Hey all,

I am looking into buying a winter tire setup and I am looking for some advice.

Should I buy a package deal where I get 17" wheels and tires and therefore I can switch between winter and summer wheels myself.

OR

Should I get just a set of 18" winter tires and have them put on the stock rims and switched back in the summer?

Obviously just buying 18" winter tires and no wheels would be cheaper initially, but over 4-5 years, having 4 tires mounted each winter and summer might get pricey.

What should I do?

 

Go with the 17" package. Better in the winter stuff and overall cheaper. I had mine shipped to my tuners business last week. Did the 17" rims w/ dunlop M3 tires. When the weather turns bad I'm heading up, driving in, swapping things over and they hold onto my summer tires/rims till spring. they will be nestled in beside my 930 and ZX-9R for the winter.

 

I don't know which way is better but a good choice in winter tires are Nokian tyres.Do search on the web they make some damn fine snow tires.Good luck.

 

I went with Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 on the stock rims. I figure if I end up scaping those rims I will keep them for winter and buy a nice set of aftermarket rims for winter...instead of buying aftermarket rims and using the stock ones for summer.

 

You are better off having snow tires mounted on some crappy cheapo rims. That way you can change the car to winter driving mode and vice versa on your own if you are inclined to do so.

 

you CANNOT be taking the tire ON and OFF and ON and OFF again...it isn't good for the tire as it will severly reduce the life of the sidewall of the tire and the seal on the rim...you could take them off way back in the day when there were innnertubes but no more...so once or twice are about the extent of it (plus they should be taken off when it is in warm environment

so yes buy extra rims...I just had Blizzak LM-22s put on the stock rims as well but I'm getting new 18s or 19 rims (stock or other) in the spring so...

I say get a set of 18 inch winter tires and new rims for either these winter tires or stock tires

 

I agree. Bite the bullet now and enjoy changing your own wheels on YOUR schedule when the weather turns bad, not two months before. LM-22's on my 8, also. No winter problems except once when the snow was deep enough to drag on the underside of the car. Good luck!

 

Seperate wheels and tires. After the 4th winter you will have recouped your cost in mounting/balancing savings, plus your oem rims will not get chewed up by the winter nasties.
Most people drop down to a 17" tire instead of staying at 18".
Aside from a better and cheaper selection of 17" tires there are some other benefits to a smaller tire. I am not sure what theyare.
Maybe someone can jump in on that one?

 

Separate 17" winter wheels and tires. I did a cost analysis last year that proved you break even by the 4th winter, and after the 4th winter it is cheaper to have bought the separate wheels/tires.

Size - for winter tires, narrower is better. For 18", 225 section width (the OEM width) is the narrowest of the appropriate 18" tires (and you definitely do NOT want to go to wider tires). In 17" winter tires, you can get 215/55-17, which is a worthwhile reduction in section width. See this Tire Rack winter tire sizing article for more information.

PS - avoid the Blizzak WS-50. That's my opinion, but there are much better winter tires available nowadays that are as good on ice and snow, but much better on cold dry pavement (or warm pavement) than the Blizzaks and last longer as well.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I did a lot of research and talked to friends and I agree with gord not to get the Blizzak WS-50 I know they are great on snow and Ice but the are to soft on dry pavement or as the temp creeps up and they wont last long

the newer higher end (performance category) Blizzaks are top of the line and I've found none that have the same overall performance in weather/dry pavement/tread life and this line is the Blizzak LM-22 and they just added an LM-25 which is uni-directional (benefit for this application is unknown)

already eventhough the snow isn't out I'm getting better traction in hard acceleration on dry pavement with the LM-22s and they are holding up great...neglible increase in noise from stock Potenza's and they run pretty smooth...with the stock potenza's under 45F things started to become unstable and got worse and worse as temp dipped to 35F I can only imagine what it would be like in a few weeks if I hadn't gotten the LM-22s I would have been driving like this ~