YACT: Snow tires and rims.

[Gooberlx2]

So I have a Nissan Maxima 20th Aniv Ed. and am thinking of getting snow tires so that when I'm driving in the mountains this winter, I hopefuly won't die.

Currently, I have the Falken Ziex 512s which, although fairly highly praised (atleast at Maxima.org), I don't it'll cut it for the Colorado winter in the mountains. Any opinions on this?

Unfortunately the 17s make getting snow tires quite expensive. So I was thinking of perhaps grabbing some used or cheap 15" rims and then some cost effective snow tires. But are 15s even feasible on this car? And what tires could I get for around $40/tire (tirerack doesn't have any at that price). Or are all tires in that price range complete crap?

Any advice?

 

[Insane3D]

Couple of things. I did this with my Mustang for the winters up here in NH (yes, I drive it in the winter). You can't go too small on the rim, or it won't clear your brakes usually. Check out Tirerack and see if they have any packages. I can't speak for any other winter tires, but the Blizzak WS-50's are the best IMO...they are a pure snow/ice tire. I got a set of 16" ones to go with mystock rims last year, and picked up a new set of rims and tires for the rest of the the year.

The only knock I can think of on the Blizzaks are they are kinda sketchy on dry pavement over 80. The soft tread design and the soft sidewalls make it squirm.

I love having to dedicated sets now. I can keep my good ones on until there is snow in the forecast, then just throw the snows on when there is bad weather on the way. It takes about 10 minutes to switch tires with my floor jack.

🙂

Edit: Also, going with a narrower tire is a good idea as well.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Thanks for the info. I wish the Blizzaks were cheaper though. Maybe I can find some lightly used ones or something.