Show me your Winter Wheels and tire combos.

Vinster · Oct 10, 2015

pdlpsher said:
I went against conventional wisdom and acquired a set of 2015 GT 19" rims for my snow tires. I found a great local deal on these for $345 for a set of four. Then I found a great deal on Blizzak DM-V1s at $120 each. To my amazement and delight my local Firestone tire store had them in stock (size 225/55/19). Will see how well they perform in about a month.

Nice set up and @ a great price point too!! Looks good!

76brian · Oct 10, 2015

17" OEM alloys from kijiji for $300. General Altimax Arctic 225/65/17 from dealer for $150 each mounted and balanced.

I've had these tires before years ago on a winter beater (Ford Focus) and that thing was a tank in the snow. Lost the tires when I traded the car in with a blown trans. Always seemed to somehow end up with a different winter tire, and they were never as good. Never had a chance to buy these again till now. I can only guess the AWD will make them that much better.

I want to dip these wheels and make them a bit darker, but plastidip around here is scarce unless you want black, white or red.

Would really like to find some anthracite grey metallic.

MikeM. · Oct 10, 2015

76brian said:
I want to dip these wheels and make them a bit darker, but plastidip around here is scarce unless you want black, white or red. Would really like to find some anthracite grey metallic.

You don't like Internet purchasing?

76brian · Oct 10, 2015

MikeM. said:
You don't like Internet purchasing?

Well, by the time exchange rate, shipping, and taxes/duty are factored in, it would probably cost too much. I might order some and have it shipped to my folks in Myrtle Beach, but I wanted to do it before the wheels are on the car. By the time they're back up north, the weather won't be cooperative I'm sure.

It's $20 a can in the stores here

You guys get it for like $7!

Vinster · Oct 11, 2015

76brian said:

They sure look aggressive!! I wonder if they're loud as fack?

76brian · Oct 12, 2015

Vinster said:
They sure look aggressive!! I wonder if they're loud as fack?

Well, like I said, I had this same tire on another car a number of years ago... and now I've bought them again

So if they were loud, they weren't loud enough for me to remember it as an issue. All I remember is how they made that little POS a beast in snow like no other winter tire I've had, and they're pretty cheap compared to the "top" performers.

Vinster · Oct 14, 2015

Finally have the tires mounted on the wheels.

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JbCalg · Oct 14, 2015

we went a path less traveled, 'one' of us not real concerned about the wheel appearance, other than black steel ones weren't that attractive

dealer had pirelli ice zero FR @$162, with oem steel wheels @ $97, $15 mount/balance
timed it with 1st service so no swap charge
mazda knocked $50 (oct 1 - dec 31), and pirelli has $50 rebate on this model (sep 15 - dec 15), a little help there

Vinster · Oct 15, 2015

JbCalg said:
we went a path less traveled, 'one' of us not real concerned about the wheel appearance, other than black steel ones weren't that attractive

dealer had pirelli ice zero FR @$162, with oem steel wheels @ $97, $15 mount/balance
timed it with 1st service so no swap charge
mazda knocked $50 (oct 1 - dec 31), and pirelli has $50 rebate on this model (sep 15 - dec 15), a little help there

I seen those at Kramer Mazda a couple weeks ago. It would of saved me $400-$500 but the Michelins have the best rating online plus i'm kinda partial to Michelin as they are produced in Nova Scotia where i'm from. I have plain black wheels on my Honda and wanted something a bit better looking than steelies on the Mazda. But i did think about the set-up you have for sure. Went back to the Stealership a couple times to convince myself but didn't work.

YVRer · Oct 17, 2015

JbCalg said:
we went a path less traveled, 'one' of us not real concerned about the wheel appearance, other than black steel ones weren't that attractive

dealer had pirelli ice zero FR @$162, with oem steel wheels @ $97, $15 mount/balance
timed it with 1st service so no swap charge
mazda knocked $50 (oct 1 - dec 31), and pirelli has $50 rebate on this model (sep 15 - dec 15), a little help there

JbCalg - Do you find that the heavier steel wheels make much of a difference? Trying to decide whether to go this route, perhaps with the Continental Extreme Winter Contact tires.

JbCalg · Oct 18, 2015

after 3 days ..... LOL
i'm not the primary driver (unfortunately

) but PD did notice a bit of difference so far - is used primarily on higher speed commuter/highway roads - 80-100 km/hr, grip and control tighter

the real test will be if/when we get the usual snow and ice conditions, especially those red light / 4way stop intersections where all the tire spinners and slide braking types add to the poor conditions, coupled with the freeze/thaw chinook weather

so - not much help at this point,
we just wanted a little more tireside help from dedicated winter tires after all of our previous vehicles running good to not so great all seasons 12 mths a year, where venturing out some days was white knuckle time

if you need winters out there in lotus land

i wouldn't worry too much about adding the weight, and those Continentals look like excellent tires too

PD works in critical care, so not going in or being late for work not really an option, and arriving uber stressed and agitated not a great way to start or end the day

the all season vs winter tire vs fwd/awd discussion in the Consumer Reports post on main page is dead on - sooo many drivers seem absolutely clueless (or careless!) in their approach to winter driving and expectations about what their vehicle is capable of vs the physics (scratch)

jurgenk · Oct 18, 2015

JbCalg said:
after 3 days ..... LOL
i'm not the primary driver (unfortunately ) but PD did notice a bit of difference so far - is used primarily on higher speed commuter/highway roads - 80-100 km/hr, grip and control tighter

the real test will be if/when we get the usual snow and ice conditions, especially those red light / 4way stop intersections where all the tire spinners and slide braking types add to the poor conditions, coupled with the freeze/thaw chinook weather

so - not much help at this point,
we just wanted a little more tireside help from dedicated winter tires after all of our previous vehicles running good to not so great all seasons 12 mths a year, where venturing out some days was white knuckle time

if you need winters out there in lotus land i wouldn't worry too much about adding the weight, and those Continentals look like excellent tires too

PD works in critical care, so not going in or being late for work not really an option, and arriving uber stressed and agitated not a great way to start or end the day

the all season vs winter tire vs fwd/awd discussion in the Consumer Reports post on main page is dead on - sooo many drivers seem absolutely clueless (or careless!) in their approach to winter driving and expectations about what their vehicle is capable of vs the physics (scratch)

I got the same wheels and was pleasantly surprised when I unboxed them as I expected plain black steelies and these are decidedly more upscale. Like you as well, winter tires are a must but I will concede the point that others are making in the thread on AWD that with wide fluctuations in temperature you would be sloughing off the softer compounds quickly. With 17" General Altimax Arctics, all in was over $1200 but if I had went for Nokians or the like, it would have been considerably more.

76brian · Oct 18, 2015

jurgenk said:
With 17" General Altimax Arctics, all in was over $1200 but if I had went for Nokians or the like, it would have been considerably more.

You should have no worries. The Altimax Arctics are the exact same tire as the Gislaved Nordfrost 3, which is right up there with Nokian Hakkas as a top tier winter tire (Gislaved is Swedish, Nokian is Finnish).

Both General and Gislaved are owned by Continental, so it's not just a copy... it's actually the same tire. Gislaved has changed the Nordfrost tread pattern a few times over the years but if you look at the current model, the Nordfrost 100, the tread is more or less back to what it is on the Altimax Arctic.

From my previous experience with them, and everything others say about them, I'm confident there's no better winter tire for the money.

jurgenk · Oct 18, 2015

76brian said:
You should have no worries. The Altimax Arctics are the exact same tire as the Gislaved Nordfrost 3, which is right up there with Nokian Hakkas as a top tier winter tire (Gislaved is Swedish, Nokian is Finnish).

Both General and Gislaved are owned by Continental, so it's not just a copy... it's actually the same tire. Gislaved has changed the Nordfrost tread pattern a few times over the years but if you look at the current model, the Nordfrost 100, the tread is more or less back to what it is on the Altimax Arctic.

From my previous experience with them, and everything others say about them, I'm confident there's no better winter tire for the money.

Thanks for the reassurance... I came to the CX-5 from a 3 and ran used Hakka RSI's and then Dunlop Graspic DS 3's and was extremely happy with both. Bought the General's at OK Tire and (of course) they were on sale at Canadian Tire days later.

JbCalg · Oct 18, 2015

yes, those should work well, up in your neck of the woods

and agree with the wheels - basic black would work fine, but these ones look better

YVRer · Oct 18, 2015

JbCalg said:
if you need winters out there in lotus land i wouldn't worry too much about adding the weight, and those Continentals look like excellent tires too

the all season vs winter tire vs fwd/awd discussion in the Consumer Reports post on main page is dead on - sooo many drivers seem absolutely clueless (or careless!) in their approach to winter driving and expectations about what their vehicle is capable of vs the physics (scratch)

Thanks for the comments, and the other thread is very interesting.

I had one bad experience about 6 years ago with my Mazda 3 GT sedan on the OEM RSA tires. A sudden (wet) snow storm at night (didnt notice it coming) and I was trying to head down a steep hill on my way home. There was about 4 inches of wet snow. A bus had slid part way down the hill and I was trying to avoid it. Stupidly tapped on my brakes and started sliding sideways down the hill only to stop inches from a Mercedes in the opposite lane. Although nobody hit anyone, it was a tangled mess of about 20 cars facing all directions within about 15 minutes. Ever since, I've been a firm believer in winter tires and was able to get up that hill on other occasions when it snowed (the trick was not to stop!). Anyway, I will be getting winter tires; even with our limited snow in Lotus Land, I often see black ice at nights.

I find the black steelies to be wanting aesthetically (especially on my 3 week old CX-5), so these silver ones seem like a good bet, compared to the alloy ones I was considering.

jurgenk · Oct 18, 2015

YVRer said:
Thanks for the comments, and the other thread is very interesting.

I had one bad experience about 6 years ago with my Mazda 3 GT sedan on the OEM RSA tires. A sudden (wet) snow storm at night (didnt notice it coming) and I was trying to head down a steep hill on my way home. There was about 4 inches of wet snow. A bus had slid part way down the hill and I was trying to avoid it. Stupidly tapped on my brakes and started sliding sideways down the hill only to stop inches from a Mercedes in the opposite lane. Although nobody hit anyone, it was a tangled mess of about 20 cars facing all directions within about 15 minutes. Ever since, I've been a firm believer in winter tires and was able to get up that hill on other occasions when it snowed (the trick was not to stop!). Anyway, I will be getting winter tires; even with our limited snow in Lotus Land, I often see black ice at nights.

I find the black steelies to be wanting aesthetically (especially on my 3 week old CX-5), so these silver ones seem like a good bet, compared to the alloy ones I was considering.

Vancouver is one of those places that you could have little use for winter tires unless you wanted to head to Whistler regularly, but as you say it happens often enough in the Lower Mainland to make them good insurance. I was charged $95 a wheel where I live and with jbCalg's $97 in Calgary I am happy with that as they originally quoted me $109. I was pleased to see jbCalg's picture as I have some Mazda center caps already and they look like they clean them up a bit.

76brian · Nov 11, 2015

76brian said:
I want to dip these wheels and make them a bit darker, but plastidip around here is scarce unless you want black, white or red. Would really like to find some anthracite grey metallic.

Managed to find a good place locally with an extremely good color selection, so they had anthracite grey.

Here's a before/after...

jdmoto · Nov 12, 2015

New to the forums, but I just wanted to share my winter setup.

Wheels: Mazdaspeed3 18x7
Tires: Blizzaks DM-V1 235/55/18
Suspension: Stock

em_5ive · Nov 12, 2015

^Looks awesome. How does it sit compared to the stock wheels. Is it slightly more flush? Thanks.

Show me your Winter Wheels and tire combos.

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