[johnnyquest]

So I finally made the move to upstate New York, and have been told by several local Fort Drum gear heads that my ST will be fine here as long as I have snow tires. I think I found a pretty good package on Tire Rack. I know that there are many here that run black steel wheels in the winter, but I think I want to spend the money on some nicer wheels. Saw these on Tire Rack:

17x7 with 49mm offset. 20.9 lbs, $160 each. Thinking of pairing them up with Pirelli Winter Sottozero 205 40R17 tires.

So I'm wondering if anyone has these, if they have a picture to share, and I'm wondering if I should run my summer tires on these new wheels or keep them on my stock wheels. I think these wheels with the winter tires will be 5 lbs heavier than the stock combination, but if I put the winter tires on my stock rims then I'll have a lighter total wheel weight during the summer when I can drive the car harder.

Thoughts? I have some snow experience, but never lived anywhere where I needed snow tires.

JQ

 

[Zormecteon]

The reason they run black wheels is because of the the SALT. It will eat up your pretty rims. .. Save $$$$ and aggravation and find a set of stock rims from the junk yard from a Fiesta, or a Focus, (same wheel pattern) to put on your car in the winter. Also cheaper will be the tires for 15" or 16" rims As far as tires go, everything I've heard says BLIZZAK.

 

[RodMoe]

Those should be fine tires for winter and get a set of used wheels or low cost option from tire rack sometimes they have wheels on close out for less than 70$ a wheel also I am hoping the WS80 Blizzak is better than my WS60 which I found wanting compared to my former snows on a other cars like the Mich Ice X2 or my personal fave the Nokian Hakkipilitta R2 that tire would run circles around most any other snow tire in the slush it was fun to drive in the winter. General make a good cheap snow tire that has gotten good reviews from the Ice racers up here as well .. enjoy the shopping Oh aboutthe only tire I would think twice about is the firestone winter force had a set of them they worked ok in the snow but man were they NOISEY on the dry pavement I mean semi truck noisey .. but they were very cheap cost wise too..

 

[Firesail]

I will have to give a thumbs up to the Nokian Hakka R2's.:thumbsup: I ran them this last winter on 16x7's (195/50r16). They are really great!

 

[rcl4668]

Like you, I just ordered the Sottozeros in the stock 205/40/17 size from TireRack. The only downside to these performance snow tires is that they are quite a bit heavier than the stock Bridgestone RE050A summer tire. I am mounting these tires on the stock Rado rim and then will ordering some lightweight rims and mounting the stock Bridgestones on those until they wear out at which time I'll order some more aggressive tires for the new rims.