[scannon]

Although the car came with all season tires we get some heavy snows here in the Denver area so I looked into some real snow tires.

I'm a long term customer of Tire Rack and bought a set of Bridgestone Bilzzaks WS90 in 255/50-17 and a set of black steel wheels 17 x 6'5". The mounted and balanced tires arrived the next day as Tire Rack has a warehouse in the Denver area. Total cost was $1,124.

They came with bright colored tags on each tire specifying Driver or Passenger side. Turned out three were marked for the wrong side of the car. I always check the rotation markings on the tires so I got them on the correct sides of the car.

The 17" wheels cleared the Sport brake calipers by a little over 1/2" and the tire size comparison showed a 1% difference in diameter.

I weighed one of each set and found that the steel/snow tire combo weighed 51 lb and the OEM 19" wheels and tires weighed 60 lb.

The first thing I noticed on the first drive on dry pavement was that the snow tires were a whole lot quieter than the OEM tires. That really surprised Me.

I've had them out on some slick snow packed streets and was very happy with steering, braking and acceleration performance. The big test will be in a couple of days when we will get some big snow and below zero temps.

The wheels are butt ugly and I will be looking into some hubcaps to improve the looks. It was -1F the morning I planned to install them using the garage but decided to raise the Miata which is in the middle of a suspension change and change the tires in my heated shop. The slop on the side came when I drove it on the OEM tires in some melted streets with slush. The blue tag on the tire reads Passenger side. I informed Rudy at Tire Rack about the labels and he is looking into it.

 

[garebear]

damn thats my dream garage. interesting that the blizzaks perform well...i have michelin x-ice 3 on 17in wheels as well but they dont drive very well. takes longer to brake, doesnt grip as well, pretty noisy at 60+ mph. weird that you got 255/ i think mine are 225. i believe thinner tires are better in snow. either way it sounds like i should go with blizzaks next.

 

[scannon]

damn thats my dream garage. interesting that the blizzaks perform well...i have michelin x-ice 3 on 17in wheels as well but they dont drive very well. takes longer to brake, doesnt grip as well, pretty noisy at 60+ mph. weird that you got 255/ i think mine are 225. i believe thinner tires are better in snow. either way it sounds like i should go with blizzaks next.

I will get a chance to really test the snow tires tomorrow morning when I have an appointment. We got about a foot of snow and the current temp is -1F and dropping to negative double digits over night.

The 255 tire size was a typo they are 225/50-17. Sorry 'bout that,

I bought the shop (1,500 sq ft) and a house came with it. The shop is my retirement home. Here's a few more pictures on the interior.

Current.

This id from a few years ago and shows the main area. Below the mezzanine where the picture was taken are a machinery room, parts and supplies room and a bathroom with toilet, big utility sink and a shower.

The only one of these I still own is the Baby 7 on the trailer. It is a 5/8 scale Lotus 7 with a 3 1/2 HP motor in the boot. I wish I hadn't sold the Caterham 7 that I built. I put a turbocharged 1.8 L Miata engine and transmission in it. The orange Miata is one of Flyin Miata's Habu LS3 480 HP conversions.