A Tire/Wheel Conundrum

So, I am trying to figure out appropriate winter shoeing for her cars and mine. I'm already out in Columbus, OH. In a few weeks, she will finally be out here from California as well. We are trying to figure out who will be driving what cars, on what tires, when.

Columbus gets some snow and ice, but nothing crazy. I think the most I've seen in one day is like 3", and it doesn't tend to stick around for very long.

The cars:
AWD Astro van (mine) - currently driving around town now. Allows my California self to laugh at the difficulties native Ohioans are having with snow.
RX8 (hers) - 17" wheels just got new summer tires on it not too long ago.
S2000 (mine) - 16" wheels in need of new tires. I kinda want to jump up to 17" wheels for more tire options so that I can use it to compete in autocross. Tire rack has only 2 140 treadwire tires in appropriate sizes.
The two cars have the same bolt pattern, but not the same hub size. Not sure about offset. The S2000 is lower mileage and in nicer shape.

Us: I am definitely the more competent and confident driver. Our work schedules will not necessarily line up. She works a normal 8-5 type schedule. I may be on 8-5, but am more likely to be on 6-3 or 11-8. I can probably ask for a specific shift on a day that is going to have bad weather though.

Options:
Simplest - One of us drives the RX8 on the current summer tires and the other the Astro for the winter. If it snows too much to want to drive the RX8 to work, she can either work from home for the day, or I request a middle shift so that we can carpool in the van.
Next simplest - I put some blocky-ish all season tires on the current 16" wheels of the S2000. I drive that and she drives the van. Come summer, I hunt for some 17" wheels with good rubber for autocross.
More complicated - I track down some used 17" wheels with winter tires to throw on the RX8. Come summer, I decide whether to re-shoe the 16" wheels of the S2000, or hunt down some 17".

Thoughts?

Hell, your complicated sounds like the ticket as it sounds like you want 17s for the S2000 eventually. I know what you mean about more tire options with 17s. I never really mess with RX8s or S2000s but I would assume they are similar offset as most newer RWD cars.

Here's a thought, what about finding some used all seasons for the S2000's 16s until later?

Check into the bore size needed to fit both the RX8 and S2000. Then find a cheap set of narrow 16s that will work on either car and get decent snow tires for them. Even a used set of snows with some life left won't set you back very much but they make a world of a difference. Based on the condition of the cars you say the S2000 is nicer, and those convertible tops aren't the best at keeping heat in, I'd run the RX-8.

The snows for my integra set me back $90, and my camaro $150. Both used with plenty of life left, and both mounted on wheels.

No chance of just garaging the S2000 for the winter and getting a cheap set of rotas and snow tires for the Mazda?

Lancer007 wrote: No chance of just garaging the S2000 for the winter and getting a cheap set of rotas and snow tires for the Mazda?

That is option 3.

The other kicker with option 3 is, if the Baroness decides she is intimidated by driving a RWD car in winter and would rather drive the van, convincing her to let me use her car instead of my own... which shouldn't be too tough, because she would be driving my car.

I don't know what the inside bore is to clear the brakes on the RX8. How much should I budget for tires? Rather than buying spare wheels, do we just take the car to a shop, have appropriate tires mounted and balanced, and then just pay for having mounting again in the summer?

Also, what sort of winter tires do we want? Do we go full on snow tires? The roads are actually pretty clear most of the time.

I like my general altimax arctics this winter. on all seasons you are probably way ahead of the idiots I see on the roads every day.

Columbus generally doesn't see enough snow for most people to know how to drive in it let alone buy dedicated snow tires.

Go with option more complicated. I have a set of 17" sparaco DS1's with ~50% tread nokians that came off a RX-8 and have Mazda TPMS sensors in them. She can pick them up from my house on the way from California in east central IL (off I74 champaign) for say $375. Available immediately.. Also fit WRX.

So for the more complicated option:

Do I want full on winter/snow tires for whichever car? Or just decent all seasons or better?

Find a cheap set of wheels online and have them shoed? Or just buy winter tires and pay to have them remounted on wheels in fall and spring?

Kinda leaning towards just buying these. Probably cheaper than buying a set of four tires anyway: http://columbus.craigslist.org/pts/4234945995.html

The mismatch is kinda odd. I figure put the snow tires on the driven wheel.

Get a full set of winters for any car that gets driven in the winter. Tires are cheaper than fenders. Remounting every year gets expensive fast and is a pain in the patootie. As a bonus, your summer tires will last twice as long!

Either buy a damn good all season like the Continental DWS for the RX-8 or the S2000, or a second set of wheels/winter tires for one of the two cars. You really don't want to drive on summer tires when its cold out, unless you like not having any traction. At least neither car has much torque to worry about.

Yes you want really probably want real winter tires in winter on your RWD sports car (it's more about rubber compounds that like cold weather than tread patterns), and yes I heartily recommend the General Arctic Altimaxes that are good enough for my Mustang in Alaska (though you probably don't need or aren't allowed to have them studded).

Nitroracer wrote: Check into the bore size needed to fit both the RX8 and S2000. Then find a cheap set of narrow 16s that will work on either car and get decent snow tires for them.

A 16" won't clear the brakes on a RX-8. Some 17" rims barely clear.

The ones on Craigslist look like a reasonable answer. I have driven my S2000 in the snow on all seasons and it was a chore. I would use the Astro and the RX8.

Have you thought about garaging the nice cars and buy a winter beater for the same price as snow tires.

gofastbobby wrote: Have you thought about garaging the nice cars and buy a winter beater for the same price as snow tires.

This, but you'll still want said beater to be on snow tires. Since the S2000 already needs tires anyway I would buy snows for that and get your 17"/summer tires in the spring. Used wheels for snows for the Mazda should be cheap to find since I'm pretty sure most modern FWD Mazda wheels are bolt-ons. Snows for the Astro can probably be found mounted for under $200 on CL.

Bottom line is when it snows, nothing beats snow tires. All-seasons aren't worth a damn in snow and aren't really that good in the summer either. Unless you have zero storage there is no excuse not to have some cheap used wheels with snows for all your cars living that far north.

I lived in Columbus for 3 years, lived in Reynoldsburg worked in Hillard, drove across the city every day, never needed snow tires. Had/still have cheap Goodyear Viva Walmart crap tires on the Volvo. First two years the Jetta was on the factory Bridgestone Turanzas, I replaced those with Continental DWS.

I think you might be a little too paranoid, the road crews do an excellent job of getting the main roads clear quickly. Most of the suburbs are pretty swift on clearing too. Moving from Arkansas, where we have very little infrastructure for Winter weather, to Ohio was a huge eye opener. In AR an inch of snow/ice will shut things down for a day or two, in OH it's but a minor annoyance.

I worked as a Nissan service advisor while in Columbus, we serviced plenty of 350/70Zs that were year round cars with no winter tires, also had quite a few Infiniti customers with G sedans & coupes that were year round cars with all season tires.

Winter tires would be nice for the handful of times you might need them, but a decent set on all seasons would be more than sufficient in my opinion and save you from swapping tires seasonally. We've put about 32K miles on those DWS and I still love them.

• Lee

Junkyard_Dog wrote:

gofastbobby wrote: Have you thought about garaging the nice cars and buy a winter beater for the same price as snow tires.

This, but you'll still want said beater to be on snow tires. Since the S2000 already needs tires anyway I would buy snows for that and get your 17"/summer tires in the spring. Used wheels for snows for the Mazda should be cheap to find since I'm pretty sure most modern FWD Mazda wheels are bolt-ons. Snows for the Astro can probably be found mounted for under $200 on CL. Bottom line is when it snows, nothing beats snow tires. All-seasons aren't worth a damn in snow and aren't really that good in the summer either. Unless you have zero storage there is no excuse not to have some cheap used wheels with snows for all your cars living that far north.

All of that.

It took a few near hits on "good all seasons" before I finally bit the bullet and got a set of snows, you'll never go back.

Park the sports cars, pick up a Corolla, Prizm, Cavalier, random POS W body, escort, etc. Install a set of narrow Altimax Artics on junkyard steel wheels. No more worries about traction or car cancer.

We do not have the space for another car. We already have four cars and a motorcycle. The Astro is the beater, and has been working really well for me. Most of the time we will be able to just use it. I am just trying to figure out the best option for times when we really want to take two separate cars to work. If things do get really E36 M3ty, we can make it work to just use the Astro.

Edit: And WTF is with the front hub size on the S2000? The rear is a pretty standard size (64.1mm), but the front is a whopping 70.1mm.

Snow tires on the s2000 16s will be fine, then get you a set of 17s with sticky tires when the weather warms up.

Fair warning: s2k's have goofy offsets, so do your research before ordering your 17s.

She says she would prefer to be able to drive her RX8 in the winter. If she wants to do that and let me garage the S2000, I'm fine with that. But it means finding wheels that will fit that car. I'm not seeing anything in 18" wheels on craigslist with winter tires in an appropriate size (some like SUV size tires). I am seeing potential 17" wheels. I just don't know how big the internal diameter on those has to be to clear the front brakes.

Anyone know anything about if 17"s will clear on an RX8?

I have 17" rims w/snows that came off an rx-8. I have friends with rx-8 I can probably get them to try them to verify.

In reply to nocones:

That would be great. I was going to meet a guy this afternoon to buy some the 17" wheels I linked to earlier (all seasons on front, snows on back. Worst-case, I buy two new snow tires for them).

You want snows on the front and back.

EvanB wrote: YOU WANT SNOWS ON THE FRONT AND BACK!!!!!!!!!

Fixed. This cannot possibly be overstated.

How bad would it be on snow tires to do a cross-country trip on them that is 90% non-snow (or even fairly warm)? I bet we could talk her parents into buying a set of wheels and tires and install them before leaving on our California to Ohio road trip. We're planning to travel south and go across on hwy 10 or 40 instead of through the mountains on 80.

We wouldn't have to worry about potentially getting stuck half a day south of Columbus. Summer wheels and tires could get shipped with the rest of our stuff.

The Rx8's I see up here dissolve the same as pretty much all the other mazdas in their lineup.Any of them over 3 yrs old have started down the road to dissapearing.