Quick_lude

Plus you can get a set of steelies for about $50-70 each.. refinishing alloy rims is at least that if not more. Plus you have to go through the hassle of remounting the tires every fall/spring and risking tire and rim damage. I'd rather have a seperate set of steelies/tires and do the switch myself in my garage with a proper torque wrench.

InBlackPlease

I agree that steelies are the best way to go (well after not driving it in snow that is although that can be a blast in a RWD car).

ACRX8

Do they make 18" all season tires?

Gord96BRG

Yess, but all-season tires are pretty useless. They're worse than summer tires in the summer, and they're worse than winter tires in the winter.

Bridgestone makes 18" winter tires (Blizzak LM-22, IIRC), as do several other manufacturers. Seriously, trying to "get by" on all-seasons in winter conditions is the wrong area to try to save a few $$ when you're risking your $30K+ car, not to mention your personal safety.

The ideal for winter tires is to go one or two sizes narrower (while keeping the same overall diameter), for better 'bite' - the tire will cut through the snow rather than float on it. For the RX-8, a 205 width would be ideal, but that seems to be tricky to find in the right diameter for a 16" or 17" wheel. There's a few 215 width options, and quite a few 225 width choices in winter tires.

Regards,
Gordon

Quick_lude

There is no such thing as an "all season" tire.. :p Unless you've driven driven a summer with proper summer tires or a winter with proper winter tires, you won't know the huge difference each makes over an "all season" tire in same conditions.

BillK

Not true at all.

When I owned an Audi TT I dumped the stock Bridgestone Potenza 040s for a set of Pirelli P7000 SuperSport all-weathers and never noticed any difference in summer handling compared to the stock tires.

Granted, I'm sure I would have noticed a difference on the track, but in normal everyday driving the Pirellis were every bit as good as the 040s, had excellent wet handling as well and also handled snowfalls of up to 5" without any issues (any deeper than that and "plowing" the snow with the front bumper became a bigger issue...)

FritzMan

While steelies are handier in switching tires (I can swap my wife's Volvo in 30 min using a hydraulic jack), they are definitely heavier and make a fairly dramatic difference in acceleration, braking, bump control, steering feedback (taller sidewall), and fuel efficiency. These observations are from a stock alloy Volvo rim and same sized Volvo steelie rim using the same make of winter tire (father had the same car/tires). In terms of cost savings, if you're going to pay someone to swap to steelies it would probably cost almost as much as using the stock rims and swapping tires. BTW, powder coating is approx $100 per rim in Ottawa and Montreal (good time to repair curb rashes as well).

Swapping tires on stock rims are only $50 Cdn locally, and not only make the car look better, but behave better as well. As for salt pitting etc, my FD alloys handled the double duty for 6 years without one finishing issue (did clean the car whenever I could though). I do agree that 18" winters will be expensive, but IMO well worth the benefits. To each their own I guess.