I am planning to switch my S02 out with some winter tires. I don't want to spend too much money doing this though, a set of tires that's forgiving enough to keep me on the road under average driver skills & conditions are sufficient. Where is a good place to get tires and have them installed ? Is it better to order online or get it from a local shop ?

My car is still new, haven't drive it on snow before and I am a bit skeptical about running the S02s on snow. From your experience, which tires work best for our car in winter condition ?

 

We tried Artic Alphine for one season (2000), we gave up driving in the winter for the next season and kept the car in the garage.

 

S0'2's are not made for the snow. You would kill yourself/get stuck firts real snowfall. Buy dedicated snow tires.

 

Well, really the S2k was never designed to be driven in snow. No matter what type of snow tires you put on it it will always be worse than average.

I think TKG has good experience in this, he drives his car in the winter...

 

The SO-2's are impossible in the snow... but a few of my friends and I have been running Pirelli/Toyo/Nokia on our three S2K's in the past few years without a problem~ Hope this helps

 

Narrow steel wheels and high profile dedicated winter tires. I'd recommend Blizzaks, or Alpins.

Go to Costco for the best deal and they will install for free and give free rotations!

 

When I got this car 2 years ago, I could not find any plain black steel wheels. They just didn't make them in the proper bolt pattern or offset. You may still NOT be able to find them today. I ended up putting the snows on the stock wheels the first winter and then I got the cheapest aftermarket wheels after that.
I think the Alpins are a great ICE tire and as such, they do not have big enough lugs to make them a good SNOW tire. Stick with Blizzaks and you'll be better off.
As for this car not being designed for driving in winter, I have to disagree. "Worse than average" is a relative term. A FWD car even with snow tires in snow will be worse than average. A SUV with AWD with snow tires will be worse than average. Know the limitations that winter driving creates and learn how to drive this car in those conditions and you'll be fine. BTW, this last sentence will apply to FWD cars too.
In the sense that NO car will drive the same way in winter as it would in summer, one could say that NO car was designed to be driven in winter. Although the ultimate choice is yours, it's ludicrous to think that a person would park this car just because of rain (as some people do) and the same can be said about parking it just because of snow.
And the arguement, "Why would you want to risk a nice $50,000 car in such conditions?" does not hold up for me. I say, "Why would you want to risk a nice $50,000 SUV in such conditions?"
If you can afford to run a beater for the winter, then go ahead. For me, I can't see why I should drive a POS when I've got a great car sitting at home.

 

1. get a hardtop.
2. get high-end snow tires in stock sizes and mount them on stock wheels - if you don't keep the stagger, you'll be even more fvcked!!
3. always start in 2nd gear when starting from a stop........

due to the low torque in the S2000, it's no different than driving a civic in winter.........

good snows, are the key....i would go with some model of blizzak........

 

Nokia Hali..whatever are the best snow tires for the money.

If you don't want to use your stock wheels and hate those steel wheels. A good option would be a set of Prelude SH wheels. They are 16" with a smaller width.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by ITR Racer
[B]Nokia Hali..whatever are the best snow tires for the money.

If you don't want to use your stock wheels and hate those steel wheels.