Hi all,

Since I could not move my car out of its parking space for the past two days, I finally found the sagely advice to avoid driving on snow with the stock tires. After having driven an rear wheel BMW for six years without incident, I can frimly agree that this car should not be driven in the cold with the standard tires.

Now comes the real frustration...As many of you have written, it is just hard to find good snows for this car. Tirerack now has the 17" Blizzaks, but no steel rims, and they are sold out of the affordable alloy rims.

I just ordered a Toyo Garits package (with alloy rims, mounting and storage..and free swap in the spring) for $1475. I feel like I'm paying too much, but non of the local tire stores can even find tires for my car.

Just curious if others have found these issues, or if I just didn't look hard enough.

Thanks in advance,

Nate (Hopkinton, MA)

 

Yup, it's not that you didn't look hard enough, it's that you didn't look soon enough. I've seen this several times before, where the tire companies have to produce their winter tire stock through the spring/summer, and are estimating what the demand for the different models and sizes will be. If they 'guesstimate' wrong, then an in-demand size can sell out early, and no more will be available until their next production run, which could be the following spring. Same thing for wheels...

With a new car like the RX-8, the tire companies will be caught off-guard because it's tire size (18" or the -1 17") isn't that common. That's why I was anxious to start shopping in August or September to line up wheels and tires. As it was, Pirelli and Michelin both turned out to not have available at all the 215/55-17 size, even though they listed it in their catalogues for this season!

Regards,
Gordon

 

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the response. As I just bought the car on Nov 30, I really didn't have much prior notice.

One finaly question relates to size. I opted for for 17" as we will get plenty of snow. Do you think 18" snows on my stock rims would have been a reasonable option given the New England weather?

 

They have been for everybody who has gotten them so far. Most that have did so because they wanted to keep the TPMS working.

 

Yup, it's tough to be thinking of snow tires if you don't even have the car! :D

The Bridgestone LM-22 225/45-18s should work fine in winter weather, so from a winter performance aspect they would have definitely been a reasonable option. Additionally, as Omicron mentions, it's easier to keep the TPMS system working if you just stick with the OEM wheels. However, I've previously posted a cost analysis that showed that if you were keeping your RX-8 more than 3 winters, it's actually cheaper to buy the separate set of 17" alloy wheels and 17" winter tires over the long run. If you wanted separate TPMS transmitters in them, then it might take an extra year to break even, but for a basic analysis it holds true.

Regards,
Gordon