new snow tires and steel wheels

[Z31toZ32]

well i finally broke down and bought some snow tires ( Blizzak DM-V2) and put them on some black steel wheels. I think it really looks a lot better with the black wheels. as a bonus i can drive now drive up a ski slope with good snow tires and a 4x4.

[xmaciek82x]

That looks really good! What are the specs on the steelies? How much you paid for them if you don't mind sharing.

[Z31toZ32]

thanks. the tires were $127 245/75/16 and the wheels are 16x8, 32 lbs each, 13mm offset. wheels were 88 a pop. no mounting and balance charge, picked up free, and i popped them on myself so end cost was $933. got them on tire rack, which was the best deal i found after looking around a bit.

I kept hemming and hawing over it because the car is probably worth only 2.5k or so (133k and very good condition), but I'm planning to keep it another 4-5 years and I'm currently commuting 4x a week to golden, co from denver. I'm also planning to hit the ski slopes maybe 2x a month through the season, so in the end i figured it was worth it to pick up a good snow tire and also to buy and mount them on separate wheels.

I've never had a snow tire before, and wow, it's a completely different experience. i haven't had them in deep snow yet, but in the 3-4 inches I've been in a few times so far you can of course still get it to slide, but a night and day difference over some nice all seasons i had on there. no problem with highway speeds and packed snow confidence wise. downside obviously is the cost to buy, but also the mileage. ill look into this further, but it looks like I'm going from a combined 18.5 to a combined 15.5-16.

also a bad part is how much better i think it looks with the black on black. i might have to pickup some black wheels for the all seasons now or powder coat them to the tune of another few hundred bucks.

[04pathse]

i might have to pickup some black wheels for the all seasons now or powder coat them to the tune of another few hundred bucks.

You might want to consider plasti-dip as a low cost alternative...