kevkranker

I have a question and i have been looking all over the web to try to figure this out. So if anyone with greater knowedge please give me your $.02.

I live in CT and the winters here aren't that bad. I might pick up a beater for the winter but i still want to drive my S most of the time. I love driving this car and i don't want it to sit in my garage. Thats no fun. It's been getting cold here in the morning and i have noticed that it does take the stock RE050's a little bit longer to warm up. SO i was looking at picking up a set of rims and winter tires.

So this is what i am looking to do. Pickup a set of ROTA Slipstream (please don't flame...They are only winter tires) and i like the Dunlop Winter Sport M3's. 16 inch rims with 205/55s in the front and 225/50s in the rear. The rims i'm looking at will be the Rota 16x6.5 with a +45 offset in front and 16x7 with a +48 offset in the rear. I wanted to do 16x7F and 16x8R but i can't find any winter tires in the 215/50/16F and 245/45/16R. The An ideal rim-width calculator says a 225/50/16 is only good for a rim thats 6-7.5" wide. thats no good for the 8" rear... So in my infinite wisdom i'm guessing that i should go with the 6.5F and 7R. To leave some kind of stager to not induce over steer.

The question is am i loosing too much traction by reducing the contact patch this much for day to day winter driving (spirited driving style)? Also does this sound like something you would do? If not please tell me what you would do.

Thanks

xviper

You should stick with the OEM sizing for snow tires (205f/225r). Those rims you stated will be fine for winter use. Winter tires will not be condusive to "spirited driving", at least not to the extent you are used to in summer with summer tires. Snow tires are simply not "performance" tires and you will sacrifice handling to some extent and cannot be expected to give you the same handling in spirited driving. That's just the nature of winter tires.

My last 5 winters were driven on OEM sized snow tires mounted on 16 X 7 rims, 44 offset all around. You should have slightly better handling since you have selected rims with a bit of staggered offset but still don't expect miracles.

kevkranker

Thanks xviper

I have an 05 and as you know they are 215/45/17F and 245/40/17R. So should i go with 17" rims??? And i wont be driving like it's summer. Nothing will perform like summer tires. BTW what kind of tires are you using? Thanks again

xviper

Go for 16" unless money is not a problem. 17" snow tires will be substantially more expensive. If you go with 17", then still consider 205f or 215f and 225r (to bite into the snow better).
For 5 winters, I ran Blizzak MZ-01 in the rear and Winter Slalom in the front. I don't normally recommend mixing brands front to rear but I had an odd set of circumstances when I bought them. Winter came 1 week after my car came and I was in a hurry. Winter Slaloms didn't come in the rear size that I needed, so I mixed them up.
I sold these last spring when a nearly new set of Michelin Pilot (Arctic) Alpins came along. These are also in OEM sizes and I'm now using the OEM 16" rims for them. I bought 17" Volks for my summer tires.

kevkranker

thanks again . i'll go with the 16s.