It's that time for my yearly winter tire reminder. We have had flurries here Indiana already and a handful of places in the U.S. have experienced measureable snowfall.

Popular tires for moderate to low snow climates, that see more plowed roads than highways, tend to be the Bridgestone Blizzak LM60, their new LM-32, and Dunlops Winter Sport 4D. Both are considered very equal to each other in snow traction and in dry road handling/cornering and were the tires of choice in this category. The Bridgestone's move the balance closer to the snow traction side while the Dunlop does slightly better in dry. Both an ideal choice for someone having trouble deciding between the high performance snow tires that sacrifice a lot of snow traction and the Q/R rated snow tires that trade off too much in handling and dry grip.

Persons living in more rural areas or heavy snow climates lean toward the Bridgestone Blizzak WS lines or Michelin X-Ice Xi3. I've noticed when driving both that the added tread depth of the Blizzak helps deep snow traction on those early unplowed mornings. The X-Ice is a bit happier on ice surfaces and tends to handle a bit tighter on clear roads due to the 2/32nd's difference in depth compared to the Blizzak. The WS80, Bridgestone's newest member to the Blizzak family, will be replacing the popular WS70 this year. From our ice rink testing I can tell you it's already better than the original WS70 and out cornered/accelerated the Yokohamas, Michelin, and Goodyear. Steering response is more crisp also.

Some more cost effective players to the game such as Yokohama's iceGUARD iG52c did well against tires like the General Altimax Artic. However, it is fairly new so jury is still out on long term results.

I would not wait too long, it's better to be proactive than reactive. Ordering early when most products are still available lets you choose what you want to buy rather than being forced to settle for what is left over. Best to be ready with products in hand before it snows so that you can put them on when you are ready, rather than waiting for a shipment to arrive after the first snow. We should have most inventory available now to mid November. Tires and wheels purchased together are mounted and balanced at no charge to make changeover easy and we do offer the oem pressure sensors.

You can view full winter tire and wheel packages at our winter upgrade garage.

Remember to mention "Neal ext 4624" in the comments section of your online order. This way I can review the order and process it faster. As always you may call me direct also

 

Good reminder.

FWIW, I would encourage G35 owners (and others) to consider minus sizing when they look to buy or replace winter tires. Tire Rack has a good article on minus sizing (http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/...jsp?techid=126) as well as a wealth of other good information. Disclosure: I am a satisfied customer of Tire Rack, having purchased two sets of Sport Edition alloy wheels.

Both our daily drivers already have the winter tires on, and the studded tires will replace the Blizzaks when the winter weather gets really nasty. If that sounds strange, I've been running the Blizzaks all summer as they didn't have enough tread depth for another winter.

 

I'm gonna have to get some soon my tires are beat and don't trust them this winter..

 

whats the best winter size setup to go with if you have 19x9.5 front and 19x10.5

 

You would want to buy a $300 set of wheels and then mount some winter tires on them. It will be much cheaper and safer .

I have the LM-32s and performance is great. I spent a lot of money so that I wouldn't slide in powder and cause $1K in damage . Highly recommended for OEM 19s.

 

A set of 17" wheels and winter tires are not only better for winter than 19" winters, they'll probably cost you less than a set of 19" winter tires - just the tires.

 

Okay, so a quick look at Tire Rack for 19" winters - one choice available to fit: Blizzak LM32. Fronts (224/40R19) are $247 each, while rears (245/40R19) are $268 each, for a total of $1,030. The same tires in 17" are $204 each for the fronts (225/50R17) and $198 each for the rears (225/55R17) - a total of $804. That's a difference of $226 to put toward 17" wheels.

Not enough? Well, the good news of going to 17" is that you now have choices of other tires. Staying with Blizzaks (so as not to be accused of using low end tires), you can use WS80 tires. At Tire rack these are $162 each for the fronts (225/50R17) and $132 each for the rears (225/55R17) - a total of $588. That's a difference of $442 to put toward 17" wheels.

 

I just estimated 300 but nice...