiting around until FWD was invented...

The drive wheels really don't matter - they affect acceleration. What affects cornering and stopping? (and those aspects are probably much more important than accelerating...) TIRES. Proper winter tires are the most important factor for safely driving in winter. I'll take a RWD car on winter tires ANY winter day before a FWD or AWD on all-seasons. Put a RWD, FWD, and AWD car each on winter tires, and yes, the RWD car will not be able to accelerate as fast as an AWD car - but otherwise, the RWD car on winter tires will get around just fine in winter conditions.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I also have the WS50s and had no problems last winter.
I even did close to 200 km/h after getting them installed.....just a bit mushy, but otherwise nothing else was wrong.

The LM22 have a higher speed rating and cost more....it's your choice.

But do you really need to do more than 160 when there's snow and ice on the roads? If so then get the higher-rated snow tires....and a good life insurance policy

 

Y Mic, but are we gonna have the honor to see them again at some meets this winter?

 

Yeah, I have the blizzak ws 50's and they're way softer than the summer tires.

 

They used walnut shells to save some cash! They sold you a song, my brother, and you bought it, all of it! Lats time I checked french rubber was 16 times the cost of walnut shells. What did they use for your radial belts in the tire? Chicken wire?

J/K.

 

I knew I'd get a rise out of you!!! Hope we hook up soon.

 

I agree completely! No one is going to exceed ( at least no one who values their life, car and those around them) 160 km/hr on a snow covered highway. I have the WS 50 tires on my car ( RX8 ) and a friend with a 2003 M3 has the same and we both love them, even though both vehicles are capable of speeds far in excess of the tire rating.

 

The 160 km/hr limit on tires has nothing to do with there being snow on the ground or not. That limit is set as a limit of the tire, period. So if you plan to never go over 160KM/HR then you have nothing to worry about. But I know there are times in the winter dry roads, my speedo will visit 160+ KM/HR at least once a week by merging onto highways etc. Afterall, shift from 3rd to 4th and your there already before you even know it. So, sorry but I wouldn't skimp on tires/brakes ever to save a few bucks. In my opinion, its not worth your life.

 

Blizzak LM22 225-50VR17, speed rated, awesome performance in the snow or wet or dry. Last winter on cold dry pavement i was going 235kmh on them with no problems

 

Just got my 215-55R17 Dunlop Graspics. I wanted the M3's but there was none in stock. Anyways, this should help me not to drive crazy. I don't want to wear these tires out to fast and well these aren't performance tires. Hope they do good. Slipped a little on ice and dry pavement but that's probably to be expected. I'll keep updating. Hope snow comes soon since I have Winter tires on both cars.

 

I put on 225-50-17 Hankook W300 tires on 17" alloy rims from TireTrends.
The Icebear tires are very quiet compared to the RE040s (but what isn't?)
Grip seems pretty good, even with the squishy feel.