Winter Wheels Mounted, MB Weapon with Blizzack LM-25
 

I mounted these on today. MB Weapon Wheels with Blizzack LM-25 tires....

I have a 25mm rear spacer on in the rear and had to take my front spacers off due to the front wheels sticking out too far. Ichiba makes a 38mm spacer that would make the offset sit a bit better in the rear but I am going to leave it as is.

These rims were only 510 shipped to my house on black Friday (100 dollars off) and only weigh 21.5 lbs in the rear. fronts are 18x8 rears 18x9. With the tire mounted the rears weighed 46lbs compared to 51 lbs on the OEM 19" Rays wheels.

The dry grip is all I can speak of right now and the blizzack LM-25s provide substantial amounts of grip. I am more than pleased with the feel of the new winter setup. I went with 245/40/18 in rear and 225/45/18 in the front. They are a bit smaller in diameter; but since the deal I got on them from a 350z guy was too good to pass up I will live with the sizes. Everything seems to be fine as of right now. The car did drop a little lower with these mounted though, I now scrape going into my driveway , wasn't the case before. Not a big deal to me.

Do they look as sharp as the rays ? Def not. But they aren't all that bad either...

http://www.the370z.com/members/chuck...none-front.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/chuck...none-front.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/chuck...none-front.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/chuck...none-front.jpg

I have several more angles and pics in my album if you want to check them out. For a very inexpensive wheel I am happy with the outcome. I was going to sell these to esfourteen but out of curiosity I mounted them and test drove them and had to keep them. Another thing to note was with the front spacers being extended stud ones I had to purchase open ended lug nuts, no biggie but something to note.


:tup:

looks good, MB Wheels is a good choice for low price wheels, got a set on my DD

With the new tires/rims, did you need to get a wheel alignment or get your tires balanced?

I ask because I am about to pick up some blizzaks(used) and put them on my stock 18's and I am not sure if i'll need to get the tires balanced or if I need to get a wheel alignment.

I got the rims balanced... and you should do the same...

you should be okay without an alignment

Looks good. I'd definitely bump the tread to 225/50 and 245/45 when it comes time for new ones. That will help traction a bit.
I've got Blizzaks and love 'em.

Yea in an ideal world I would of gotten that size, but for 200 bucks for tires that are nearly brand new I couldnt pass it up... litterally 90 percent tread left.. the dry grip compared to my nt05s is night and day.. which is weird because even in the cold I was expecting a loss of dry grip...

On a side note I have pictures of my rear NT05s and they do not seem all that word down, but were causing my car to sway over rivits and bumps, that is gone with the winters and the nittos only look half gone... I prob got 8k on the nt05s tops and they crapped out.. Loved them when they were new, but will not be getting them again in the summer. Im going to contact nittos customer service to see if what I had going on was normal.

Best looking snow set yet. :D

Looks nice, man. I'm sure they'll do real well. I'm in the process of sorting out a winter setup right now.

Edit: Just ordered some LM-22 closeouts off of TireRack (yes, AK, I used the link!) and will be getting some winter wheels later this week. :tup:

What was the outside temp when you experienced the problems with your NT05s? It's normal for high performance summer tires to loose grip when the temps drop below the 40's. The stock Bridgestones turn into hockey pucks when temps drop to freezing or below, no grip whatsoever... That's why winter tires make sense, even when there is no snow. The rubber is of such a compound that it stays soft even when temperatures drop below freezing.

i would consider the mich sport a/s's if it's going to be non-snow driving, but in the cold. those tires grip well even down to sub-freezing temps.

snow tires are a bit too much for non-snow driven cars, imho. they squirm quite a bit due to the taller treads and they dont necessarily look all that great on a performance car to begin with. i would look for performance tires that use special soft silica or watever it was called.

Well it depends on the type of snow tire you get. The performance winter tires like the Michelin Alpins are really good in cold, dry pavement and offer light snow capability as well. Tires like the LM-25 still do pretty well in the dry but offer better light and heavy snow traction.

In any case, snow tires give up some handling, yes, but they allow you to safely enjoy your car through the winter months. :tup:

some? you mean siginificant. :icon17: snow tires and summer tires are different composition and structure.

I just ordered a set of the Continental ExtremeContact DWS's to put on as winter tires. Just started to get really cold here (NoVa) and I could feel the difference. Of course, my Z is only 5 months old, so I'm going to try to store the summer tires for next year.

Yeah yeah I know. But still, you don't have to give up all your fun when you go to a winter tire.

DWS are supposed to be the better than all other all seasons in the snow, so those should be a pretty good choice.

Did you get them for the stock wheels? Did you get out in the snow any yesterday or this morning, and if so what was your experience like?

I'm in need of some new tires and was thinking about picking up a set of the DWS to get me around NoVA and MD through the next several months. Did you tirerack them or did you go with a local dealer?

Im getting some Dunlop Wintersport M3s mounted on some 18x9 winter wheels right now so I'll let you guys know how they go. Plenty of lightly snow covered roads around to test them on.

I noticed the Blizzaks are better for snow driving, the wintersports I have mounted now are better for dry pavement/cold weather driving. Still good traction in snow as well.

Yeah, that's what I heard from all the reviews. I figured since mostly I'd be driving on dry cold pavement the wintersports would be a better choice. If it ever snows enough to require a full blown sstudless ice/snow tire I'll probably just stay home. The wintersports should get me through the snow that the car is capable of clearing... probably 4-5 inches max. Most of the time the snow will just be packed down.

I went out in a half inch of snow the other morning and was amazed at how the car did. It was able to accelerate at a decent pace without spinning. I was amazed. Slamming on the breaks did cause the abs to come out but braking was def improved over what it would of been with summer tires.

The handling on cold pavement is about 85% of Summer tires. The car still seems sure footed around bends and does not seem dangerous at all when pushing it a little.

Def a worthwhile investment. But I have a 97 legacy gt for when Its real bad tho.

My car is covered in salt right now tho and thats the worst part. If I get a car wash ill be asking for swirl marks. I hate it...



Also steve I put Dunlop sport m3 on the girls 325xi and the car didn't loose a bit of handling characteristics. I was def impressed with them in that regard. That same morning it snowed she said she didn't think her car was as good as her 99 a4 was with a/s tires but I find that hard to believe. Id have to try it and see.

Just run through a brushless wash to spray it all away.

I went out today in 2-3 inches of snow in some areas and was amazed at how well my Wintersports did. Like you said, it's definitely a worthwhile investment. :tup:

Told ya so! :icon18:

Mine's covered I salt and ice. :shakes head:

That's interesting. Maybe she thought she wasn't going to have any wheel spin at all? I stopped mine on a pretty steep hill with about 2" of snow to see how well it would grip. You have to let the traction control work a bit to get the car on it's way but you don't sit there and spin. The tires bite and up the hill you go.

I definitely do feel a handling penalty. The extra sidewall squirm is very evident and there is less overall grip compared to my summers (when they are warmed up). But it's not bad to where I don't feel like I can enjoy the car when the weather is clear.

It could just be a case of setting her expectations too high? I know some people think once they get snow tires the car is going to handle on snow like it does in the dry, but we all know that's not the case.

I think that's the case. I have been talking to her about how well I thought the car would do in the snow. Shes awd too so I think she was expecting to drive like it's sunny lol no idea... When we get a good 4-6 inches I will get a good feel for how they preform.

What size do you have on the stang ? Her 255/40/18s and 225/45/18s have almost no sidewall flex. The e90 just feels great to me. It's a perfect complement to my Z when I take it out. Smooth quite and comfortable ... I'm assuming a higher profile tire would create much more sideall flex but I can push her car just as hard as I did before they were installed. BUT she had 16s on before these. When I got her the 18" 5 spoke 335 coupe wheels, we put the Winter tires right on. From her 225/55/16 conti run flats the ride and handling improved substantially with the winter sports.

I am running 245/45/18.

Stock setup is 255/40/19 Pirelli PZero so I am going from a really stiff sidewall on a 19" wheel to a softer one on an 18" wheel. I can definitely feel the squirm when I do some quick swerves to kind of get a feel for the car. Otherwise it feels fairly good, but in the transitions you can really tell the difference from a summer tire.

I'd say in your case going from the 16" to 18" is really what made the difference in handling. 55 on a 16" rim to a 40/45 on a 18" rim is gonna be a pretty big difference in feel!

Anyways, I'm really happy... I can drive up to the mountains whether it's dry or snowy now. :D

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qiUkqaHCPFw/TQ...-54-52_809.jpg

These guys in their 4x4 SUVs were all looking at me like, "wtf are you doing out here... and why are you able to drive faster than we are?" hahaha

I love your license plate. :rofl2:

haha nice pic steve... Wheels look good too... Thats sort of how my Z feels now too, when you make sharp cuts you feel it, but the only time I do that is when Im trying to feel that, so as long as we drive like normal human beings the pros heavely out weigh the cons...

while we are at it, heres the the Beemer... Love this car btw.. a lot of hate towards bmw on this forum. Minus the speed and handling my Z has I feel this BMW is superior in all other regards... 06 325xi Loaded with Bluetooth, iDrive, Navi, Cold Weather, we got it out the door from bmw for under $21,000 CPO until 100,000. Picked it up last winter with 44k miles on it... Its a joy to drive... The stock 16s were horrid though, these 18s with the winter wheels transformed the car, we also picked up some HID's with angel eyes not too long ago.. The halogens were awful, after those two mods this car is near perfect for a everyday cruiser.

http://www.the370z.com/members/chuck...ot-yet-pic.jpg

I agree, Chuck, I really have to try to feel the difference in dry performance. Driving around like a normal person the car feels fine. It actually feels smoother because I downsized from a 19" rim with a 40 series tire to an 18" with a 45 series.

That BMW looks sharp. I've always been a fan. They build good stuff.

hey would these clear the sportspackage rims?

the offsets are pretty darn close to stock with the 25mm in the rear... i dont know for sure but you can figure it out with an offset calculator from the internet and some information around this site...

they def will fit with spacers, not sure which would be nessasary, def atleast a 25mm in the rear, not sure in the front... I could check for you on my friends Z if you were really serious about buying them

I would sell these to you for 750 if you wanted them... I got my winter beater after I got these... LMK
I got the wheels on black friday for a great price I believe they are about 140-150 a piece now on discount tire plus the tire cost...

The tires are both over 75 % tread....

looks good!