Hello everyone,

I was reading your posts since a while - in part, to help me choose my new car - and yesterday I just went to the dealer and bought a brand new red 2005 RX-8 GT .
So I thought it was a must to register here and share my happiness with you :D


Now : I live in Montreal and we get hard winters sometimes.

I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about winter tires.

First, as you ALL know the RX-8 comes with 225/45R18 tires.

I will start now with my questions :

1) should I keep the 18' mags for winter or get smaller sized rims ? If so, what size should I get? Somebody told me I should never go under 17'.

2) what size of tires should I get? the dealer suggested 225/50R17... I find them rather large for winter tires... what do you think?

3) what brand and model should I get? The dealer suggested Continental. Personnally I love Nokian tires but they don't make the right sizes for the RX-8 and they are suggestion for front wheel drive cars... so what do you think about Continental tires and what brands and model would you suggest me?


Thx alot !

 

Check the wheels, tires, brakes and suspension forum. Or the Canadian forum. Also, SEARCH is your friend. There are a million threads on the subject -- well, maybe only 903,000. As for Q. No. 1, I would suggest 17" rims -- not steel, though. Something decent looking. 17" tires are wayyy cheaper and you 'll have a different look for winter and summer.

 

I asked the same question. If you check the tires and wheel forum there is a thread called SNOW. There is alot of info in there about this very questions. Personally, I bought a set of used 17" rims and snows that had about 1200 miles on them for about $700 on Ebay. Saved me about $500 bucks. I do have (225/50/17) running Bridgestone Blizzaks LM-22. These were highly recommended by Connor from Tirerack.com Anyway, hope this helps some.

 

I bought a set of OEM sized 18" Brigdestone Blizzaks. They were pricey, but I got a great deal on them since my dad bought a new set of Michelins for his Porsche.

To my surprise the Blizzaks did a remarkable job of making the RX-8 a winter car. I was trudging down streets with several inches of snow that had not been plowed.

Now, you still have to drive cautiously, conservatively, responsibly, etc etc. But the Blizzaks will make the car as safe as it can be considering the car won't even move in the snow on the Potenzas.

 

Thinner is supposedly better, but I'm quite happy with my OEM-size Pirelli SnowSports. Made it to/from work (22 miles each way) in numerous snowstorms without any problems.

Great tire in the dry too. I can't wait to get 'em back on, in fact, and FINALLY be done with the noisy, nervous stock tires.

 

Talon Tire in Montreal put a group buy together for us last winter, John is (was) manager back then, very helpful.

He found 17" cheap rims that would clear the calipers, and mounted some Toyo Garit HTs on them, at a good price.

S

 

I purchased a set of 17" Dunlop Winter Sport M3 tires and have loved them the last two winters. They handle well in a variety of conditions, from snow to ice. And if you find yourself on a dry highway, they aren't very noisy. I just purchased an inexpensive set of 17" wheels so I could swap over easily every winter and spring.