For those of you that took your car to a shop to get your winter tires/wheels put on were you able to fit all 4 of your summer tires/wheels in the car to take home? If so how?

Also how much should you expect someone to charge you to swap the tires/wheels out for you if you get them from someplace online like Tire Rack?

 

move the passenger seat all the way forward, then tilt the seat all the way back so it lays flat. You'll get a whole bunch of room there, along with the trunk. you should be able to fit all 4 wheels in the car.

 

Buckeye3d, Its good to see more people from Columbus popping up in the forum. I won't be swapping tires for the winter but I wanted to tell you that I had a great experience at Discount Tire Company in the past. They can negotiate their prices and they can get anything quick. Bob Hagerty was the manager at the Mill Run location but I believe that he may be at Easton now. Just an FYI. Good Luck.

 

I was told by my local tire provider that mounting new tires in winter and then swapping in spring would only be 32 bucks a year. One other note, the salesman at my dealership told me today that he doesnt think I will need winter tires. From everything I have read here, it sounds like he is crazy. I am going to get the winters.

 

He IS crazy!

 

Guy is just trying to sell you a car. If he convinces you that you could get thru the winter on summer tires it makes it appear the cost of the car is less. You really need to figure in the cost of a set of winter tires when you purchase the RX8 for a better grasp of the real total cost (assuming you live in a place where it snows).

 

guys,
though I don't own an RX8 yet, I wanted to share my experience with winters (I live In VA, we get snow and ICE) and cars with summer tires.

I have owned an Audi A4 Quattro and a Lexus IS300 and now own a GTI.

the Audi, even with Quattro, was a handfull with SUMMER tires. The Lexus was a nightmare. I put all-seasons on the audi and it was fine, I put WINTER tires on the Lexus and it was amazing.

What most people forget is that summer tires have a different compound structure and are developed for specific temperature ranges. During the winter the temps are so low the tires become hard and slick. They aren't within the proper operating range. Winter tires have a diff. compound and therefore are comfortable with the lower winter temps.

Don't trus just traction control or VSC etc to save you. My rear drive IS300 with pure winter tires was great. The tires were 'jello-ey" in the dry, but it was worth it when it snowed, as the car was controllable, predictable and safe.

Think of it this way...$300 for new tires or $3,000+ for possible damage to your car if you hit someone else or go into a ditch? Which is the better choice?

Also, if you plan on using your 18" stock wheels, please do yourself a favor and put a nice coat of wax on the wheels before the snow and salt eats at them. Even though they have a clearcoat, the wax will help.

good luck!
Ciccone

 

Is there a special kind of wax to protect alloys in the winter?

 

My service guy said all seasons will be ok.....sure, not as good as winter tires but said I would be fine.....we will find out tomorrow...2-4 inches of snow predicted. I am nervous...never had a rear wheel drive car!! I heard winter tires are expensive!! never had to buy any before. Thanks for the wax tip on the alloys!

 

just get a good meguiars wax, doesn't have to be fancy.

Winter tires shouldn't be any more expensive then all -seasons.


Ciccone

 

One suggestion: be careful of your downshifting habits in snow and ice. It's better to just rely on the brakes than risk the *** end skidding out on you on a downshift.

 

hi cardinal35,

You may be interested in reading about TireRack's wheel wax:

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/...x/wheelwax.jsp
(if you get a cookie error on the link, hit your browser's reload/refresh and it should work the second time)

"After 24 hours, Wheel Wax changes the surface polarity of wheels to repel the brake dust and makes the wheels easier to clean."

Sounds pretty neat, but I've never tried it or seen any comments/reviews on it - so I cannot tell you any more. I put Zaino on my wheels since I had it already.

regards,
rx8cited

 

Thanks for the info. I will be picking up some.

 

cardinal35,
Any time! Please let us know how it works out for you and how well it repels that brake dust.

regards,
rx8cited

 

My experience over the years has been that a front- or four-wheel drive vehicle will do very well in almost any snowfall with all-season tires, but a rear-wheel drive car really needs 4 snow tires to get around well. I didn't even try all-seasons on my 8 since I have extra rims on which to mount the snows.