Help me pick some winter duds for the FRS

I've dicked around for about a week too long now on ordering snow tires for the FRS. Couple inches in the forecast tonight with  another chance of snow later in the week, and the XJ hit Craigslist yesterday and I've already got several actually serious inquiries. I'm actually putting off a guy who wants to come look at it tonight with cash in hand so I can drive it to work in the snow tomorrow. So I'll be placing an order with Tire Rack sooner rather than later - i.e. like tonight. 

My dilemma is do I go cheap and just throw some steelies on it...

...which I'm not really a fan of at all on this particular car. Or do I pony up for a cheapish set of alloys. I'm liking the Sparco Terras myself, for a bit of a rally vibe with the chunky winter meats, and debating between white or gray (my car is the same color as the first one below, btw.) 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Really I'm just looking for some enabling  

On a more substantive note, what tires? Probably going with a 205/55-16, for which Tire Rack offers the Blizzak WS80, Conti Wintercontact SI, Dunlop Winter Max, Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice, Michelin X Ice, Pirelli Winter Cinturato, Firestone WInterforce 2, Goodyear Ultra Grip Winter, and Uniroyal Tiger Paw Ice and Snow. I had a couple sets of Blizzaks on my E36 in the past and they always were great until they got to about half tread and then they weren't. I seem to remember we like the Firestones around here, so leaning that way. I'm in south central PA so we see a little bit of everything during winter months.

Alloys and snow/salt/crud don't mix. Unless you're into masochism and slow leaks.

Personally, I'd go with alloys (even cheap ones).  Lighter than steelies, they don't rust, etc.  I've never had issues with alloys corroding and leaking in the winter.  Except for one set that sees rallycross duty and is a very abused, nasty looking set of alloys to start with (plenty of flaking paint, etc.).  Those ones usually seem to need the tires re-mounted and the beads cleaned up every 2 years or so, as they start leaking at some point during the summer while they're sitting.  Not sure if it's rallycross crud getting jammed in there or corrosion though. 

For tires, if you're not planning to run studs, skip the Winterforce, Tiger Paw and anything else in that list that is studdable.  Those are usually biased a bit more towards deep snow (in terms of tread pattern) and tend to have harder rubber, as they expect to rely on the studs for ice traction, so they're not as good on ice and polished hardpack when un-studded. 

I've heard good things about the Wintercontact SI, although they're supposedly pretty mushy feeling.  The X Ice Xi3 is good as well.  And the WS80 is right up there with the best performance-wise. 

White Terras would look ace. As for winters, Discount Tire has Hakkapeliitta R2s in your size. If you want to stick with Tire Rack stuff, the WS80 is awesome.

In reply to Furious_E :

I would go with the white Sparco Terra's, But I am a little bit prejudiced.

And they do hold up well to all kinds of use.

I've always run my snows on minus-sized alloys and haven't had any significant issues. As for tires, I have the WinterContactSIs on my 128i now. They are a bit mushy, but they've gotten better with a few thousand miles. Colder temps help too. They're not objectionable for the commute (which tends to run at 75-80).

Aren’t there a multitude of nice oem wheels to fit frisbees on the cheap? Those in a minus size and whatever new snows you can get your hands on.  

I doubt they are any lighter than steel, but +1 white terras.  I am a bit biased also.

The Terras are  are almost 7lbs per wheel lighter than the 16" steelies listed on Tire Rack, so actually quite a bit lighter.

In reply to Hal :

Very nice! 

In reply to 84FSP :

Yes, and while this would probably be the sensible thing to do I just haven't found any OE styles that I like much better than steel wheels on the Frisbees.    

Meh, I'd be looking for a cheap set of the stock wheels. 

It's the winter wheels, I wouldn't be too concerned with looks.

Maybe the Firestones were the ones we liked for rally x then? Idk thought I remembered hearing positive things about them.

I certainly wouldn't mind another set of Blizzaks, they were phenomenal while they worked, just had to plan on replacing them sooner. The 'Stones are also the highest rated on Tire Rack. Would be interested to hear from someone who has had both the Blizzaks and the Michelins or Contis. 

Hakkas I hear great things about for serious winter tires, but seem to be a bit more compromised than what I need. On average, we get maybe 10 snowy days per year, with a handful of serious snows. If it's that bad I can always call off work. 

What would you think about a 195/60 16 instead of the 205/55? They're 0.3" taller than the 205s, and 0.5" taller than stock, and 1" narrower than either. Probably better in the snow, but i wonder how much dry performance would suffer and how much squishier they might feel. Tires are a good bit cheaper, though, almost $30/ea for the Blizzaks.

The Hakka R2s aren't bad to drive on pavement.  Not the mushiest snow I've seen by any means (although they are a bit mushy) and they're fairly quiet.  Dry pavement traction isn't bad either.  And unlike a lot of the other softer studless snows, they don't chunk themselves to bits at a rallycross. 

Just priced the Hakkas, so nevermind that...

I had the terras on my 2.5rs and love the look. I'm also weird and love the look of steelies. Can you get general altimax arctics in the correct size?

+1 on Altimax Arctic, if available in your size.  Per rslifkin’s recommendation, as they are a studdable tire, you’ll want to have them studded for ice traction.  I have a set on the TSD rally Civic for winter use and they are incredible.  The last two checkpoints at this past weekend’s rally were glare ice, to the point I was doing an old man shuffle just to get from the car to the checkpoint without going ass over teakettle (which still nearly happened).  Once I got my time and shuffled back to the car, it just drove away like it was no big deal.

When I burn these up (which looks like it’s going to take awhile), I will be replacing with the same.

Get stock wheels. They're cheap and work well enough. You might even score them with TPMS. I got them for my GFs Crosstrek for $250 I think. Hell, look around and you might even find em with winter tires on em.

My BRZ has 215/55/17 WS80 Blizzaks. It looks a bit ballon-tired but it does provide some extra clearance and the WS80s are godly in the snow/ice.

As for actual tire choice, would you rather have insane winter/ice performance or give some of it up for road feel? South Central PA isn't the same as Rochester so if I were you (and I sort of am... I'm in SEPA with a BRZ) I'd opt for a performance winter tire instead, like a Pirelli Sottozero.

The firestones are a decent tire but won't hold a candle to an XIce or Blizzak. The Yoko IceGuards are also very good for the price.

I'm running the Conti WinterContact SI as well on my Subaru Baja. Absolutely love them.

I've had both Blizzaks and X-Ices; both on a heavy RWD vehicle and on a welterweight FWD vehicle (Lexus LS400 and GS430 and Mazda6). I also had Blizzaks on a Miata. Both tires performed very well and I think you'd be happy with either one. I think the X-ice was louder on dry pavement, but that never bothered me. The traction in slush and snow was excellent for both of them. I'd say the Blizzaks had better poor weather traction but that's so difficult to nail down going by memories instead of head to head tests.

If I was ordering the tires now, I would go Blizzaks - and did when it came up last year. But if the X-ice was a lot cheaper I would have to think long and hard about it.

As far as wheels, I love the look of steel wheels in the winter. But the alloys suit your car better, and I would choose gray! I love the way that one looks with the gray wheels on it. Finding an OEM set might be cheaper but you're going to be hours into searching and then you can't order the tires mounted and balanced. The time and cost of mounting and balancing are worth a LOT to me, so I wouldn't bother. Then again TPMS is an issue so ... that's a judgement call.

TPMS isn't really that big of an issue. It just sets off a light on the 86.

Blaise said:

TPMS isn't really that big of an issue. It just sets off a light on the 86.

Yes, but it's damn annoying. And as far as I know, the twins have to have new sensors synced up to the car at the dealer or a shop. 

Damn annoying isn't worth $75/corner to me :)

I'm sure you can find the tpms sensors on eBay for cheap.  I was able to get a complete set (so all four) for my previous Porsche Cayenne for $60 shipped from eBay and they worked fine.  This compared to $125 each at the dealer.

Blizzaks are good, I'm running Hakka R2's now and they're quite good on dry pavement, but that's also in my cayenne, not a sporty runabout.

The Artic Altimax's are pretty awesome, I've run them before as well.

I have used winter tires from Blizzak, Michelin, Conti and Yokes. 

First the biggest decider for me was how much snow would I experience. For many years I lived in Detroit and we didn't get much snow but the most likely conditions I ran into was in the suburbs where there would be weeks of ice from the snow being compacted and freeze thaw. I found the freeways and major roads were usually dry after a day or two.

What I found helped me choose was the speed rating. I found the Q and T rated Blizzaks to not perform well if you only get periodic snow. The majority of dry pavement driving at normal speeds would cause unusually high wear even on a non spirited commute. The H and V rated tires would last better and also handle the snow and ice. I think the Blizzak M or LM or something like that. The Conti's at the time were terrible and I actually returned them after the first week and got some Michelins. They Michelins were rather good but the particular once I had at the time were odd on just wet pavement. They would drive like I was on ice instead of above freezing rain. But I did ride with a friend that had another model Michelins that were much much better. Again Read up on which winter tire fits your winter.  I used Yoke performance winter tires to rallycross but they also served duty as winter tires. They were probably the best tire of all of the ones I used. 

Out by Ottawa they just seemed to have a constant layer of snow and ice all season so the Q and T rated tires performed best. I also didn't have to drive on dry freeway there. 

When I ended up working in the DC area in the past 10 years there have been ridiculous blizzards out there. Being from Michigan I knew from the weather report that I needed to get some proper tires on the car. In that region I found very little ice mostly just lots of snow or no snow. So I think I ended up with a set of Blizzaks on my daughters car as she only went to school and back. And a set of Yoke iceguards on my car. The Blizzaks WS were great for her low speed commute and the Yokes handled my one hour commute fine. I just had to stay below 65 and they were happy. 

I think winter tires are the best for most winters but I have found the Conti ExtremeContact DWS 06 to be amazingly good. Unless you are trudging through a foot of snow on a scheduled route I would just get some of the DWSs.