chuckla

I assume you buy new wheels and have the snows mounted on them. My questions:

1. Do you change the wheels yourself and, if not, how do you get it done?

2. If you do the change, what is involved?

3. What wheels (17 or 18 and make) and snow tires do you recommend?

Thanks.

abiazis

1. Buy them from tirerack.com - rims and tires - 18 ", about $ 1700 total for Pirelli 240's Winter snows (they are out of Dunlop Wintersports which I like a bit better, but I am happy with the Pirelli's so far) is what they will recommend for that car due to weight....you will need H&R brand spacer for the rear tires, which they will sell to you(included in 1700) because winters are 265's versus summer 295 width...this fills the well up to match the stance with the summers...

2. You can remove summer tires yourself with the tools in your trunk and keep in garage, etc....one lugnug on each wheel will be a wheel lock bolt for anti-theft.... the adapter you should find in your toolkit or glovebox takes care of the one wheel lock bolt per wheel.....

hope this helps..........you will be happy with the performance in snow and dry.......and feel safer.............

TT Surgeon

I just went through this. Tire rack has pirelli snow sports 225fr/265r, they are 175 and 199 resp, a descent price. You will need new rims, 18x8 front and 18x10 rear. your stock offset is 50fr and 45 rear. tire rack was back ordered on the miglia cup(italian knockoff)rims, so I picked up a new set on ebay, 699 from an outfit called highline wheels( a friend did this with them last yr, worked out ok). They offer a rim w/ 52 fr offset and 48r offset, should work ok.
I paid 750 for the tires and 699 for rims, just have to get them mounted and balanced, then I will change them out myself, easy. Ideally, I would have gotten aw/t combo from TR but they were sold out, plus the price on the rims seemed a little high considering they were knockoffs, but others love them. The best price they shot me was 2400 if they had them, which they don't now. Try wheel enhancement as well.

houldsworth1

I have a set of original wheels which I picked up cheap off of e-bay. This time around I had the local firestone place take care of everything since I had to get the tires mounted but at the end of the year I may do it myself - depends on how lazy I'm feeling

bavarian

I just did the same thing in November for my '04 C4S cab.. Tirerack sold me the Mille Miglia Cup3s with Blizzak LM-25s and spacers for the back (21mm). I did the swap myself. I recommend buying a decent jack instead of the spare tire jack in your trunk-- you can get one from Harbor Freight or many other places for about $60 bucks. You should also get a torque wrench (about the same price or less)--Tirerack sells a decent one, as well as the 19mm socket head.
It is very easy to swap wheels, especially since they come balanced.

TT Surgeon

Bavarian, what type of wheels did your car have pre snow tires? Mine has sport techno, these already have 17mm spacers installed at the factory. Did you swap those out?
Chris

houldsworth1

I saw that Highline wheels did this and almost went for them but they had too many bad reviews and I noticed that in cases where people had complained they had then claimed that those people were non-paying bidders - which did not make sense in so many cases. I assume your dealings with them were fine?

Barry

TT Surgeon

Yeah I saw that too, so far so good with me, I'll get the rims next week and post a review.

Riad

I have 17" Dunlop Winter M2's on my c4s cab. I have spacers installed, 6mm front 25mm rear. The car handles very well on dry land, and in the snow it's perfect!

houldsworth1

Riad...

Is that a Tuxedo cop in your Avatar?

Riad

Yes, yes it is.

houldsworth1

They got me on my motorcycle on New Years day 2000...

bavarian

C4S Surgeon--- My '04 C4S cab comes with the factory wheels (I'm not sure what they're called--I believe they are Nr. 415 Turbo Look II) and there were no spacers installed. My rear tires are 295s, but the snow tires are 265s, so the 21mm spacer is what Tirerack selected to make the offset and clearance for the brakes fit. They still look a bit skinnier from the back. l

TT Surgeon

Bav, here is a shot of my rims, I think they are different than turbo style.
Chris

Riad

I was talking on my cell phone. The cop gave me the the ticket and said "dude, you have to make me work harder for these. I saw you coming a mile away in that car with the top down"

He had a good sense of humor about it...