Type S Winter Wheels / Fitment Specs

[StingertimeNC]

Looks great. I was thinking about this setup for track days. (200 TW tires)

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[Wilks132]

Looks great. I was thinking about this setup for track days. (200 TW tires)

while I dont track my car, this set up IMO is much better than the OEM setup. Car feel much more planted and compliant. The All Season 4 is great so far. We'll see how it handles some inclement weather, but they have great reviews for such weather.

the 18s are growing on me! And not just for a winter setup

 

[hypersss]

Here's how the Vikingcontacts look after 1500 km, mostly on dry pavement. Top is a rear tire and bottom is a front tire. I probably should drive more gently with these, also I'm still getting used to the way traction control behaves in this car. With these tires it is easy to break traction when flooring it in 2nd gear, even on dry pavement, and I'm finding that traction control may or may not cut power in this situation.
Funny that all the superficial sipes have disappeared from the front tires. These would only boost ice performance for a tiny fraction of the tire's life.

Anyway, we've finally had some major snowstorms around here so I'm finding it easier to appreciate these tires now. I might still try some performance winter tires in the future, with Michelin Pilot Alpin 5 at the top of the list.

When you put the Fast FC04 wheels, did you find that the rear were a bit of a tighter fit than the front?

Tight in what sense? I didn't notice anything special.

 

[Vivid Apex]

18x8 Enkei Raijin (+42 offset) with 235/40/18 Vredestein Wintrac Pros. Looks great, but drives....exactly as you might expect a winter tire compared to the Pilots.

Hopefully we don't get much snow this year, but if we do I'll be ready!

Got some snow this weekend and these Vredesteins took it like a champ! Got a little over an inch of snow and the roads weren't plowed at all.... didn't have any issues at all.

 

[Integra23]

275/30 dws06 have been fine. I drove over 300 miles in 3-4 inches of snow and not a single issue. Even passed some SUVs with confidence.

 

[jnick]

Winter setup. 18x8.5 45 offset Enkei RPF1's with 245/40 Blizzak WS90's. Center caps on order.

 

[StingertimeNC]

that looks good! Classic!

 

[new2teg]

Just wanted to share what my plans are for this winter. Was deciding between stock wheels and all seasons vs a dedicated set of tires like many in this group.
I decided to go with a dedicated set. Ordered these on Tire Rack, 18x8 +32 ASA wheels with 235/40 Cooper Zeon All Season tires (they'll poke out about 9mm more than stock).
These tires are discontinued and were a great price. Wheel and tire package came to $1340 after the discounts/rebates (and Rakuten!)
When it's time to slap these on in November I'll report back to see how the tires do in NYC area. I don't plan on driving in the snow, but needed something for the cold weather.

 

[tallboi]

As an Upper Midwest dweller, I've been starting to think more about winter wheels and tires for my ITS. Before I took delivery of the car I had the dealer swap out the OEM Michelins for a set of Continental DWS06 rubber. I have no intention of driving the car on a track and these made more sense to me considering my climate. Am I missing some performance over the Michelins? Maybe, but I don't know what I don't know.

Anyhow...while I could run the Contis and the OEM wheels in the winter, I'm leaning towards a slightly narrower 18" wheel/tire set up.

Here's what I'm thinking...

Wheels

Konig Hexaform
18x8.5, 35 or 43 offset (I don't want them as close to stock as possible so probably 43?)

Tires

For tires I'm thinking something with a 3PMSF rating rather than a full-on dedicated snow tire. I live in a major metro area with good/quick snow removal so snow and ice aren't usually a serious issue. With the 3PMSF tire I don't need to worry at all about when it's too warm to run a snow tire. In theory I could use the 3PMSF tire year-round (but, won't).

Likely candidate = Michelin CrossClimate 2
235 40R18

These would be about an inch narrower than the OEM, and diameter is only 0.4% greater.

Thoughts? Other recommendations?

 

[mopar_man]

I found a set of basically brand new wheels another member was selling and had DWS06+ mounted on those for the winter and colder months. I honestly wouldn’t change unless you were going to run a dedicated winter tire.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

As an Upper Midwest dweller, I've been starting to think more about winter wheels and tires for my ITS. Before I took delivery of the car I had the dealer swap out the OEM Michelins for a set of Continental DWS06 rubber. I have no intention of driving the car on a track and these made more sense to me considering my climate. Am I missing some performance over the Michelins? Maybe, but I don't know what I don't know.

Anyhow...while I could run the Contis and the OEM wheels in the winter, I'm leaning towards a slightly narrower 18" wheel/tire set up.

Here's what I'm thinking...

Wheels

Konig Hexaform
18x8.5, 35 or 43 offset (I don't want them as close to stock as possible so probably 43?)

Tires

For tires I'm thinking something with a 3PMSF rating rather than a full-on dedicated snow tire. I live in a major metro area with good/quick snow removal so snow and ice aren't usually a serious issue. With the 3PMSF tire I don't need to worry at all about when it's too warm to run a snow tire. In theory I could use the 3PMSF tire year-round (but, won't).

Likely candidate = Michelin CrossClimate 2
235 40R18

These would be about an inch narrower than the OEM, and diameter is only 0.4% greater.

Thoughts? Other recommendations?

Are you regularly getting 4"+ of snow that you have to drive through for days to weeks on end?

265 to 235 is a reasonable enough width difference that you could feel a bit of difference but honestly the biggest difference you'd feel is the compound of the cross climate 2. It's far more geared towards colder climate and less for performance driving. As such, it's contact footprint is more longitudinal and less lateral in shape, which also bodes well for some lower tire pressure for winter comfort. For the greatly reduced lateral grip, if you're driving most of winter on dry or plowed roads, I'd personally go towards the oem width. It'll change the shape of the contact area and you'll lose a bit of dig into the snow, but you'll gain comfort over potholes and some more fun.

235 is also way too much stretch for a winter wheel in that size imo. On an 8.5" wheel I'd much rather like to see a square mount with a 255 for rim protection, especially over potholes.

I live in kc where our potholes have taken bumpers off of suv. This past January on my 17" winter setup with a 225 and 8" rim I hit a monster pothole that caused me to hit my head on the roof of the car. The rav4 behind me popped two tires and bent two wheels to unusable or repairable. The pilot in front of me lost his rear bumper to it and popped a tire. The year before I bent two wheels on a pothole on the highway. That all being said, if you're north of me I assume your potholes are worse and they're always my primary concern during winter and spring. I may just have p(othole)tsd...

 

[tallboi]

Are you regularly getting 4"+ of snow that you have to drive through for days to weeks on end?

265 to 235 is a reasonable enough width difference that you could feel a bit of difference but honestly the biggest difference you'd feel is the compound of the cross climate 2. It's far more geared towards colder climate and less for performance driving. As such, it's contact footprint is more longitudinal and less lateral in shape, which also bodes well for some lower tire pressure for winter comfort. For the greatly reduced lateral grip, if you're driving most of winter on dry or plowed roads, I'd personally go towards the oem width. It'll change the shape of the contact area and you'll lose a bit of dig into the snow, but you'll gain comfort over potholes and some more fun.

235 is also way too much stretch for a winter wheel in that size imo. On an 8.5" wheel I'd much rather like to see a square mount with a 255 for rim protection, especially over potholes.

I live in kc where our potholes have taken bumpers off of suv. This past January on my 17" winter setup with a 225 and 8" rim I hit a monster pothole that caused me to hit my head on the roof of the car. The rav4 behind me popped two tires and bent two wheels to unusable or repairable. The pilot in front of me lost his rear bumper to it and popped a tire. The year before I bent two wheels on a pothole on the highway. That all being said, if you're north of me I assume your potholes are worse and they're always my primary concern during winter and spring. I may just have p(othole)tsd...

Thanks. I hadn't considered the 'stretch' of a 235 on a 8.5" wheel. More for me to consider.

 

[Frenzal]

Went with 235 on 18x8" wheels (thought I might go down to 225 in the future). You can find my posts in this thread for more info.

 

[hypersss]

Thanks. I hadn't considered the 'stretch' of a 235 on a 8.5" wheel. More for me to consider.

8.5" is pretty much the default rim width for a 235/40. See the specs on TireRack.

 

[Victorofhavoc]

8.5" is pretty much the default rim width for a 235/40. See the specs on TireRack.

Tireracks specs are awesome! If you look at the "tread width" that's the actual measure of the tire on that measured rim size. This means for the cross climate 2 it's about 0.4" narrower than the 8.5" wheel.

Doesn't seem like a lot, but depending on your tire pressure, it can be. Ideal performance range is when the tread is roughly the same width as the wheel. Less means there's stretch. The type of tire, it's built in rim protection, and the wheel mounting/lip will all determine how much the rim pokes out.

As a general rule, for every 0.5" size change in wheel width, you account for a 10mm tire size difference. Factory is 9.5 and 265 and it already has a decent amount of stretch on an already VERY wide tire (because it's a summer tire). So that means an 8.5" would have the same stretch with a 245 on a summer tire. Winter tires are the narrowest at the tread and as are in between. So you can expect a 235 as to have quite a bit more stretch than factory. Having a taller sidewall will create more "bulge" to make this stretch less visually apparent, but tell that to the pothole...

Here's a photo of a 245/40 ps4s on a 17x9. There's "a lot" of stretch here on an already very wide summer tire. If you even think about bumping a curb, you will get rash. If your tire pressure is a bit low, a pothole will bend or rash it pretty badly... I speak from experience on this... Two of the 4 wheels there have felt it. This would be less stretch than a 235/40 on an 8.5 with an as or winter.

Here's a photo of a 245/40 on an 8" rim. This is an extremely wide 200tw tire. The sidewall is pretty squared and there's a lot less chance a curb or pothole will wreck the rim. It can still happen (and has to me when tire pressure was just a tad too low... 26 instead of 34).

Both of these tires have wonderful rim protection. That's not always true for all tires!! A 235/45 yoko a052 on that 8" rim leaves enough rim exposed that just setting it down on concrete will scratch it. Not all tires are created equal. They're never the same size even if they're listed as the same size. Tire pressure matters more than width for performance. It takes a pro to semi-pro driver to notice a 20mm width difference and the average person won't notice any less than a 40mm width difference in performance.

Hope this helps

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