winter driving/tire questions

[MAYBEN]

Hey people..

My 09.5 is being delivered to me this week hopefully and it has the sport package with 19s... I was hoping to wait until next season to get snow tires or all seasons but with the blizzard we are expecting here for tonight through tomorrow is getting me worried that this isnt the last snow we will see...

I really dont want to spend too much, due to the fact I dont have the money right now and was lucky enough to buy the car with roughly the same payment at my grand prix gt...

MY QUESTION IS:

What have you done?
please vote and post, I would also appreciate if you could tell me how much you paid.. As mentioned, I would like to get something good, but not spend too much money lol

[G8H8]

I run Nokian WR for winter

[-Ray-]

I garaged mine.

[MAYBEN]

Daily driver to be

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Welcome Nick! Since you have the 19's the best thing to do is get some 17" wheels with some snow tires. The 19" snow tires will cost almost as much as the 17" tires & wheels, plus you would have to switch them.

[MAYBEN]

Hey Don, thats what I was thinking... everything I am seeing is at least a grand... I originally planned on having the money to just get them right way, but with the economy its been tough, plus I might have to pay in for taxes since I was unemployed for a little...

[norm8332]

You could try to get by for the remainder of this winter and just get the winter tires next year. I have winters and it works great, but if your careful you could make it with the summers.

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Well 19" snow tires will cost about a grand, so unless you use the summer tires until next winter it's going to be expensive.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Blizzak+LM-25&vehicleSearch=false&partnum=44VR9BZLM25&fromCompare1=yes&place=0

[MAYBEN]

I think getting the second set is better and cheaper in the long run... If I get 19 changeovers, it will cost every season to switch them anyways... I just have to see if I can get something cheaper... I should have taken off the triple treds before I told the dealer I had put new tires.. although I wouldnt have had tires to replace them with...

[MAYBEN]

You could try to get by for the remainder of this winter and just get the winter tires next year. I have winters and it works great, but if your careful you could make it with the summers.

IDK I heard the summer tires are REALLY SHITTY

[Paniller]

I should bring my car to your house tomorrow and show you how it handles with blizzaks, lol.

It's a night and day difference. It's so predictable. It still slips when you want it to, but only when you want it to. The second you let off the gas, it snaps back and holds its line. It feels like I'm riding a quad in the mud. I actually enjoy driving in the snow now, as opposed to the fearing for my life on summer tires.

So, I vote for winter tires. I think I paid $600 for a set of 225-45-18 blizzaks.

[MAYBEN]

the 600 isnt bad if it included wheels lol

where you from?

[Paniller]

I'm from Central Jersey, currently up in Rockaway, working in Morristown.

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Nick that's just for the tires, and 18" snows are a lot cheaper than 19" snows.

[MAYBEN]

I know.. I was just saying that would be awesome if it included wheels for a total of $600.. I was even looking at 17"... the tires from my GP would do great too.. but they're on the car and its gone in a couple days

[Darkside]

I'd go with the 17 or 18" wheel/tire package. I'd hold off until next year though. You might get lucky and find a Gt owner selling the car before next winter, and can pick up a set. Worst case is that the winter tires are always cheaper in the summer months.

I'm riding Hancook Ice Bears and I'm not overly impressed. They seem to handle light snow and ice great, but don't have a deep enough tread pattern for heavy snow or slush. I'll most likely end up getting some blizzaks.

[MAYBEN]

I was thinking that we had more winter left, especially after last night and today with all the snow, but, March 20th is the first day of Spring, hopefully we see the Spring and if thats the case, I can wait...

[mattman8]

I bought 17 rims and Hancook tires from discount tire. for $1000

[MAYBEN]

pics?

[RobA300]

I am wrestling with the same problem over here in PA, and I decided to get winter wheels and tires, but I am going to wait until the middle of summer to get them. We only have about 3 weeks left to really worry about snow so I am just going to keep an eye on the weather until then. I'll just drive my old car when it snows for now.

[confused2much]

There are lots of threads about this already if you search but here is what I posted a while back:

I went with the cheapest combo I could, and I couldnt be any more pleased with it all. These tires are amaizing on the snow and even "okay" on the ice if you drive with common sense.

My setup is:

Rims: MSW Type 15 (17x8) $112.00 each
Tires: Firestone Winterforce (225/55R17) $82.00 each
No TPMS
Total Before Tax + Shipping = $776.00
Everything bought from Tire Rack.

Pics of my dirty car from our snow a couple weeks ago. We have gotten lots more since then:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/2503/1208081321jq8.jpg

http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/719/1208081319hy6.jpg

[majesticix]

Here is my setup:

http://www.geoffbaumbach.com/hostedimages/g8/front.jpg

http://www.geoffbaumbach.com/hostedimages/g8/side.jpg

http://www.geoffbaumbach.com/hostedimages/g8/back.jpg

17X7.5 Sport Edition Bright Satin with Machined Lip
225/55R17 Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D

Purchased from The Rack back in October with TPMS (did not want to listen to my car yell at me everyday). Cost $1422.48 after shipping. I couldn't be happier. Cuts through heavy amounts of snow with little trouble.

[GotMyG8V8]

I wound up toughing it out with my car, which has 19" summers also. I wound up not having an extra thousand to drop on tires or tires and wheels. I am just extremely careful with the car, taking off in second and i actually had one or two scares, but otherwise everything has been ok (Knock on wood). I kinda like those wheels maj, i don't know how they'd look on my car though, gonna have to look at tire rack.

[majesticix]

Thanks! Yeah they look incredible. I now wish I had went with the stock 18's and bought these in 19's or 20's. I was surprised how good they looked with the car color. Ah well, the 19's still look good IMO. I can't believe you made it out alive on summers here hahaha. I tried that once, and never again lol.

The Dunlops work pretty well that I've got on there. I decided against the Blizzaks because they are too "squishy" on dry pavement for me. These Dunlops offer pretty good performance on both the dry and snow. Someone on here got some Nokian's. They make a sick tire if you can find one at a decent price. The Nokian Hakka was the best "All Season/Winter" tire I've driven with.

I'll be glad to put the summers back on though. This 15 degree sunny weather is too deceitful!

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Well I wouldn't call $1400 a decent price either! But those wheels do look nice for winter wheels.

I like Confused's wheels too, and he paid about half the price for his with winter tires.

[majesticix]

Nope, $1400 ain't cheap. Those TPMS sensors didn't help either. About $300 for the sensors, and I think around $150 or so for shipping. No tax for NY. So figure before shipping and without TPMS, you'd be looking at around $950 for my package. You can find cheaper rims on Tire Rack...the tires were actually a pretty good price at the time. I was hoping I might find a steel rim, but I couldn't find anything larger than a 16" rim which wouldn't fit around the front calibers.

You might have better luck in price in the next few months. I know last year they had nothing for the G8 when I looked, couldn't find much until the winter purchasing season was in full swing!

[mcduff]

Since all of the experts are here I will ask. I have been searching through the threads and it is confusing for this novice. I want to buy a nice set of chrome rims for the 18" tires that came with the car and then mount the original tires on them. I then will probably buy some blizzaks before winter and mount them on the original wheels that came with the car. I have read all kinds of stuff about the wheels like 5x120mm and +48mm offset. Is that what I should use when searching out the new wheels with the stock tires?
thanks

[MAYBEN]

threadjacking at its best... lol jk

[DRCUSTOMPARTS]

Most of the wheels for the G8 at Tire Rack are 40mm-42mm offset in 5x120 bolt pattern. Just enter you year/make/model under wheels and a truck load of them will come up.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/results.jsp?autoMake=Pontiac&autoModel=G8+GT&autoYear=2008&autoModClar=