MKSLEX

What are you guys runnning for winter tires? What are my best options? I'm looking to just replace the stock 18" tires with winter tires.

EJC

I've been runing on Hankook W300s for 2 seasons on my IS250AWD and have been very happy with their all round pereformance.
They are quiet, good wet and dry handling, and very capable in the snow.

This week I put a set of new Blizzak WS60s on my wifes ES300 and so far not impressed. Hope they improve as trhey break in. Haven't had any snow yet, but they appear to be a bit slippery on wet roads.

jmac350

I bit the bullet and got some new rims for my winter tires. This is the second year I'll be using them. The rubber is Blizzak LM25's. They are not staggered like my summer tires, but are all 225/40/18's. Without having them staggered allows me to rotate them every winter. The rims are made by TSW. I'd recommend the tires. They are good on packed snow and ice, and ride fine on dry pavement. The car, though, just doesn't like snow. They are fine for winter, but I count the days until I can put my summer tires back on.

Lucien911

I highly recommend Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 (V rated).. They're outstanding tires. I've had them and their older cousins (the LM-22) on many sports cars during my winters back East. I currently run LM-25's on both my IS350 and my Evo VIII in winter. Hopefully my last cold winter.

It's almost all about the tires.

bigbwb

I just bought the Blizzak WS 60's for my wifes IS350. I had the older WS 50's on a BMW and they worked real well for us. They are a bit soft especially for cornering, but I wanted the best winter traction I could get for her.

Zeus69

iTrader: (1)

I have used Dunlop Winter Sports for the past two winter seasons on my 350. They are excellent. Went with M3 on rears and 3D in front to keep the rotational circumferences the same as the stock staggered setup.

MKSLEX

I was actually looking at the dunlop sp winter sport 3d's. $865 shipped at tire rack for the staggered setup. Any problems with the staggered setup? I'll only need them ofr light snow or ice. The rest of the time my baby will be in the garage.

Also since I'm sticking with my stock 18" rims is it bad to switch tires on and off a couple times? I'll eventually get bored and buy a new 19" set up for the summer.

Zeus69

iTrader: (1)

When I bought my setup 2 years ago, Dunlop didn't make the 3D in a staggered config for the 2nd gen IS. So, in order to keep the wheel/tire heights as close to stock as possible, I went with Winter Sport 3D in front and Winter Sport M3 in back (per TireRack recommendation). The tread width is the same on both (225, I think), but the sidewall ratio is bigger in the rear (40 to 35). In all, they've worked great and make winters in the Midwest very passable for a rear drive car...

Any reputable wheel/tire shop should be able to swap the 18s without problem. So many more cars come standard with that size these days, they should have had plenty of practice ... If you're thinking of 19s (which is the way to go for the IS), maybe use your stocks for winter-wear going forward and get a spring/summer set of 19s sometime in March/April.

Shahryar

In this thread are all three of the options I'm considering for winter tires for my 2008 IS 350. We have pretty mild winters here in the Baltimore/DC area - don't get snow too often, get winter weather a little more.

If I stay with my current staggered setup, the only options I get on tirerack.com are the 225/40R18 & 255/40R18 Blizzam LM-60, Blizzak LM-60 RFT, and the Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D.

I'm going to take my summer Bridgestone ER33 tires off and mount the winter ones on the original rim. Next Spring I'll put the ER33s back and and probably finish them off. The car's currently at 17k miles and the orig stock ER33 tires are at 5/32 in the rear and 6/32 in the front.

Maybe next year I'll get some winter wheels to make everything easier, but I do like mounting and remounting on stock rims because a) I really like the way they look, b) I like that I have the ability to work a balance in during the mount and c) move the tires to different sides when they're put back on.

I called a place near me called Radial tires in Silver Spring, MD and he brought up the Hankook tires too. He said that one is stiffer and handles better when it's dry. Price was similar to the pricing on tirerack.com of the other tires, but I didn't see the hankook tires pop up when I put in my car.