Turbo1.8

Just put a deposit on a dealer allocation and ordered the manual tranny in Nordic Green with sport package.

Are the tires all season or summer tires (my guess)?

First question my wife asked when she found out it was RWD was winter traction. My intent has been to get snow tires. We get just enough snow in central OH that it's probably a good idea (especially if the tires are summer tires).
This brings me to my next question. Does anyone know the bolt pattern for the RX 8 wheels. If the patterns are the same, I have some 16" wheels from my current car that I would save for the RX so it wouldn't look totally crappy with the snow tires on it. :D

Thanks

jtdwab

First congradulation on the car. Second do some hunting and you can find a video of the RX-8 in testing in Europe somewhere during the winter.

As using your snow tires, what car did you order? If you choose a sport or touring model then you got larger discs and I don't believe they will take a 16" wheel. If I remember their was a statement that the brakes rotor diameters were set so a standard 17" wheel with snow tires would fit. You might be able to find that in the press kit info (also around here somewhere).

zoom44

here ya go clicky-clicky

OmegaBob

I know this is a stupid question, but here goes...

I'm also planning on getting winter tires & wheels for my 8. Once the winter season starts, will I just have to jack up my car and swap the tires out myself or do I need to take the car to a garage? I'm thinking that DIY is the correct answer...

The reason I ask is b/c I know nothing about tires (obviously) and this will be my first experience with getting a separate set for winter. What about balancing, etc.

zoom44

around here if you bought your snows at a "Les Schwab" tire place they will change them out for you for the life of the tires.

Vaillant

If you're talking about swapping different tires on the same set of rims, that's probably best left to the pros, unless of course you've got a balancer at home...

If you are putting a different set of wheels and tires, then you can do it at home. An okay jack and jackstands shouldn't run much more than $30.

OmegaBob

Yep! This is what I meant. I'll have two sets of rims & tires (winter & summer)

Kewl, thanks for the info! :D

Turbo1.8

OmegaBob,
I plan on doing it myself. With a decent floor jack it's pretty easy. I wouldn't worry about balancing, the tires should be balanced when they are mounted on the wheels. My only suggestion is to mark the tires so they can be put back on the same corner later (LR,LF,RR,RF). Every time I've had tires rotated at least one of them gets noisy. Most people thinks I'm nuts but I think tires take a "set". I'll never rotate again. Just my opinion.

Rich

OmegaBob,
On my Miata, I use the summer tires for most of the winter and just put the Blizzaks on when it looks like it'll snow. Last winter I probably did the change over about every 2-3 weeks, and was never on the snow tires for more than a week. It took me about 45 minutes to do everything, and I was just using the jack that came with the car. I realize that's a bit nuts, but the car was just so much more fun to drive on the summer tires that I couldn't stand to go all winter on snow tires. I bought the car so I could enjoy driving, and I just didn't enjoy driving on dry pavement with snow tires. Now driving on snow in snow tires... :D That's fun! I'd be all over ice autocrossing if there wasn't the darn rule about a rollbar for convertibles.

The point (and there is a point) is that you can easily do it yourself. I would very strongly recommend getting a torque wrench. You can damage alloy wheels if you tighten them too much. They're not too expensive ($50-$100, IIRC?) and actually can make the job easier with the longer arm.

BillK

Just a hint if you didn't already know it - though the Blizzaks are of course dedicated snow tires, you should really be running snow/winter tires whenever the ambient temp is below 40°F, as the rubber compound in summer performance tires hardens and effectively turns them into large rolling hockey pucks in the cold with very little road traction, regardles of whether there's actual snow/ice on the road or not...

Rich

I noticed a very slight reduction in traction when it's cold, but not much. It always goes away after I've been on the road for 2-3 minutes. There is absolutely no comparison whatsoever between the traction of the summer tires and the winter tires in the cold though, the summer tires just kill the snows! Once they're warm, and it only takes a few minutes, they drive just like they do in the summer.

Besides, traction isn't the only (or main) difference. The blizzaks are mushy feeling, don't communicate, and wander all over the road. It almost feels like I'm driving a truck.

OmegaBob

Wow! Thx for all the info guys! Much appreciated! I'll print out all of these replies for future reference.

btw - what's the max speed for the Blizzaks?

(Sorry, I hijacked the thread)

Rich

I wouldn't go very fast on the Blizzaks. They're a hardcore snow/ice tire, and absolutely suck at everything else. I drove at about 65 mph (in the dry sections) on my way up to go skiing last winter on them, but I wouldn't push it much past that. There is actually a huge variety in the strengths and weaknesses of snow tires. Some, like Blizzaks, trade everything for maximum performance in snow and ice. Since I only use mine in snow and ice, that's what I wanted. I also had a bad experience with a snow tire that was also decent in the dry. What a mistake! They sucked in the snow, although they were fine in the dry. They were Michelin Alpins. They come in two models, one with a higher speed rating than the other. We got the higher speed rating one and they were not much better than all-season tires in the snow. For my money, I want an all out snow tire. Blizzaks come in a speed rated model as well, but I didn't want to take that chance again.

Sorry if I helped take this thread off topic, but I think the originator got his answer.

Gord96BRG

Blizzaks are also not necessarily the ultimate in winter tires - Bridgestone just has the biggest advertising budget for their winter tires! They are notoriously mushy and sloppy feeling on dry pavement, and their dual-layer tread compound means they wear quicker and won't last nearly as many winters as other winter tires can.

Michelin, Toyo, Nokian, Pirelli, etc. all make excellent winter tires - some models that match the ice grip of Blizzaks, some that exceed the snow grip of Blizzaks, almost all which handle on dry pavement better than Blizzaks.

Size for the RX-8 will be tricky - ideally, you want to keep the same overall diameter as the summer tires, but go one or two widths narrower. A contact at Mazda checked for me and said that the RX-8 16" wheels would in fact fit over the larger brakes of the Sport package (that is delivered with 18" wheels), but I'd want to see that confirmed before I start buying someone's take-off 16" wheels!

Regards,
Gordon

OmegaBob

Can I assume that 16" wheels and tires would be less expensive than the 18" (and easier to find as well)?

Rich

I agree 100%, Gord, and I don't think I ever implied that they are the ultimate winter tire. There is no such thing - the best tire in ice probably isn't the best tire in snow, and the best at either of those is going to be worse on dry pavement than a snow tire that trades snow performance for dry performance. I tried to make that point in a previous post, but it never hurts for more than one person to drive the point home. I believe (and I certainly could be wrong!) that there are very few non-studded tires that can match the ice performance of the Blizzaks (my #1 concern) and not too many that beat its combination of ice/snow performance.
They're horrible in the dry though, and are a bad choice for anyone who wants an all-winter tire and drives most of the time on dry pavement. Mine are used on snow and ice exclusively, and the Bridgestone dealer is about 2 blocks from my house, so I thought they were right for me. I've been extremely happy with their performance for my needs, but they would be the wrong tire for someone with different needs.

16" wheels and tires will certainly be less expensive than 18s, but you need to make sure they will fit over the brakes. You may find that some 16s will fit and others won't, or you may find that no 16s will fit. Someone who knows more than I do about fitting wheels over brakes would be better suited to answer that question.

Gord96BRG

No problem - the way you use them, they probably are the ultimate! I'd agree they seem to be tops on ice, and very good on snow.

Despite my preferences, I may very well end up getting a Blizzak model for the RX-8 anyway - winter tire selections in a 215/xx-17 or 215/xx-16 (I forget the exact profile needed to keep the same diameter as OEM) are not that great, and an LM-22 might be the best bet!

You're right about fitting 16" wheels over the big brakes - my contact said the RX-8 16" wheels would fit (and even then I'm sceptical), but I'd expect more aftermarket 16" wheels would not fit than would fit. Anyone considering using 16" wheels should be very careful that they clear the front brakes before buying. I'm sure that once cars start hitting the streets, we can confirm the 16" RX-8 wheels fitting over the big brakes and start compiling a list of suitable aftermarket wheels for winter use!

Regards,
Gordon