Just bought my RX-8 a week ago - good deal on a lightly used 2009. What a hoot! - first rotary I ever bought...

Anyways, living in Ottawa means living with winter tires. And, to that point, I'm trying to figure out what size is best. Definitely looking at 17inch for the winters. But what am I better off going with - 215/55r17 or 215/50r17? Does it really matter or would both be just as good? I know the dealer is quoting me 215/50r17 but Tire Size Calculater from 1010tires.com would lead me to believe there's less of a size difference with the 55's - just a smidge larger than the stock summer Dunlops.

Thanks - if I had time to append a picture I would :)

215s way to skinny 225 or 245s better :)

I run stock size Dunlop Wintersport M3's pure awesomeness.. very fast in winter too!

215s way to skinny 225 or 245s better :)

LOL. May it snow this year in Miami. :P

225's bro and Bridgestone Blizzak's best of the best!

In snow you want the skinniest tire you can safely fit on the vehicle.
In snow and loose road surfaces you want a tire contact patch that is long and skinny vs short and fat like you would on a hard surface.

A quick google search on "Why is narrower better on a winter tire" returned this appropriate page from a well respected company: http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=126

Personally, I wouldn't hesitate to use a 215/55R17 winter tire.

For Winter-snow driving you want a taller & narrower tire profile to reduce 'snowplowing.' Most folks therefore go with a relatively inexpensive 17" steel wheel (no sense having a nice wheel face sand/salt) and 215x55.

A FL guy wouldn't understand. ;)

215s way to skinny 225 or 245s better :)

I'm runnin' 17's... just try to get rubber that gets ya close to your stock height... other than that it shouldn't really matter.

also.. seeing as how you're in Ottawa.. you might wanna check this forum as well: http://forum.ottawamazda.ca/

And general winter tip 1: Always let the car warm up in the winter before turning it off... the flooding risk goes up drastically in the winter.

wtv :p

Welcome to the club!

also.. seeing as how you're in Ottawa.. you might wanna check this forum as well: http://forum.ottawamazda.ca/

Beat me to it! Check out the Ottawa Mazda Club. There are more Ottawa RX-8 owners there than here. You can also get help with things like installations at install meets, get your CELs checked or have a compression test done for much less than the dealer will charge. Hope to see you there.

Thanks everyone for your replies. Feedback much appreciated and thanks for the lead-in to the ottawa area mazda/rx8 club.

In the end, I went with the 215/55r17. I already figured the narrower tires are better - having lived in the great white north all my life. I was mostly worried about going with either the '55 or '50. The '55 are slightly larger diameter - by 1/3 of an inch over stock - well within the 3% tolerance range.

And the tires I got, you ask? Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure everyone with Blizzacs or Dunlops or Hakki's are gonna say I went the wrong way... whine, whine... ;)

Thanks again!

hell no! Those are the tires that I have... love em! drive em around on the dry pavement abit before it gets too cold and snows... they seem to benefit from this as it pulls back the ridges and basically turns them into hooks (shouldn't take long for that too happen).

Sigh... I really should put the tires on soon... and I have to make a trip up to Ottawa as well... forgot my winter floor mats up there... boo.

Excellent choice, size and brand. Those new Alpin's are very well reviewed (although I do have Blizzaks on my daughter's Mazda6). ;)

Thanks everyone for your replies. Feedback much appreciated and thanks for the lead-in to the ottawa area mazda/rx8 club.

In the end, I went with the 215/55r17. I already figured the narrower tires are better - having lived in the great white north all my life. I was mostly worried about going with either the '55 or '50. The '55 are slightly larger diameter - by 1/3 of an inch over stock - well within the 3% tolerance range.

And the tires I got, you ask? Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3. Yeah, yeah, I'm sure everyone with Blizzacs or Dunlops or Hakki's are gonna say I went the wrong way... whine, whine... ;)

Thanks again!

I ended up going with 17 inch 215's last winter (Blizzaks).
Although I had ordered 225's they were out of that size when it came time to install them
because of the huge frenzy over winter tires last year.
I found I sacrificed quite a bit in overall handling and tracking on highways, but, the tires
performed amazingly in all snow conditions for me.
The only problem of course is with the ride height of the 8, an unplowed street meant some snowplowing with the front air dam until I got off the street.
But the tires still pushed me down my street with no spinning at all.

Good to know - this also being my first rear wheel drive in a long long time. Too bad I gotta put winters on. Already looking forward to next spring - hah!

I ended up going with 17 inch 215's last winter (Blizzaks).
Although I had ordered 225's they were out of that size when it came time to install them
because of the huge frenzy over winter tires last year.
I found I sacrificed quite a bit in overall handling and tracking on highways, but, the tires
performed amazingly in all snow conditions for me.
The only problem of course is with the ride height of the 8, an unplowed street meant some snowplowing with the front air dam until I got off the street.
But the tires still pushed me down my street with no spinning at all.

Thanks for the advice! Had my '8 for over a week now and best part of the day remains driving to work and driving from work!

hell no! Those are the tires that I have... love em! drive em around on the dry pavement abit before it gets too cold and snows... they seem to benefit from this as it pulls back the ridges and basically turns them into hooks (shouldn't take long for that too happen).

Sigh... I really should put the tires on soon... and I have to make a trip up to Ottawa as well... forgot my winter floor mats up there... boo.

I am running 225's and LOWERED this year... YAY!

ok i just bought my RX 8 on Monday on got it yesterday night! Need snow tires now. Got a quot for $1985 for 18 inch rims, 225/45r18 Blizzak LM60. Thats balanced mounted n taxes in! Good deal or no?

I am running 225 with Yokohama Ice Guard, no problem for last winter at all.......

ok i just bought my RX 8 on Monday on got it yesterday night! Need snow tires now. Got a quot for $1985 for 18 inch rims, 225/45r18 Blizzak LM60. Thats balanced mounted n taxes in! Good deal or no?

This really depends on what rims you're getting... Isolate the cost of the tires and you'll see what the cost of the rims are. Then you should research and find out what other people are selling those particular rims for.