[TopShark08]

I recently went to America's Tire about a winter tire and wheel setup. Ended up deciding on XXR 557 Flat Black & Gold wheels and Blizzak WS80 Tires.

I'll be putting the stock tires on the XXR wheels and putting the winter tires on the stock wheels. I got quoted $207 a tire and $190 a wheel. I'm getting charged $240 for the sensors though the guy is not charging me for all the tire swapping.

It's looking like roughly ~$2,000 out the door. Does this seem like a decent price for all this, or should I try to shop around more for a better deal?

I went off-roading in my last vehicle a lot, so steel wheels and mud tires were always good enough. Been getting a little frazzled figuring out all these offsets and other stuff out.

 

[ChristopherWRX]

Sounds a bit much. Check http://tirerack.com or https://www.discounttiredirect.com.

 

[rqjoe]

Kind of depends on what you want.
I went the cheaper used route: found excellent wheels and snow tires on Craigslist for total cost of $450.

So to me $2 grand sounds like a lot. But for all new and choosing exactly what you want maybe its not?

 

[Doctor Jeff]

Kind of depends on what you want.
I went the cheaper used route: found excellent wheels and snow tires on Craigslist for total cost of $450.

So to me $2 grand sounds like a lot. But for all new and choosing exactly what you want maybe its not?

That's exactly how much I paid used for my older STI 17's and Blizzaks (245/40/17). Personally I would always try to go the used route at least for wheels, but keep in mind not all 17-18" wheels even older WRX wheels fit the current lug configuration.

If I were buying new, I'd check out Tire Rack--came across this right away, for a tad over $1000: https://www.tirerack.com/snow/preferredpackages.jsp

17" is quite a bit cheaper than 18". For driving in the winter for only 3-4 months out of the year, I think the performance characteristics are somewhat less important than summer tires (MO). Michelins have a good rep. General winters also get a lot of love on this forum as a cheap alternative.

Just throwing this out there--my fiancee' bought Blizzaks from Tires Plus for her Fiat and they will remount them on OEM rims free for the life of the tire. I know there are issues with frequent remounts, but the cost saving is significant, and she has not had a problem with any of her tires. Tires without rims are much lighter than tires with rims too, just for the record. ;-)

 

[TopShark08]

I miscalculated, so would be around $1,700. Still a big chunk of change though. Reason I decided to stick with 18" is that I wanted new wheels regardless of winter/summer setups, so I thought going this route would be the easiest. This way I just use the stock wheels for winter instead of having to try to sell them and buy a set of 17" wheels.

I'm also a little leery about going the used route. I'm sure most of the time it's fine, but I guess I'm more of a cynic and would rather buy new then take a chance on used.

My problem too is that I'm in the SF Bay Area, more or less, so I wouldn't be using the winter setup all winter. I would just throw them on when I'm going up to the mountains and take them off after coming back down. So I don't think I can go the remounting route. Majority of winter driving would still be on the stock tires.

 

[Meebs86]

What size wheel/tire?

A month ago I got some nice black 17" wheels and 225/45/17 tires off tirerack for $1150 shipped.

 

[TopShark08]

Ah right, probably should have mentioned that. I have the premium trim so the wheels and tires are exactly the same as stock so I can use the stock wheels for my winter setup. 18" XXR wheels and 245-40-R18 Blizzaks. I can probably whittle the price down a little more, hopefully.

 

[SammichTheStout]

I'm squeezed for cash at the moment, so I had to go for a set of A/S tires on the stock 18s. The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ I went for feel a bit, but not hugely softer on the sidewalls than the OE Dunlops. They've got about 90% of the dry grip of the Dunlops, They're way better in the Wet than the OE Dunlops too. I would love to have a dedicated set of summer wheels and tires, but its just not something I can drop $400+ per wheel for the wheels I want right now.