For my car I got wheels and tires. The size of the tire is 225/55R17 they cost 144/ea. These were the cheapest for me.

 

I got Kazera KZT 17" wheels with 17" Dunlop M3 sports from Tirerack on line for a $1100. Tires were $134 and Wheels were something like $129 and the balance was shipping. You could get cheaper wheels for like $90 ea and keep it under a grand.

 

Im anout to order a set from tirerack. You guys recommend i use my Inf dealer to do the mount and balance? (Its kings infiniti in brooklyn.)

In general are the dealers pretty good at tire balancing?

 

I figured i would pipe in my two cents on this issue. One of the concerns i had when purchasing a 6MT was winter driving. Well, after ALOT of research and discussions, i purchased a set of 225/55VR17 Hankook Ice Bear W300's on a set of SSW rims. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!. The car drives great. The car tracks so straight its amazing. I was leaning towards the M3's, but was told by two dealers that the Hankook was almost as good, and ALOT less money. They are better than the cheaper Graspics and Blizzaks for this car, because they are a winter PERFORMANCE tire, so not only do you get the winter grip, you get a great performing tire on dry/wet roads. Very happy, smooth and exceptionally quiet on the highway. Hard to tell they are winters. The car is more than capable in any weather. I FULLY RECOMMEND THESE TIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just make sure you dont buy and ICE tire as they are soft and not designed for a performance car.

 

Where did you get them from? And how much?

 

Where do you live?

www.discounttiredirect.com

They have them for $106/each in 225/55r17.

give them a shout, you will not be disappointed.

Zmeisters

 

I think you either mean LM-22 or WS-50. I had the WS-50 on a previous '00Jetta VR6 and a '98 A4 Quattro. These tires performed like they had little suction cups on the tread when going through ice and snow. The only bad thing is that they handled horribly on dry pavement. For my '05 6MT sedan, I considered the WS-50, Michelin xIce, and the M3's. After a lot of research, I decided to go with the M3's since the roads around Minneapolis are dry 80% of the winter. They have great dry handling characteristics and decent snow/ice traction. I'm sure there will be a few times this winter when I wish I had the superb ice traction of the WS-50's, but I feel I made the right decision.

 

Are the Dunlops Grasspics any good on dry pavement? They are even cheaper than the Hankooks!!

 

Well,

I was looking into the Dunlop Graspic DS-2's, however, i was told to steer away from tires like that as they are not performance oriented and therefore will be very sloppy in the dry. Go with the Hankooks, they got me througha 6 inch dump last week. No more white knuckled driving!!!!

Zmeisters

 

I've had both Blizzaks and M3's on my G35. I found the Blizzaks to have just a little better snow/ice traction (just slight edge), but the M3's are significantly better on dry pavement. M3's have less road noise and less of a feeling of floating (Blizzaks). If you look at the reviews on Tirerack, M3's tend to get better marks in almost all categories...and I would tend to agree. I believe that you'll save a little with the M3's as well.

I would also suggest getting dedicated winter wheels, but that can get expensive. I think it's just easier to install myself rather than mounting and re-mounting tires on the stock wheels. With all of that re-mounting of tires, you're bound to get a few scratches in the wheels.

Bottom line...if traction is the only thing you're looking for and you don't care less about performance, go Blizzak. If it's a balance of good traction and performance you're looking for go with M3's.

 

M3s ordered from Tirerack, being sent to dealer for mount/balance.

Looked at hankooks, but they dont come in the 215 size that'll fit the 17s. (didnt want to go wider for snows)
BTW, useless factoid for the day, Hankook is Korean for Korean. (pronounced hang-gook)

 

Your not bad mouthing Korean made products are you?

 

He He, nope.
I wanted to get the hankooks, show some Korean Pride, but didnt work out.

 

I ended up with the 225/50R17 on a set of aftermarket rims. The handling on dry is amazing for a winter. In the snow, they track very well and give the car a very "buttoned-down" feeling. Also, i just took a 1500mile trip and they are super-super quiet and smooth.

Good luck.

 

Yes I was talking about the ws50s sorry about the confusion. I have had them for 2 years now, 3rd winter now, ice snow traction is awesome but like you say the dry handling sucks. At this point I will burn up the WS50s and switch over to the M3s next winter, it snows here in NJ but like in Minneapolis its dry 80% of the time.