Winter Driving
 

Has anyone had an oppurtinity to drive the 8 in winter weather conditions? I am looking into buying one shortly, but living in Michigan and only being able to afford one car, I am concerned about how this car will handle in snow conditions. I haven't driven a RWD vehicle in about 6 or 7 years.

Well, yeah, considering that the RX-8 has been out for over a year now, chances are pretty good that many of us had plenty of opportunities to drive in winter conditions last winter! ;)

There are dozens of threads discussing this - here's just one to get your started in your search: First test of RX-8 in snow - it's great! Please try a search for "winter tires" and/or "winter wheels" in the Tires section and in the Canada regional section for a bunch of directly relevant threads.

Most critical - the RX-8 does just fine in winter (especially with the stability and traction control systems), as long as you install proper winter tires. The stock tires are high performance summer tires, and those tires will perform in winter conditions the same as high performance summer tires on ANY car - not at all. Fit winter tires, and all is well.

Regards,
Gordon

:p

HEY Fonz!!! :D :D

Ok, so I've checked the forum for some threads on winter tires as Gord has insisted on doing in almost all of the related threads, but I have some more questions. Will 18" winter tires be okay to use with the stock rims? Has anybody does this? And what's the approximate cost on these tires? I appriciate your suggestions.

You will find a larger, and cheaper selection of winter tires in 17" rim size. The price diference alone makes up for the cost of the rims.
Plus it's better not to remove your tires twice a year. With them mounted on extra rims you can wait till the first freeze for the change over.

http://www.1010tires.com/ & http://www.tirerack.com

are places to start looking.

Thanks for the info expo. Only one problem, I checked both sites you suggested and they either offer 18 wheels with no winter tires or 17 tires with no wheels. Have any other web sites you know of?

Give the good folks at Discount Tire Co. a call. They will hook you up. I purchased my 17" wheels there for about $90/wheel (they were on clearance) and they stock the M3 tires that everyone (including myself) are very impressed with. I am sure they are starting to stock up on winter tires already.

You get more rubber on 17" wheels and you will also be able to switch from summer to winter tires with out remounting and balancing, less risk of injuries to your wheels, less chance of scraping a rim on the curb in icy conditions (and if you do it will cost less to repair or replace the rim), 17" wheels are more narrow and give better traction in the winter, and you will be able to get your tires swapped in less time than everyone else in the busy season. :)

The only major consideration is whether or not you want the Tire Pressure Sensors on your winter wheels. If you do they run about $80/wheel and you need to get them from the dealer unless Ebay has them now. With out the TPS your low tire pressure warning will light up continuously. Other than that the car does better in the winter than my E-36 M3 did.

Come on, if you'd really searched and read you'd have found that lots of people ran 18" winter tires on their stock rims. ;) Favourite 18" winter tires were the Dunlop M3 and Bridgestone LM-22, both in the stock 225/45-18 size.

If you want 17", then you have to fool the Tire Rack site, since the 6 spd RX-8 comes with 18" wheels, they won't normally recommend a wheel diameter smaller than stock. Pick your vehicle as the RX-8 Automatic (which has 16" wheels in Base form), and you'll see 17" wheel options (25 available right now). When you select Winter Packages, then it should offer 17" wheel options for the 6 speed RX-8. Right now, they don't list those choices.

The Tire Rack site is quite clear on their winter tire selection in 18" size: . They don't get their winter wheel/tire packages ready until later in September.

Other online vendors that are very helpful are www.tiretrends.com (I purchased from them), and www.talontire.com (offered a group buy on 17" alloy wheels and winter tires last fall). Of course, both of those vendors were also mentioned extensively in prior threads! ;) (You did search in the Tires/Wheels forum section and the Canada regional section, didn't you? The forum moderators move all tire related threads to Tires/Wheels section)

Regards,
Gordon

Yeah, I guess I was just lazy. Thanks for the info though, you guys have been very helpful.

I had Blizzak LM-22's and Michelin Pilot Alpines quoted at about $1200 for a set of 4 on 17" rims for my 6-speed. I've heard these two are outstanding.

I asked my local Mazda service manager about winter driving. After a short giggle, he said "You'll want snow tires."

I've been WAITING to use that pic :)

I know you did a FINE job because I laughed my booty off at it :p

Me too!

OH! Here it is.. I think this booty is yours 93rd! It must have come off :p

Meow, I feel lazy compared to how many different avatars you have used. Like the new one? Here are some other newbie pics I plan on using in the future. Maybe the next time someone posts "what's new for 2005" :D

Excellent!