I was just wondering what winter tires does everyone recommend? It's getting cold here in Jersey finally, well kinda, and I want to be ready for the first snow. So please if anyone has any recommendations let me know. Also what sizes you are running these winter tires on the stock IXers... Thanks!

 

Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50

 

Depends if you want to spend $$$ or $...if your cheap the Hankook W300 are a good choice. If you got the money Nokian RSi for sure.

 

Stock tires are 235/45/17

The Blizzak's are probably your best bet, but I was quoted $700 for tires + mount/balance.

I opted to go with Hankook Icebear W300 from DiscountTireDirect.com for $424 shipped and I'll be under $500 after mount/balance

 

I guess you aren't familiar with www.tirerack.com yet. No prob... I've been telling a lot of family members about it over the holiday. They have great tire reviews and tests for all performance categories and they will definately be the cheapest place to buy tires. They will show you what winter tire is on top right now. They consistantly offer the same exact tire for ~ $40-$50 less per tire than places like Discount Tire.

 

They are a good choice. I'm on my second season with them and will be able to run them next season as well. Only complaint is no real wheel lip protection. Other than that you wont be disappointed.

You sound like an advertisement.

Anyone who frequents this board knows of TireRack. the reviews dont help most because they arent coming from an evo or sti owner. TireRack and Discount Tire only have a few of the same tires....I've never bought from them because I always find it cheaper D.T.

 

Ha, I knew I did.

A tire shouldn't perform drastically different just because an evo driver didn't try it or review it. You evidentally don't read reviews on there... if you did you would see a lot of Evo, WRX, S4, Porsche, BMW etc reviews of the top rated tires. Are you saying that you only read reviews from Evo boards and think that dedicated tire distributors that do a lot of testing, competitions, comparisons, and reviews are full of crap?

Furthermore, I'm an avid sportbike rider and I used to roadrace... Should I only trust tire reviews from other riders that only ride my make and model bike? Hell no! That's dumb.

 

The original poster didn't ask where to find reviews from your buddies at tirerack. He asked about snow tires.



Yes I'm saying 75% of the reviews are crap. Yes a tire will perform different on two different cars. The bar is already set really high since the Evo has A046's. So a guy reviewing the S-03 may think its an amazing stiff tire, while the Evo owner will feel it has a soft sidewall. I'm not going to go to far with this cause its obvious where its heading.

Now there are some reviews I've seen there that are helpful and they did come from 911 owners, Impreza owners and so forth. Tire shoot-outs on performance cars are different from a personal review with no details of how the driver tested the tire...OMG he drives spirited.

An avid sportbike rider has nothing to do with what you know. An avid rider means crap...you could be running Pilot Power H2's with 3" chicken strips, or scrubbing the hell out of them. I read lots of motorcycle tire reviews, the make of the bike and the experience of the driver and the conditions will play a huge factor in whether its a good review or not.

 

i have a set of the bridgestone blizzacks.

i haven't had the need to put them on yet this winter, but i had them on all last winter and i was very happy with them.

obviously the dry traction does not stack up to most other tires, but as far as snow tires go they exceeded my expectations in dry weather.

the snow traction is insane with them though. i highly reccomend them.

 

Depends on your conditions and what you want. Budget also. I live in the snow from Thanksgiving to as far out as june some years. I wanted the best set-up I could get. Mostly cause I want to be able to get out of the way fast when some idiot tourist comes at me doing 360's in my lane. Don't laugh. This has happened before. I run a 16x5 rim with WS-50' s 205/60-16's. Works awesome and I can plow thru three feet of snow and not get stuck. This set-up would set you back about $2,300.00. Not cost effective for most people who just get the occasional snow storm. I've tried four different brands of winter tires(including those Hakki's). If your trying to get away with the cheapest way, I'd go with a 215/45-17 ws-50. $126 a piece. 225/45's are more popular size but cost more and I'll bet anyone they don't work as good. 225/50's are a little taller than stock and would rub a little when turning.
There's a guy on the wheel/tire for sale board been trying to sale some 17x7 Katana's for 550 for some time. Comes with Kumho 712's w/8k on em. I'd get those with either the ws50 215/45 or lm's 205/50. The difference hear is that you will end up with an inch narrower tread on the lm compared to a 235. The ws would be 1.3 narrower. Now, I've never ran the lm's. Most people like them but as ashumo said, kinda like what good is an opinion on a tire if it is the only snow tire someone has used.
Sorry for the long post, but I tried to give you a little depth in this to help your decision. If your just trying to get by, any snow tire on the stock wheel will work pretty decent if you keep to a narrow tread.
If your wondering if I know what I'm talking about, I have held a pro license and consider myself a very experienced snow driver. My first year with my evo I drove(very slowly) all winter on the advans. Last year I went as far as coil-overs and different spring rates, height, rake and alignment looking for the best set-up.

I fell there is a bigger difference between snow tires in the winter than the diff between advans and other performance summer tires make in the dry. You'll never know till you try to make that stop on ice!!

 

I'm on my second season with my Michelin Alpin Sports on the stock enkeis. Not quite as "aggressive" as the Blizzaks but a good performance compromise since the roads around Utah get cleared fairly quickly.

 

i noticed ws-50 were mentioned at the top of the thread. and i can tell you from experiance with these last winter, that they are total overkill for anything south of ct. dont get me wrong, when the weather is terrible these tires are unstopable, and my evo is more predictable than my old grand cherokee was in the snow. but for this climate, the lm series is better suited.

o and they are 235/45/17 on stock enkeis, but seem a lot taller because of the snow treads

 

Nokian Hakka RSI - The BEST! I can barely get the rear end to slide out under full power and it catches instantly, turning, stopping, no prob. They're supposed to last twice as long as the Blizzaks so worth paying a bit more

 

Anyone heard of Nanking NSI or used them? They good for the winter?

 

what about the pirelli nero m+s