I'm shopping for winter tyres and I notice there's very few options in the 225/50/R18 size.. So far one of the few options I've seen are the Hankook W409 I*Pikes. Mostly everything else seems to either not be available in 18" or just not in those exact dimensions.

I've read a lot of good reviews on the Hankook and they are affordable but I'd like to have some other options.. someone told me that they feel really soft and that I really won't enjoy them.

What are some other options available for me? I've looked on all the major sites online (US and Canada) and I have a feeling I am forced to buy those tyres.

 

tirerack

 

Actually there's even more than that. That link is for the staggered sizes. If you're going 225/50/18 all around there are 4 options at tirerack:
Tire Search Results

I'm looking at getting the Blizzaks in a non-staggered tire & wheel package for my winter set.

 

The W*Drives by Yokohama come in that size too. I have them in 17" and they were good last winter.

 

thx for the links.

For wheels I was debating either putting on steel wheels ($100/ea) or just moving my stock rims to the winter tyres.. will they get destroyed during winter? I know usually people say move the stock rims and buy new ones for summer.

 

I don't want to spend money on a good set of custom rims at the moment so I'm buying a cheap set (still alloys) for the winters and leaving summers on the stocks.

Also I have the (non-x) S model with the staggered wheels and supposedly the winters might work better with the same-size smaller wheels all around. But for you I guess it depends on whether you want to keep the stocks as your main wheels or eventually want to move to a different set. Personally I like the OEM wheels.

 

yea I think i'll do the same thing and get some cheap steel wheels and keep the OEMs. I agree they don't look too bad and honestly spending 1k+ on rims seems a bit unreasonable even if they do look badass sometimes

 

If you have the bbk, those steelies may not clear it. Tirerack does have 18s that will clear the calipers for about $130 each.

 

The xS doesn't have the bbk.