I'm looking at getting some new tires...PRONTO.

Here I am and here are my options.
Me and mine automobile: 2004 wrx wagon. Me. I live in santa cruz area. Drive mountain roads EVERYDAY. I drive as hard as anyone I know from time to time. But it rains like mad over here...and I snowboard. Last year around 40 days up in the snow..a bit over 30 on the hill.

Currently. V7 jdm wheels. +53 offset/17's. 225/45/17. Pink wagon springs on stock struts. The struts will change but the springs won't. RE070's currently.

options:
1. All season performance tires and risk it in the snow. I'm a decent driver in the snow and not stupid....most of the time. I've tires like RE070s and es100's up there and I'm still alive. Tire like an S03 might do here.

2. All season performance tire with snow credentials. Like a Proxe4, Blizzak LM25 or Pzero nero.

3. All season performance on the 17's. All out snow tire on the stock wheels.


What do you guys think? I'm not made of money and I need tires now. I'd like to get one set now and possibly get a full blown snow set after xmas.



On a side note...here are a couple prices I got on tires.....


235/45/17 Proxes 4's. $125
235/45/17 Blizzak LM25's $125

plus shipping and mounting.

what do you guys think??????

 

Be a shame to have 2 sets of tires and neither have awesome grip in the dry. I'd say get a set of snow tires and a set of either ps2 or something thats even better in the rain. (but then not as much fun in the dry, where you will probably corner hard more)

 

pzeros are 126 each from vulcantire.com

Wheelworks has a by 3 get 1 free promotion on them as well, gonna see if I can get them to lower their normal 190/tire cost though

here is my set up

17x8 235/45/.17 Pzeros or Kuhmo ASX for the winter (if I can get the pirellis for less than 550/set I will go with them)

17x9 255/40/17 615s For the non-winter months

 

I though the ES100 and SO3 are summer tires not all season.
Blizzak are winter tires and they have treads with studs on it so not meant for dry roads.

I could be wrong

 

wrong on the blizzaks. They are studless.

As for the es100 and s03..yes summer tires. That's why I mentioned I had the es100's in the snow...to demonstrate that I might not absolutely need a full on snow tire. The s03's rate pretty well in the rain if I am not mistaken.


oh and the $125 for the proxes 4 is shipped. The $125 for the blizzaks is 225/55/16.

 

if you still have the stockers get some winter tires for that and switch wheels when you head up the slopes. Since the bay area get dry weather all the time I would keep my primary set of rims with some good summer performance tires.

On a side note and I don't know if this is true or not. I think even with 4wd if you have summer tires and you drive in the snow and get into an accident, you will not be covered by your insurance because they are not made to be driven in the snow. At least that's how it is in Vancouver where I came from and it snows in the city.

 

Rain traction and snow traction are 2 very different things, as its also a product of the tire compound (summer tires turn rock hard in colder temps)

I would not run summer/rain tires all all in the snow

Even with awd, run at least M+S rated tires in the snow

Throw some all seasons on the stockers and keep summer tires on the 17's, prob the most cost effective since 16" tires cost less

 

^^ isn't that basically what I just said?

 

I'm sure they could make a case for that. Fortunately my insurance guy takes care of me so I'm sure a switch would be made as long as it was not noted in the accident report. But yeah...wouldn't surprise me to find out that is true. Makes sense.

I just don't know if I can swollow that much dough right now. Plus in santa cruz we get MAD rain. It's nice a lot of the time but when it rains...it strait DUMPS!!!

There is a deal for some 17's with blizzaks right now that I think I could probably get for like $600-650. But then I still have to come up with another $700 for daily driver tires. errrrrrr.

I might just have to get an all season tire.

 

the blizzaks are going to be worth it I think if you go up to tahoe a lot. U can't use them for regular paved roads tho without ruining them quickly. I'd say try and get the used blizzaks, they had a package from tire rack for some weak rims + blizzaks for the sti that was like 980 shipped or somethign last year, i've seen some sti'ers selling off the tires cheap. But it does seem some what sensible to get all season since you get so much rain, but I do fine in the area with PS2 pilot sports that are mainly dry tire but do suprisingly well in the wet.

 

I'm aware of tread compounds. I'm also aware of the difference between rain and snow driving and tire compounds. I probably couldn't find more than a handful of people that have more snow time than I do on these boards. I've driven everything from mini vans to trucks, to 13 passenger vans full of kids with and without chains in snow up to a 2 feet.

I'm aware that the best thing to do is to have 2 sets of tires. I'm just not sure if I can pull it off with my current financial situation. I'm mostly wondering if there is a decent performing tire that can handle heavy rains and not kill me in the snow. Nothing can be worse than bald re92's....or rock hard re070's in the snow.


anyone know how the blizzaks handle for daily driving???? The LM25's. I'm wondering if I can pull those off for a couple months until I can afford a set of S03's or 615's.

 

hmmmm. PS2..never driven those before.

I can get the blizzaks for $600 I think on a set of 17's. Or get a set for my stock wheels for about the same.

 

Kumho Ecsta ASX is $82 each plus shipping from The Tire Rack.

 

how about nokians..only performance all season tire with the snow flake rating

I personally will still see some spirited driving outside of the rain in the winter, which is why im going with a high performance M+S tire.

Will demount those in the summer, should last me 3-4 winters the way I see it

 

These are what I run. I like em. Can't beat the treadwear rating for the price. And Ray, you see how I drive on them. lol