Winter is real close here in the Northeast. Looking to get a winter set up. Anyone have any suggestions as to good winter tires that fit well on our ITR's? Should i just put on some steelies?

 

I roll some older CRV wheels with some Goodyear all-season tires and works quite well for me. Granted, we only get 3-4" of snow about 3-4 times each winter, so all-season is enough.

 

Kumho ASX. A nice all around, cheap tire.

 

any of the latest "ice" winter tires are great

use steel wheels as mentioned previously if you don't have a spare set

if you have an adjustable suspension -- you might want to raise the car a bit too

 

here in alaska we can use studs in the tires. which help on the ice. most places cant have them however. ive had good experiences from my bfgoodrich t/a's. grip nice in snow and stop pretty well on ice. bridgestone blizzaks are nice too. pricey.

 

Im located here in CT. So we get a lot of snow. I looked on tirerack and im looking at getting the Bridgestone Blizzak ws-60. They got good reviews and the ws-50 was a good tire. I dont have any steelies, where can i source some? I thought i remember reading a post a while back with nsxtasty mentioning that there is an option on tirerack where you can purchase the tires with steel wheels, but i cant seem to find that package???

 

You can source steelies from wreckers and or Honda.

97-00 CR-V Steelies aren't that expensive and can be found easily.
06-08 Civic steelies 15" is alittle more difficult to find and pricier.

I think some tire shops have "Honda" replica steelies for cheap too.

 

crv steeies are 15 in and will clear the itr calipers? no fitment issues?

 

one of my friends has some old 02 rsx wheels, that he still has after he sold his car. The sizes are 16in, tirerack says 205/55-16, the ITR is 195/55-15? Can these rsx wheels fit?

 

The Tire Rack does not have 15" steel wheels available for the ITR. If you can find some 15" steelies (or used 15" alloys) from another car with the proper bolt pattern, go for it. The Tire Rack has ten styles of 15" alloy wheels in the $79-91 price range, and buying wheels at the same time as your tires will save you the cost of mounting and balancing.

Discount Tire Direct has 15" steel wheels available for the ITR for $60 each. Their website only shows packages for the Hankook winter tire, but they also sell the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 in 195/55-15 ($104/tire), which means you could put together a wheel and tire package for $656 shipped. When comparing prices, remember that Discount Tire Direct offers free shipping, and the savings on shipping offsets their higher prices. (If the website doesn't allow you to put together that combination, you may need to phone them.)

The X-Ice Xi2 and the WS-60 are the two best studless winter tires you can get. The X-Ice Xi2 actually beat the WS-60 in snow and ice testing (click here).

Keep in mind that all-season tires (such as the ASX) are designed to be flexible enough to be used in snow and frigid cold in the winter, and in moderate to warm temperatures the rest of the year. They're a compromise, though; they don't grip as well in winter as winter tires, and they don't grip as well the rest of the year as summer tires.

All-season tires are a good choice for winter use only in areas that don't get a lot of snow (yes, KC, also say Virginia or Oklahoma) and for people in colder areas who must use the same tires all year round and are willing to accept the compromise involved.

If you live in an area that gets a fair amount of snow and frigid cold, such as New York or especially snowy cities like Boston, Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis, then you're better off getting some real winter tires for winter use.

The wheels can probably fit, but you'll want to get smaller tires - 195/50-16, 205/45-16, or 215/45-16. And the WS-60 and Xi2 are not available in those sizes (although there are a few other winter tires available in those sizes). Also, I believe the center bore is bigger than our hubs (70 mm vs 64 mm) - someone correct me if I'm wrong - which means that the wheels will be susceptible to vibration problems unless you get hubcentric rings.

If it were my car, I'd either find some used 15" wheels that fit - steelies or CRV wheels or whatever - or I'd get a wheel and tire package from Discount Tire Direct or the Tire Rack. Given the tire availability, I don't think 16" is the way to go.

Studies have shown that in most winter conditions (including ice), today's better "studless" winter tires, like the Blizzak WS-60 and the Michelin X-Ice Xi2, actually grip better than studdable tires with studs installed. If you're interested in reading a test done comparing studded and studless winter tires, you can do so here:

AN OVERVIEW OF STUDDED AND STUDLESS TIRE TRACTION AND SAFETY

Here are some of its conclusions:

 

i see a lot of blizzaks at the dealer. you should just get a d/d beater

 

Another option is to try and find a nice cheap set of 15" ITR wheels. sometimes you can come across a bargain if you look on craigslist or maybe even ebay. i lucked out at my local wrecker with a set of white 15"s. They clear Spoon calipers without any spacers too if you decide to buy those oneday or if you already have them (which i don't think steelies will without a spacer).

I'm using the Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50 in 195/55/15 size and they're amazing tires in the snow. It doesn't snow much here in Vancouver, but when it does, i'm glad i have them. The Bridestone tires do tend to wear quickly though so i wouldn't milk them on the dry roads for too long. Prepare for some squirmy feeling handling as well.

Also, when i was at Acura, we had some 15" 5-lug steelies in the shop that were labelled as 'RSX take-off' wheels. I'm not 100% sure about this, but perhaps the base model RSX with the hubcaps was a 15" as well? it's a black steelie with many holes (doesn't look anything like the CRV steelie). The CRV steelies work with stock calipers without any issues, btw.

 

I have a 10 years old set of winter tires steely package from tire rack sitting in my garage for my previous 97 CW R with 205-50-15 Winter Pirelli which did great job during the days when I only own one vehicle.

 

195/55R15 Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25 mounted on Mazda Millenia wheels

 

Unfortunately, you may currently have availability issues when looking for Michelin snow tires. Most of them went to Canada when Quebec instated the new winter tire law. I know Tire Rack has some, but I would definitely look for them locally first though.

 

It's quite common for tire dealers like the Tire Rack to run low on availability of winter tires as you get into winter. They usually have plenty of options in October-November, but by the time you're into January, available choices have dwindled.

 

shameless plug: I've got a set of black sportmax 002 wheels with chrome lip that i'd be willing to sell for reasonably cheap if anyone's interested... just let me know. they'd be far better to use then ugly-*** steelies. the only reason why i'm not using them and i'm using my steelies is because i just don't want to pay the 50 bucks to swap the tires over.

 

I have a set of 15 inch steelies w/ Dunlop DS1 winter tires that I used on my ITR. They were a package from Tirerack a few years back. Tires are 205/55/15 which do fit just rub only at full lock w/ stock height.

They work great here in the Northeast if your out and about. I used to outrun any 4x4 w/ ease. Just had to watch for snow embankments.

They are for sale if interested. I will no longer be using the R during winter.

 

^ it's party time in the northeast.

 

howabout you dont drive your car during winter .. its really dangerous.. you can be the best driver in the world but not everyone knows how to drive their cars in winter. i regreat driving my car last winter i almost got hit 5 times

 

I ordered some 02-04 RSX 15" take offs from Honda and had some Kumho KW17 Studless mounted and balanced. Got them installed yesterday and the caliper clearance is pretty close lol but it will work.

Good thing I read this post or else I wouldn't know what to do, 06-09 Civic and 97-01 CR-V steelies are backordered for Canada.