seeing its frikkin freezing around here already, I'm in the mood for snow tire buying!

I'm planning on having to drive through a fair amount of snow this winter going to work. I figure if I'm going to buy snow tires, I want to go all the way and get a good set of mushers and not a high performance tire thats good in the snow... thats why I eliminated the Blizzak LM-22's and the Dunlop Snowsports from the list.

Anyway, I've always heard that the Blizzaks were the way to go in snow tires. But I'm going to be having these tires on for probably 4-5 months, and the way it sounds the WS-50's will be toast after 1-2 seasons.

So my latest thought was going to the new Dunlop Winter Sport M3's which look quite aggressive and supposedly wear decent. I thought these would be a step better then going down to the LM-22's. From what it says, I guess the M3's are a run flat design too which is nice since we have no spare tires, but I'm worried the stiff sidewall would be bad for gripping snow.

Anyone have experiance with the M3's or Dunlop vs Bridgestone??

For wheels I'm getting those Kazera KZ-R's.. look cool and cheap!

I just got my M3's from the TireRack yesterday. They look like great tires. I live in southern Wisconsin, so the winters can vary a lot. Some days we have several inches of snow, the next we have ice, then we have sun and dry conditions for a week. From all the reasearch I've done, the M3's look like tires that can handle all these different conditions and wear well at the same time.

I'm planning on the same tires for here in Cleveland. What size did you choose and which rims? I'm looking at 17" rims and 225/55 tires if I can find them. All I have read says they should fit over the big front brakes.

Originally posted by oldguy
I'm planning on the same tires for here in Cleveland. What size did you choose and which rims? I'm looking at 17" rims and 225/55 tires if I can find them. All I have read says they should fit over the big front brakes.

I went with 17" rims and 225/50 on the tires. I popped them on today to check fit and they worked fine. The tires have some serious looking tread to them. Bring on the snow!

Originally posted by oldguy
I'm looking at 17" rims and 225/55 tires if I can find them. All I have read says they should fit over the big front brakes.

The 225/55-17 tires are too tall - they're 1" taller diameter than the OEM 225/45-18" tires! A 215/55-17 is closer in diameter to OEM, as is a 225/50-17. For winter use, a narrower tread width is preferred, so ideally the 215/55-17 would be the preferred size. There aren't many available in that size in the US, however, so 225/50-17 would be the next best.

Regards,
Gordon

Thanks to both of you (ma and Gord) I think I'm ready to apply the cash card to the tirerack package. That should get me through a few Cleveland winters before I retire to the Eastern Shore of MD with the grandchildren.

Originally posted by Gord96BRG
The 225/55-17 tires are too tall - they're 1" taller diameter than the OEM 225/45-18" tires! A 215/55-17 is closer in diameter to OEM, as is a 225/50-17. For winter use, a narrower tread width is preferred, so ideally the 215/55-17 would be the preferred size. There aren't many available in that size in the US, however, so 225/50-17 would be the next best.

Regards,
Gordon

w0w!! the tirerack has 215/55-17 in the WS-50's for $110!!

... sounds like a good deal, they wear out faster but cost $50 less per tire then the dunlop, which means they only have to last 2/3 as long as the Dunlops to equal out in price in the long run.

Originally posted by pr0ber
... sounds like a good deal, they wear out faster but cost $50 less per tire then the dunlop, which means they only have to last 2/3 as long as the Dunlops to equal out in price in the long run.

2/3 as long? They'll never make that. They're softer, and the winter hydrophylic tread compound only goes to 50% tread depth (after that you're running a decidedly ordinary all-season compound). Besides, you'll hate every minute and mile of driving on any dry road surface. On any car with sporting intentions, avoid the Blizzaks with the multi-layer tread compounds. The LM-22 is a much better winter tire for the RX-8, as is the Dunlop M3, and various Toyos, Michelins, etc.

Regards,
Gordon

just got my m3s from the tirerack yesterday(thanks mazda)i got the 225/45vr18s to go on the stock wheels.they look like they should work great.we should be seeing snow anytime up here and all give a report on how they work.i decided on the m3s for 3 main reasons,price,wear and still a sport style aggresive pattern.i drive on the hiway 80% of the time and its almost allways dry pavement 1 to 2 days after the snowfall so wear and handling was still a concern.i plan on keeping these on the stock rims if they work well and will buy a set of yaws wheels or a aftermarket 19 for summer time.