any recommendations for winter tires??
 

hey guys what's good,
Winter is comming up really quickly and
I gotta get some winter tires for my Z.
any advice? what are the good winter tires for my 18' oem rims?
should I only do rear or all?
I don't have much money so I need cheap but so so tires.
(my mom keep telling me to get all season i was like PLEASE, NO lol)
any recommendation guys??
thanks:tiphat:

check the forsale section. i think someone was selling LM60's.

and all-season tires = no season. they are crap in the snow for RWD.

i know, all season tires are so **** for our car.
it's so hard to persuade my mom...omfg...lol (typical asian parents :) )

Yup, Bridgestone Blizzak LM60.

you're doing it wrong. talk to your dad. who cares wat mom says. she doesnt know wat cars are. :icon17:

I like the Dunlop Wintersport M3. The Blizzaks are also very good.

fixed. :tup:

Blizzak LM60 or Michelin X-Ice 2 is the way to go. The Dunlops aren't bad either but aren't as good in the deeper stuff (good for frequently plowed roads). I had all 3 on various vehicles last winter :)

In the snow, yeah, but the M3s are better if you plan on spending more time driving on just cold, dry pavement. :tup:

why would i need snow tires then? :tup: DW's and S04's have been sticking like glue so far in 35F. :p

In case there is snow! :roflpuke2:

My M3s are good up to ~5" of snow. And I will only drive in that if it's an emergency. On plowed roads where you are in packed snow they are brilliant. And on dry and cold roads they do really well, much sportier than the Blizzaks.

Yeah, you don't get as much snow down there, and if it does snow that much things are pretty much shut down anyway. M3 is a good choice for that area. DW's suck in any kind of snow but are good at low temp. Any further south I would probably go with the DWS as the winter tire, good tire in the cold and light snow.

Thanks for the kindness answers guys.
now, should I buy all four tires or only rear??!!!

and what size do you guys recommend? my stock tires are 225 and 245. I should go thinner for winter right?

Definitely get all four. If you just do the rear you will be able to go forward but you won't be able to turn (or stop) very well at all!

Regarding the sizing, since you are using the OEM rims I would stick with the OEM sizing.

yes, i read this too. Where most of us live, you get a few big snowstorms a year, and the majority of hte time its just cold as shyt. I drove my z in every snowstorm, lowered on coilovers with dunlop wintersport m3's, never got stuck or spun or lost traction once.

Get 245/45/18's in dunlop wintersport m3's all around. put them on stock 18" wheels. /thread

don't listen to steve, he drives a mustang. just ask him who told him to get wintersport m3's :p

really though, you will be surprised at how well RWD can do in snow. IMO RWD with snow tires>awd with all seasons for snow driving.

You could do that, but then your sidewalls are going to behave differently. You'll have a 245 bulging on the front and a 245 happily sitting on the back. That's why I am hesitant to run the same tire on different width wheels. I run 245s all around, but that's on a 9" wide wheel all around.

true, but as long as your wheel is within correct width range for the tire choice, then you should be fine. It's not like you are going to be doing a HPDE or track day on winter tires.

if you really want a staggered wheel and tire setup then your only choice is

Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60

Why would you suggest going wider up front, though? Narrower is better in the snow.

I'd stick with 225/245.

because i wanted dunlop wintersports and they didn't come in 225/50/18, so i got the 245/45/18 all around.

narrower is better in snow. don't make me dig up the aim logs where you agreed with me that i should run a square setup for winter :p

if i wanted the bridgestones i would have got a staggered setup.

Ah that's right, they didn't make them in that size so we chose square. :icon17:

To quote Celine Dion, it's all coming back to me now.

But I bet the Blizzaks have the right sizing...

hmm hmm hmmmmmm!!!!
damn...hard choice..haha.
so I should stick with LM-60 225 front and 245 rear as stock size.
price is really higher than what I imagines! T^T

hey, do you know maximum tire size for my 18' OEM rims??
Front and Rear?? I was always curious about this. Because next summer, I want really FAT tires you know, look amazing :) I wish like 255 and 285 can fit! :) or even 245 and 275

You can fit 245 and 275.

Thats what i would do.

hey m4a1, do you know if 255 and 285 would fit on my OEM 18' rims??

what about my side walls?? let say im going like 245 front and 275 rear, what would be the side walls sizes?? 245/45 and 275/45???

That's going to be too wide for the rim. Im on my phone now so I can't look up sidewalls but google "miata tire size calculator" and use that to find the size that is closest to the stock tire height in 245/275. That's the widest tire that will fit your wheels while still remaining in tire manufacturer spec.

I heard if 275 is the maximum size for my rim, it is always good to go with one level down, like 265. is it true??

245/45 and 275/40 are the biggest tires that fit according to manufacturer (tire) specs on a 8" and 9" rim respectively. You can usually push it one size more (another 10mm at the same profile) but it reaches a point of diminishing return. If you want anything bigger than that I would pick up a set of used sport rims or look at aftermarket rims.

If you want to run the widest tire you safely can on your rim, I would go 245/45 up front and 275/40 out back. This would be perfect as far as keeping close to OEM tire height (both new tires would only be .2" shorter than stock) and staying within the tire manufacturer specifications for the size of the OEM wheels.

As far as going down one size -- you can run anything within the tire manufacturers specification for your size wheel and be fine. I think the base 370s are under-tired, so it's probably best to run as wide as you can.

yah, just keep an eye on the load rating and you're fine.

but going back to snows, it's actually better to run narrower tires than wide... so 255 would be widest i would consider on these cars (i dont plan on driving my Z in snow though, will be running 225/45 and 245/45/18's on my G this winter.).

Yeah, for a winter setup I would stick with the OEM sizing.

I just received my Blizzak LM-60s from Tirerack.com (sponsor!). I mounted them on 18" wheels so I can keep my sport package wheels with the same tires on and just switch out the entire wheels.

If you get all four wheels and tires the same size, you will be able to rotate them when the time comes. Winter wheels have more tread wear so this could be important if you are trying to squeeze value out of them.

If you get a more narrow tire, they are actually better than wider tires in the snow. Wider tires create more surface to push the snow and you effectively have little plows = not good. Narrow is better for performance.

Z drivers have had great success with Blizzak LM-60 and Michelin X-Ice 2 tires, both available for your 18" OEM wheels.

Narrow and square setup = better performance.
Wide and staggered setup = better looks.

I went with better performance..because... I don't want to crash. Simple as that.

http://www.the370z.com/members/eazyd...per-wheels.jpg