Performance snow tires

What's a good performance snow tire ?

They need to be 215/45/18 or close to that because of clearance issues.

I'm running just shy of 300 lbs torque in a FWD, so they need to be pretty grippy as I'm planning on doing a fair bit of skiing this year.

So you've got a FWD that has brakes SO LARGE that you have to run 18"s? What car? On the Mazda Canada RX8 we ran at pines we didn't have time to downsize the brakes but Mazda atleast came up with 17" wheels which still sucked for running snow tires. My brother is driving his RX8 with 18" snows and the sidewalls are just WAY to stiff to be any good. (scary, scary car in the snow). Best bang for the buck in snows IMO is the Hankook I-pike. 90% as good as Hakka's at 60% of the cost. But seriously why 18's on a FWD?

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Gone fishing

It's a Mazdaspeed3 and it came with 18's from the factory.

You've brought up an interesting point. I'm not 100% certain that a smaller wheel will not fit.

18"s are just silly on that car and I mean summer too. See what wheels you can get on there. Cost of wheels will be offset by the money you're saving on rubber.

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Gone fishing

I've heard (read on da intarweb, actually) of someone running 16's for some drag radials, but they may well have had some gigantoid offset. i believe that the speed3 brakes are bigger than the regular3 brakes, so you might be stuck with a minimum of 17's for the car. Unless you downsize the brakes, then you can use 16's maybe. 15's are right out, which is too bad, because the size of the car is just right for them, in my mind.

Mr. B, aka Lurch, probably knows, but I don't think he's really running stock brakes on the 3 he races..

But I like Nokian Hakkapellita tires, and Bridgestone Blizzaks, and cheapo Winterforce tires that I've got on my 747 K-Car seem to be good, and the old Dunlop Graspics I have on my current (Mazda)Escort are going through their 4th winter, and have been good to me, at ice races too...

--sarge

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---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **---
Jorden R. Kleier
Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA
1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD
1973

215/45/18? wow, that's a narrow 18" tire. Out of curiosity, what did you go with?

I'm a big fan of this winter tire:
http://tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Dunlop&tireModel=SP+Winter+Sport+3D

but they don't go any less than 235 on the width, not sure if that helps you.

but its a V rated snow tire, great traction in snow/dirt, not loud, great on the dry highway, decent tread wear.

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Jon Burke - KI6LSW
Blog: http://psgrallywrx.blogspot.com/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2008 05:07PM by Jon Burke.

215/45/18 snow tires? Dude, you could go buy a '93 Impreza and a brand new set of 175/70/14's and still have extra.

nokian hakkapolitas

or

michelen pilot sport alpins

not sure if either come in 18". Too large a wheel size IMHO.

measure from the center of the hub out to the top of the brake caliper. Get that measurement and check that against the inside of some 16 or 17 wheels. Probably your best bet.

I'd get a smaller wheel and tire package for the winter if I were you. Keep your summer tires on your 18's and keep them out of the snow.

just my 2 cents

-michael lecompte

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Michael LeCompte

I know for sure that you can get the Bridgestone Blizzaks in an 18" size, a friend of mine got them for his RX-8. One of the smartest things he's ever done when it comes to his cars, actually buy some snowtires.

I was just looking around, at mazda3club.com in particular, and from a few other links, it seems that 16" wheels will fit on the 2007 MazdaSpeed3.

TireRack.com even has a link that has a winter package changeover, for 18s, 17s, or 16s. http://www.tirerack.com/snow/changeover.jsp is the link..

16s might be handy, since you could just go to a junkyard and get some 16" steelies from a mazda6.

--sarge

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---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **---
Jorden R. Kleier
Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA
1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD
1973

AaronJMcConnell Wrote:
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> 215/45/18 snow tires? Dude, you could go buy a
> '93 Impreza and a brand new set of 175/70/14's and
> still have extra.

That's pretty much what I told a friend of mine looking for winter hoops for his RX-8. Except, I recommended a Golf. (He has kind of a thing against Subarus)

It's scary when you do the math. $300+ea for tires, or $500 car and $250 for tires...

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

Not a big fan of Blizzaks. I've got a set of last years model. Predictable. Predictably slippy that is. They did get me over Stephens Pass with the worst icy roads ever seen. Barely.

In the snow they're great. Can't get them to slide if you want. But ice (which is usually what we get around here) they're marginal at best.

This is true. I think it really depends on your location, and how they treat the roads, as to what tire you should get, as in a hakka or graspic or something for icy conditions, or a blizzak or winterforce for more snowy conditions.

That being said, nearly ANY purpose made snowtire (make sure it's got the alpine mountain/snowflake symbol) will have better grip on snow and/or ice than a regular all-season tire will, just because of the rubber compound itself being designed to work at 45°F or lower.

--sarge

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---** To be in compliance with the Anarchy **---
Jorden R. Kleier
Baraboo, Wisconsin, USA
1990 Mazdog Protege 4WD
1973

Hakkis or Goodyear Eagle Ice are great. I ran on the GY's for a long time rallyxing, they are great. I just bought a set of Hakkis for my Wife's outback, barely used on Craigslist, $100, a steal for a set of 4 16". They work awesome!

Cable

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Cable Rhodes
Boise, Idaho
'87 Mazda RX-7 Turbo