what do my fellow ms3 drivers do in the winter time?

[mazdasp33d]

i live in the northeast, yes winter is garbage and its my first time driving a fwd car so what do you guys do? do you just by two winter tires and that it? or do you buy all 4? im planning on getting new rims in the future and i would like to keep the oems for winter. what is my best bet? keep the oem tires for my new wheels? then just get a whole set of winter tires? thanks guys

 

[mazdaspeedster3]

Search... Stock speed tires are rated to 36 degrees. That means they do not work below that temp. Full set of all seasons or winter is mandatory if you get snow or ice of any kind. With a good set though they are ok. Obviously not an AWD or 4X4 but you will be fine.

 

[robin2660]

i live in the northeast, yes winter is garbage and its my first time driving a fwd car so what do you guys do? do you just by two winter tires and that it? or do you buy all 4? im planning on getting new rims in the future and i would like to keep the oems for winter. what is my best bet? keep the oem tires for my new wheels? then just get a whole set of winter tires? thanks guys

All four wheels. That's kinda like asking if you only need tread on the front wheels to avoid hydroplaning.

The car handles well in snow, with snow tires. Way back when I used to drive RWD cars exclusively, and then I bought FWD and have been that way since 1987. FWD actually performs better in snow than RWD, IMHO, because a RWD car has to push the front wheels through the snow, whereas FWD cars claw their way through and drag the rears through the track made by the fronts.

Do you really want wheels that require high-cost and limited selection winter tires? It's cheaper to buy inexpensive wheels in a smaller size with tires than it is to just buy tires for the 18"-er. 16's fit.

 

[bacarl]

Yeah, 18" snow tires are very expensive.

There are a lot of threads about snow tires, but I'll reiterate what I've said before. I priced out:
(1) 16" steel wheels with snow tires: $500
(2) 17" alloy wheels with snow tires: $900
(3) 18" snow tires for stock wheels: $700

Then I found the same 16" package on craigslist and picked it up for $250. IMO that's the best way to go, unless you care what your wheels look like in the winter. The car looks like s*** most of the time anyways so why do you need fancy wheels if they're gonna cost 900 bucks.

Definitely get all four snow tires. You need your rear wheels to be able to brake and corner too. And as mazdaspeedster was just telling me in another thread, the stock tires are a nice tire, so use them up if you can. I bought wider wheels and tires right away and am selling off my like-new stockers. In retrospect it would have been cheaper and more fun to use up the Bridgestones first then get new tires.

My advice would be to run the Bridgestones on the stock wheels, and get a new wheel/tire package when they're used up. You can opt to keep or sell the stock wheels at that point. In the meantime get a 16" steel wheel (it will fit over the brakes) and mount an inexpensive snow or all-season tire for winter.

 

[mdavis]

Easy......

I live in New Orleans.

 

[turbo23]

Ill take a snow storm over a disastrous hurricane anyday

 

[bnoon]

Yeah, 18" snow tires are very expensive.

There are a lot of threads about snow tires, but I'll reiterate what I've said before. I priced out:
(1) 16" steel wheels with snow tires: $500
(2) 17" alloy wheels with snow tires: $900
(3) 18" snow tires for stock wheels: $700

You need a 4th option if you have money saved up to spend on new wheels. I bought aftermarket 18's and mounted the stock tires to them, then sold my stock rims for $521 plus shipping on Ebay (cleaned and waxed wins every time). I then got 16" wheels that match my 18's (MB Drifter) and got clearance snow tires from tirerack for $64 each. Out of pocket for the new 18" wheels AND the new 16" wheels/tires was just about $600 for everything!!!

 

[mdavis]

Ill take a snow storm over a disastrous hurricane anyday

touche

 

[theurgy]

I store mine.. the price it costs to get winter tires and the further damage as well as mileage incurred on your car.. I'd rather buy a beater car for the winter.

That way come spring when I need to do things like change suspension parts... I'm not fighting with overly rusted nuts and bolts.

 

[mazdasp33d]

well i was thinking running the stock rims on winter tires, they just buying a new set of rims that fit the stock tires

 

[bacarl]

IMHO, if you're getting new summer wheels, go wider and put 235's on them. No sense getting new wheels and putting the same old tires on them. That'll change up the look of the car but won't gain you any performance, and I'm always a function over form kinda guy - hence the steelies, lol. And again, I would not recommend using the stock wheels in winter because it's gonna cost you like 700 bucks to wrap them in rubber.

 

[bnoon]

IMHO, if you're getting new summer wheels, go wider and put 235's on them. No sense getting new wheels and putting the same old tires on them. That'll change up the look of the car but won't gain you any performance, and I'm always a function over form kinda guy - hence the steelies, lol. And again, I would not recommend using the stock wheels in winter because it's gonna cost you like 700 bucks to wrap them in rubber.

I was going to sell my stock wheels with the tires, but in the completed items on ebay the ones with tires only went for 100-200 more than just a good set of rims alone. It made more sense for me to wear out the stock tires first on my new rims (which had only 100 miles on them), then get wider ones once they're worn out.

Get custom 18's for summer, sell the stockers, and get custom 16's for winter gets my vote.

 

[MikeHTally]

Winter? What's that?

 

[Ajburr]

sp33d we are in the same boat, I plan on getting new wheels in the spring so I ended up just paying a little extra to get the 18" snows.

I ended up ordering a set of these:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...E&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&place=2

Under 700 shipped.

 

[opt_ms3]

I found some 225/45/18 Blizzaks for 200/local pickup with 5,000 miles

 

[MicaSp33d]

well i was thinking running the stock rims on winter tires, they just buying a new set of rims that fit the stock tires

hey ... you jacked my name . .. well the sp33d part

sorry to be off topic. I don't really know much, i live in cali and we don't have much of a winter, i can basically go summer tires all year long.

 

[happy and angry]

What do I do in the winter? I drive my car. I'm running 215/50/R17 Blizzak WS60s and they handled the brutal winter we had last year wonderfully. I can't say enough good things about these tires in the winter.

Make sure you get all 4 tires, and make sure you have your tires on by the time it starts hovering around freezing, even if there isn't snow on the ground. The rubber compound in the stock tires hardens up pretty badly in the cold, and your grip will be compromised even if streets are clear.

It might be a bit of an investment up front to get a set of winter tires and rims. If you consider that it will lengthen the treadlife of both sets of tires making you have to buy new rubber about half as often, and that a new bumper or front end suspension work will cost you a lot more when you ditch it/hit a curb in a corner running the stock rubber, it's a good investment.

 

[Kurt07]

I drive my wife's Focus with a good set of winter tires. The MS3 see limited use in the winter.

 

[camrycev6]

I am simply going to buy a set of all season performance tires and be done with it. Sure, my Summer performance will suffer slightly, but since I am not racing it or taking her to the track, I doubt I will even notice.

 

[Chris08MS3]

I just ordered a set of 16" Sport wheels and Blizzak Revo's from Tirerack.