Winter Tires, 18" or 17"?
 

I'll be living in Cincinnati from now on, so I definitely need some winter tires that will be able to handle almost anything as my RX-8 will be my daily transportation to work. Looking at tirerack deals, I can either go for

17" blizzak LM-22
or
18" Dunlop winter sport M3

Performance-wise, will there be any difference with 17" and 18"? Price wise, there isn't much of a difference (about $15 different total). I'm from Las Vegas, so I know nothing about winter tires. What I do know is that after this weekend's storm and a bent fender, I want them :(

Also, this may be a stupid question, but I noticed when I was making a package, the rim thickness can be 7, 7.5, or 8". Tires will work with any of these thicknesses? If so, what would be the best?

Thank you very much.

No-one has any opinions? I really appreciate any comments as I'm totally new to this "snow" thing.

I went with 18"s Kazera KZ-A with the Dunlop M3's and have been very pleased - I drive on a lot of back roads and haven't had any issues - I do know some choose to go with 17's to gain a little more room for shedding snow, but I preferred the look of the 18's and have been thru 2 winters (this is #3) with no complaints. Rim thickness I stayed with OEM - don't recall what that is - I'm sure others know.

As far as the two tires in question, I don't have any direct experience myself with either one. But I can tell you that I got 18" snow tires, Pirelli Snow Sport 240's at Tirerack and I couldn't be happier. I really didnt want to get 17" tires and new rims, I personally felt that although the science (and user testimony) may suggest 17" tires are better in the snow, the difference from summer 18s to snow 18s would be night and day and it quite honestly was. I have no problems in slushy cold conditions or in a couple of inches of snow so far, and I have been able to get up and down my icy long driveway on an incline/decline without any problems whatsover. So maybe the 17 is slightly better, but my experience with the 18s have showed me it was plenty good for Chicago winters and if I cant drive on the road because of a blizzard, nobody else can either.

Hope this helps...

I went with 17's because the tires were cheaper and I could have them mounted on a separate set of rims. That way each season, I don’t need to have them balanced. I can just slap them on and go.

I have a set of 18" Dunlop winter sport M3 on a spare set of OEM wheels. I've had no problems driving through the snow we've had here in Northern Illinois this year so far.

17" A bit better clearance, a bit narrower. and less expensive.

go with 17's. More rubber and a narrower tire will allow you to "cut" thru the snow.

So your looking for a 17" or 18" tire for your 18" wheels?

Yep need new wheels if yor going with 17"

I live in Cincinnati too (Actually Hamilton area) I just put on winter 18" tires on my factory rims. I got the tires from Tire Rack. They are the Pirelli Winter 240 SnowSport Performance Winter tires. I absolutely love them. I had the SPT Kuhmo summer tires on before and the I got stuck in a 1" of snow.:banghead:

These new winter tires work well. And the Pirelli's are quieter.

Oh I forgot, the Pirelli's are the cheapest 18" snow tire (on clearance) and, of course, you will need to get new summer rims :)

Oh, I'm getting new wheels either way because I'll be living there from now on, and I don't want to deal with mounting every seasonal change. The available packages (tire+wheel) for 18" and 17" are very close in price at tire rack so I was trying to figure out if there was a difference in performance. I suppose if I'm not going to mount on the OEM rims, I might as well go for the 17" since it seems it might get (even slightly) better performance... Then again... 18" wheels look so much better on this car...

Dunlop M3s on 18s are DA BOMB. They've gotten me though multiple inches of snow for the past 4 years.

Overall, the 17" winter wheel and tire combo is the lowest cost way to go especially if you change over your own wheels