I did a search without much luck. Being a new Midwestern owner of a 2003 S2000 I am interested in how with the car handles in winter with the original equipment Bridgestones? My main consideration is not snow but handling in cold weather. Is there a temperature at which the handling of the car changes radially? The car is used primarily for fun and not a daily drive. If snow tires are the choice, do I need two or four? Are steel wheels available? Thanks for your input.

Wingman Gold

 

The tires will become a lot more slippery once temps dip below the lower 40's, which is often the case at night now. The rubber compound of the tire is harder than passenger car tires, and they can become almost grease like when cold. Even moderate speed turns can become quite interesting when the rear end swings out!! If you decide to get snow tires, you need to change all 4. Visit the Tire Rack forum to get more tire/wheel package options!

 

Check this out http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=150039

 

The OEM Bridgestone S-02's that are on your S2000 are summer ONLY performance tires, and not intended for use in snow at all. The compound is for warm weather only, and once the weather gets significantly cold (even slightly above freezing is cold enough) the tires essentially loose almsot all of their grip. There are currently no steel wheels available due to brake clearance issues, and you will need to get a set of aluminum alloy wheels with snow tires mounted on them.

Last December is when I bought my S2000 I could not find a set of reasonably priced OEM wheels, so I bought a set of ASA FR1 wheels with Dunlop Winter Sport M2 tires on them. Usually when buying winter tires you want to minus size (or go down a size in wheels and tires) but this cannot be done with the S2000. With this car you either have to maintain a 16 inch wheel and just get snows for those wheels, or do what I did an actually plus size and go to 17 inch wheels and tires. Yes, that is highly unusual, but I decided to try it and it worked GREAT with the proper tires chosen. Even running the larger 17 inch sizes I was able to go through fresh snow that was 8 inches deep with no problems whatsoever. This is in SHARP contrast to when the streets just got cold and a slight dusting of snow (no real accumulation...just enough to see white stuff) and I had my OEM S-02's on and seriously almost died and had to drive 15-20 mph most of the way home with blinkers on.

Bottom line, snow tire technology is amazing. If you have to drive it in the snow (or just want to for fun), get snow tires for your own safety, and get all (4) of them.

 

Meeyatch1, good post.

 

Meeyatch1,
How do you like the Dunlop M2? Did you consider the Blissaks LM22? I will be getting one of these in the near future for my first winter..

KS