from what i have read,the re040 tires are bad in the snow.i have a set of 17"winter wheels on my 2000eclipse gt.can anyone out there tell me if these will fit the bolt pattern and offset on the rx-8 with the 18" wheels...?

 

click me

 

Any summer performance tire is worse than bad in the snow, they're just plain dangerous.

In temperatures under 40°F summer tires turn into hard hockey pucks that have little or no traction. The treads also do not work at all on snow. This is from experience; Audi S4s and TTs once came with 040s from the factory and many people thought since the cars had Quattro they wouldn't need snows.

The experience of most who tried was you may as well just go out and drive your car into a ditch on purpose.

People lost control of their cars at speeds as low as 10 MPH in the snow with 040s.

So yes, snow tires will be absolutely mandatory on the 8...

 

I concur. I got caught in a surprise snow storm in April in toronto with my summer setup on my car.. Took me 10 mins to get up my street/driveway.. Not a large incline either..