Winter Wheels...from those who KNOW about winter
 

I've read all the "winter wheel" threads on this forum...but I wanted to get the opinion of people who really know what WINTER is...Midwesterners!

What winter wheels / tires are you using? All seasons? Dedicated winter?
And where is a good place to get them for less $$$? I know TireRack will hook me up...but for about $1300 for wheels and tires. I don't have the resources right now to pony up that kind of dough.

Just hopin' for a little help from my hometown friends! :D:

EDIT:
Wheels and tires purchased, thanks to some RX8club member advice and some internet searching. Pics are on page 3.

you could pick up a set of used rx8 wheels on ebay for cheap and get tires mounted on those

I'm not very far from you. I went with PZero M+S on my wife's car and she loves them to death for all year driving. She had summer tires on her car for 2 winters and they were scary for dec-march in wisconsin.

On my car I went with a 70K miles Yokohama tire that I use for winter driving.

Both of those are front wheel drive cars what have a lot more torque than an 8 does.

I don't drive my 8 all year round.

I got my Dunlop Winter Sport M3's from Tire Rack about a week before I took delivery of my RX8 (December 03). I got 17 x 7.5 ASA rims and the tires are 225/55R17's. They work great, I don't have to swap tires on and off the stock rims, traction is awesome, the 8 is a great car in the snow. My wife said I couldn't get a winter beater, she didn't want a third car sitting outside so I had to spend the $1,300 on a set of snows. All summer both cars sit outside since the garage is filled with kids toys and kids dirt bikes, so after one year I talked her into letting me get a $1,200 pickup for the winter (and her gardening projects). I still keep the snows on the 8 in the winter in case the truck won't start and for the occasional salt free days.

I'm in Northern Illinois and run the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S (245/40/18) in the winter on the stock rims. Falken's the other 3 seasons. The Pirelli's won't be as good in deep snow as all out snow tires. But I never got had a problem last winter and they are great for those sunny dry days when you want to have fun with the car. You don't have to worry about wearing out soft snow tires.

I run Dunlop WinterSport M2's (got 'em for $380 for a set a couple years back) on my stock rims... I just swap out my tires twice a year. Eventually I'm going to get some nice lightweight 18's for my summer tires, and leave the winter tires on the heavy stockers.

This will be my third Chicago winter with this set up, and it works great... I have so much fun in the snow with this car. The Miata was slightly more fun due to being lighter, but I also spent far more time "living on the edge" when goofing around in the white stuff with it. The RX8's TCS/DSC make it more surefooted with good snow tires.

Maybe you should try the Canadian forum...I think we may know a bit about winter, too ;)

Yes, I'm sure that Canadians do know how to handle winter. But your conditions are more severe, especially in Calgary, than they are here. I think wisconsinben is looking for suggestions from people that experience conditions like he will be facing.

^ Correct...but I certainly will listen to advice from our northern neighbors. One part of my question nobody has touched on is how to get winter wheels/tires for less than the $1100 that tirerack wants.

I kinda did... my advice, if you can't or don't want to part with that much cash right now, is to get 18" snow tires and mount them on your stock wheels this winter... then worry about dedicated seasonal wheels in the spring.

Yes...you did. That is going to be my last resort. If snow comes and I haven't come up with an inexpensive alternative, I will just put snows on the stock rims and just deal with the hassle of swapping back and forth for a year or two.

It's really not too painful... only twice a year- the last two times I've scheduled it with getting recall or TSB work done at the dealer, just to knock it out at the same time. I still haven't taken mine in for the fuel tank and suspension recalls yet, so I'll have my snows mounted then... we're having such a warm November I'm not in any rush to get it done. I've got one swap left in my summer tires before the tread is gone, so that will be the point I order a nice performance tire/wheel combo for summer use.

What does it cost at the dealer for each swap?

I think Discount Tire charges me about $80 to swap, but I bought the tires there. I plan on buying some light weight alloy wheels for summer use and leaving the all-season ones on the oem.
Discount Tire has some cheap wheels. http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...All&tpc=ggaf01
These with tires should be in your price range. Especialy if you go with the 17" for the winter.

^ I don't think the rims you linked to will fit the 8...will they? They have a 9-114.3 bolt pattern...not 5-114.3. But thanks for the input...I'll check out discounttire.com more thoroughly.

I was amazed the dealer only charged $39.95 (flat rate for tire remounting and balance) even though all the other shops in town wanted $100, and these were ebay tires. The installer guys told me that it took them 1.5 hours to put those 255 35 blizzaks on and even they were worried about the TPMs.
One neat thing about this dealer is the balancing machine places the weights behind the spokes! Nice touch.

They charged $120 for the set last time... more than I wanted to spend, but I had been going to NTB where they were charging me $39 but scratching my wheels every time. The dealer does a great job, and will pick up and deliver my dismounted tires for me along with the other perks.

Hey ben, i got mine off someone who had sold their 8. you may wanna check around for people selling ...here's one i just saw. posted in a strange place, but posted nonetheless :D

odd place to post for sale stuff

I have been and will continue to scour this forum for winter wheels/tires for sale. Just haven't gotten a deal to go through yet. Thanks for the responses all.

RedSheDevil...don't think I'll be at the meet tonight. The brat stop is very close to work, but not close to home. And I don't know what I would do to kill 3 hours between work and the meet. If I can think of something worthwhile...I'll be there.

LOL, i say ...
bier and cheese! that should keep you busy!! ;)

Busy and DRUNK! :beer:

^ looks like a guinness!

ben be drunkd!! teehee

17"
 

You will have more tire and rim options if you go for a 17" wheel package, so you may find a lower price rim. Just be carefull, some of those 17" rims won't fit over the brake calipers. No matter which way you go, you must get winter tires. It will be cheaper than a collision. The OEM tires have already turned into hockey pucks with our current temperatures.