Hey i live in orange county,NY and in the winter it snows a decent ammount here (anywhere from a quarter inch to 20 inches). I was wondering what you owners recomend me to do to the car. All year tires and that sort of stuff. And as North eastern owners have you ever had problems in ur rx8 because of the snow.

Well, as you probably know, the tires that came on your 8 are "summer performance" tires, so whatever you do, you can't use those in the winter. Not even for a "short trip" to the 7-11. This forum is riddled with the bent wheels, bashed fenders and dented doors of people who thought they could.

Since you already have summer tires, I would suggest getting a good pair of "winter tires" (check out tirerack.com), and mount them when temperatures at night start dipping below 50 degrees; I think that's around Thanksgiving up there. (Summer tires don't work very well below 50, even if the road is dry.) Some here may suggest all-seasons, but the only advantage of all-seasons is that it's the only tire you need. Since you already have summer tires, that's a moot point.

I ordered Kazera KZ-V 17" rims and 17" Blizzack LM-22 snow tires. They were great - I drove the car all winter and never had a bit of trouble. I also bought a set of 4 TPMS sensors since my snows are likely to be on the car more than half the year some years.

That's all a no-brainer. It's ~$1500 total done right, but it's cheaper than a wreck and the last thing you want on an expensive sports car is cheap, shoddy tires. Consider it part of the total cost of ownership.

One unusual recommendation : get a spare adapter for your lug nuts if they are non-standard. My installation-kit (just a special socket) broke while changing from winter to summer leaving me with 18" on one side and 17" on the other side. Carry two in your car at all times.

Can I ask why you chose 17" rims? Just cost or is there a snow perfomance gain? I'm asking because I am currently looking into purchasing a 2004 RX-8 and I live in PA.

There are many more tire & rim options in the 17" size. My SETUP (http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=643899&postcount=49) was around $1,000 from Tire Rack ( no TPMS)

Great, maybe that's what I'll look into then! Thanks. I'm looking forward to getting an RX-8. Right now I'm shopping around and trying to find the right now. Currently I am looking at red one and a blue one. I'm partial to the blue but the dealer wants more than what it's worth, by $3000. I'm in York, PA so the picking is slim in this area for used RX-8's. I've seen about 3 people if that driving them.

I take it if you purchase 18" snow tires its an added expense to have them changed twice a year instead of just changing the whole wheel yourself every season?

At the time I found 17" rims and snow tires to be cheaper. As expo1 says, there's far more choice too.

www.nyrotary.com

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a38/NYCROTARYROCKET3/PICT2642.jpg

Jason NYC

I agree with Expo and Cool Dad, went through Tire Rack and got Kazera KZ-Ts 17 X 7 inch with Dunlop Graspics for less than $900. More and cheaper selection in snows, Tire Rack guaranteed the fit over the RX-8 MT front brakes. Saved over buying four 18 inch snows (at $225 each) then paying to swap out each year (at about $25-30 per tire). You have to make up the tire height difference with higher profile tires, they ride smoother but the handling isn't as crisp (but no snow tires really compare to summer only performance tires). The main reason to use smaller rims is that the narrower rim/tire combo performs better in the snow as they tend to "float" less.

Bottom line is your choice but, do not try to make it on the summer tires...do a search and believe me as well, even in cold dry weather they can be a hazard.

Cheapest 18" snow tire on Tire Rack (TIRE ONLY!!): Dunlop Wintersport M3 $178 each without wheel, would need to mount and dismount each year.

Cheapest 17" WHEEL/TIRE COMBO mounted, balanced, ready to install: $216 each. By the time you mount and balance the tires above, you will have spent as much and you'll have to do it again and again.

Incase you are interested, I've got a set of 4 winter wheels/tires that were used for less than 4000 miles this past winter.

Kosei K1-TS 17x7 light grey (nice lightweight wheel) with Dunlop Wintersport M3 215/55/17 with Mazda TPMS installed. The TPMS avoids the following: not having a functional tire pressure monitoring system & having the TPMS dash light on (having to live with it or do something to cover it).

I live on Long Island and got through all the snow last winter without issue. With winter tires, the car was solid as a rock on both fresh and packed snow. The M3s also give very good dry performance being a high performance winter tire. As a bonus, with the 17 wheel and taller profile tire, you get more rubber to absorb the impacts from the wonderful broken up roads we get here during a Northeast winter.

The whole set was $1796 before shipping from TireRack last year. Wheels are clean with zero curb rash, tires have 90%+ tread, look brand new. I'm hoping to get $1200, but will consider reasonable offers. If you're in the tri-state area I could possibly deliver or meet halfway to save on the cost of shipping them. If anyone is interested I can head to the basement and snap some pics. Let me know.

Also if anyone in the NY area wants a Spare Tire Kit, I have a complete new one of those as well.