Hey folks.
Looks like I'm going to be replacing my tires sooner than I thought. December will make one year that I've had my GSR and just breaking 9k on the clock, I think i'm going to have to get some new tires. Wear-wise, the stockers are already pretty darn low and just today I've notice that my rear driver-side tire has a slow leak. I've already patched up two tires in the past so instead of going to waste money patching up another one I figured I'd just replace them all anyway.

I think I want to go with some full-winter tires like I did when I had my IX MR.
Considering this is my DD(for now), I think I want to be better safe than sorry. Plus, sometimes we get some pretty harsh winters here in Northern NJ so I don't want to take any chances.
I don't remember which ones I had exactly on my IX, but I know they were Bridgestone Blizzaks and they performed really well.
I don't want to spend a helluva alot since I will just be getting new Wheels/tires in the spring, so I went over to tirerack and looked up my options.
The Bridgestone Blizzak WS60s really caught my eye with their performance/price and I think those might be a good choice for what I'm looking for.

My questions are:

• Are these my best bet with performance/price?
• Does anyone recommend anything else(reasonably affordable)?
• What do I have to know when changing tires on a car with TPMS?

Thanks!

 

Look into the Dunlop Wintersport 3D, they are awesome in the snow and when it is dry outside but still cold. They are also speed rated higher than the Blizzacks. There are some Canadian tires that are awesome but hard to find here in the US. They are called Nokia/Hakkapeliita. These are not cheap but you get what you pay for. I have used the Dunlops on my Audi wheni was stationed in Germany, never had any doubts about them. Wil be running same on the Evo this winter. Good luck in your search. If your in a climate that ses snow for a while, i suggest gettin dedicated winter tires then a dedicated set of summer tires. A little more money to spend but worth it in long run.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I did look into those, but according to Tirerack's(not sure how reliable it is) rating, there isn't too much difference in the overall performance compared to the WS60s. But there's a big difference in price. That's over $1K including mounting/balancing them.
I want to stay under the $1k mark since they'll most likely be off the car around mid-late March. I rather pay top dollar on Summer tires when the time comes.
The weather is weird here in NJ. Sometimes we get little-to-no snow. Other times we get hammered.

 

I just picked up a set of ws70 since they were a little cheaper than ws60

 

Hmm, I wonder I those don't come up on Tirerack or Bridgestonetire.com's search when you select the Evo X!? Any idea?

 

^ Oh nevermind. It doesn't look like they make the WS70 to fit the stock 245/40R18. I'm guessing you're running different wheels for your WS70s?

 

I have the blizzak ws60. Had them on a 10' storm and ice after..amazing. im in ny and ice and snow is a given, they have been well worth the price.

 

Yeah, I picked up 225/45/18. Going to put them on the stock wheels.

 

I ran blizzak's two winters ago... for the frequency of snow we get that is actually on the road I don't think they are worth it

they are very noisy and they wear heavily on dry mild temperature pavement

 

I'm running a set of Blizzak LM60s for the winters. I already had them on for one winter season and they were pretty solid. I'm not too sure what the price difference between them and the WS60s are.

 

I was in the same boat as you and went ahead and go the Dunlop WinterSport 3Ds. I got stock sized tires (235-45-17) mounted and balanced for slightly over $600. I went with these because they were cheaper, last longer, rated at higher speeds, and practically the same snow performance.

Granted I don't have the same weather conditions as you do, when I went to Big Bear during the storm everyone was losing control even with chains while I just kept truckin!

 

For the Evo I would recommend sticking with a performance winter tire. The Dunlop wintersport's are a great choice for an evo, I had the SP wintersport 3d's on my Sti and probably going to go with them for my Evo. If you want a Bridgestone tire I would go with an LM-25 or LM-22, I had the LM-25's on a worked wrx and they we great and a close match to the Dunlop. The WS-60 will feel mushy and hurt you dry pavement performance, I had the WS-50's which are basically the same as WS-60's years ago on my wrx, once again mushy handling, great in the snow and ice, but couldn't stand them on dry pavement.