jjellyneck

Yes, I had forgotten about the Nokian Hakapeliitta. Fabulous tires, so I've heard from many. Probably have to order them online.

bjr

Check Nokian tires web site for dealers. I had a couple locally. Doesn't have to be mail order but that will depend where you live. Actually, I did go ahead and get my wife Hakapeliitta 2's studded for her Scion since she doesn't drive out of state to go to work and I got Discount Tire here in town to order them for me. Not a normal brand for them but they have a source and are charging me like $30 or so for freight charges. I'm waiting for them to come in and then impress me hopefully. But if I wish for a bad winter to see how they shine against other brands we've used, the Z wouldn't be going anywhere and I'd be begging my boss to bring me to work all the time The local dealer that I talked to orignally laughed when I asked about the labor for studding and said Hakapeliitas blow everything else away without studs. I'd still want whatever help I could get with the Z though since it's my only ride and my wife head out in opposite directions for work in the morning and end up about 1hr15mins apart. Getting my Z has left me more vulnerable than in the past but I think it's up to most the weather we get. We'll see....

Barmats

iTrader: (1)

I live in MN and just bought an 06 ZR. Obviously not an all-season car, but I do plan on driving it in the winter unless there's more than a few inches of snow on the ground. My wife has an SUV and we'll carpool on those days.

I just bought a winter wheel and tire set from Discount Tire Direct. I chose a set of 17 x 8" Voxx Ancona wheels with Hankook W300 snow tires. Fronts are 225/50 and rears are 225/55, which retains the stagger. The larger sidewalls (compared to stock 18 inchers) will compromise performance on dry roads, but I don't plan on doing any aggressive winter driving. Overall diameter is within .1" of the stockers.

Since I haven't driven in snow on these yet, I can't comment on their effectiveness. But all the reviews I read said very good things about these tires. Best of all, I paid $1005 for the set, which includes lug nuts, hubcentric rings and damage protection. Shipping was "free".

Ilov350ZEE

iTrader: (11)

heres what i did i bought a set of used oem 17" wheels and tires factory size falken 512's. Total $700

Riggz

is it bad if you run the same size winter tire on all four corners?

also do u need to run the TPMS sensors??

Eazzy

iTrader: (8)

I would say no on the 4 corners---Winter driving is slow careful driving

Barmats

iTrader: (1)

You don't "need" to retain TPMS, but if you do, you'll have to have the dealership calibrate the car's system to the sensors every time you change wheels. I decided not to go with the sensors for my winter set. This means ignoring a dash light for the few months I'll run the snow tires, but it's a small price to pay. The sensors are expensive, and you'll need to visit the dealership for service every time you change wheels.

bjr

+1 on the advice on the tire sensors. If you think back, this was not even a feature that was on all trim levels until '05. Tire sensors do not dismiss your responsibility to monitor your tires on your own anyway. You'll have a dash light go off every now and then but no big deal.
I went with same size WHEELS on all 4 corners but Discount decided that I needed to get different size tires to keep the ABS system happy. 225/50/17 in front and 225/55/17 in the back on whatever size wheels are standard for the base up front (don't remember).

shankshank

Now blizzaks, I've been looking at tirerack
I was going to get some 17" RIMS and then I wasn't sure which Blizzaks are good, but how about the WS-50s?

225/50/17 and 225/55/17 Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 tires

shushikiary

I got a set of 18 inch sparco racing wheels (18x8.5 rear, and 18x7.5 front), with perellie sotozero snow tires for my Z at discount tire. The sotozero's are rated to be really good in the snow/wet/dry and in colorado it may snow a foot and be gone back to dry pavement next week, so I need something that can do both... I've had them in wet and dry and they are very nice... no snow yet, we'll see soon enough.

Barmats

iTrader: (1)

I initially looked for Blizzak snows for my 06 ZR but changed my mind after reading a post from Luke at DTD. He said the Blizzak's siping disappears at half-tread, effectively changing the tires to all-season treads at the halfway wear point. Since I was looking for dedicated snow tires, I decided to go with something different. But from everything I've heard, the Blizzaks are very good snow tires (w/siping intact).

bjr

Good point to keep in mind. Whenever you find a tire you like becuase it perfrormed well in a test, go to the manufacturer's web site and try and research that tire thouroughly. There are tires out there just like the Blizzaks that have highly specialized tread compounds to deal with ice but only the first 45% of the tread is made out of this and then you are left with the rest of the tire being a plain old snow tire or worse more like an all season. I stuck with Yokohamas for a few years becuase they claimed to have the same ice traction through the whole tread and as you got towards the wear bars the only thing you lost was deep snow traction little by little. Of course that was about 10 years ago. Point is to make sure you know exactly what you are getting so the tires benefit you for the type of weather you get in your area. Don't just get them becuase so and so said so and they have never gotten stuck or that they came out on top in one tire shootout. Although the tire reveiws can be confusing or conflicting at times they should point you in a general direction and you should be able to come up with a few choices.

shankshank

Thanks for all the input guys

What are your takes on buying used tires? I seen a few guys selling them and i seen pics, but how do I tell if these blizzaks have warn down their special all winter ability

[]V[]addog

iTrader: (3)

what is the smallest size winter rim you can run on a Z? I have the 03 touring model. Obviously i assume 17 woudl fit because the base Z came with 17, but I was hopin you coudl fit 16... Much cheaper tires. But i imagine ther ewoudl be some break clearance issues.

bjr

We haven't got any snow yet this year to speak of. 2" a couple of times. We are about 14" behind the normal. My wife hated her studs on the Hakka's on dry pavement so I pulled them all out for her the second day she had them. Probably a waste of money in anything but extreme conditions.
For the Z I did a little bit more research and went ahead and purchased some snow cords for emergencies and call it good. No matter what you drive you are going to get stuck when the conditions are right. That's what tow trucks are for! Cords are supposed to outperform even snow tires with studs so if I get stuck hopefully these will get me back out. For $62 even if it saves me from calling a tow truck once they are paid for. I test fitted them and they go on easy - like 2 minutes. I could see even doing it stuck in the snow, just maybe have to scoop some snow away from the car. Just another option to throw out I hadn't considered before as a nice backup plan I hope I NEVER actually need them.
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