alcohen

I only need them for a few trips to lake tahoe, so I'm interested in the best performance stock size tires which are mud and snow rated.

Any sugestions?

I Also want a second set of rims, stock. any sugestions?

Thanks!
Andrew

Reggie

My personal choice would be the Dunlop M2s but Blizzaks are a bit better per the rack.

Since you are only using them on the weekend then 16" rims are a option. If I were to do it again I would get 17" rims and snow tires because I have to leave them on all winter here in CO.

Reggie

98.5 2.8QMS

Bollinger

17" gains you nothing on snow and the roads up there in tahoe stink. So, if you get separate snow tires, I'd recommend 16".

It's too late in the season I believe to buy snow tires this yet. Stocks are very low.

DMoore

"I only need them for a few trips." The problem here is, it only takes ONE trip if the roads are awful to cause big trouble. I firmly believe that if you're going somewhere that terrible weather occurs (and Tahoe certainly qualifies) then you need to be prepared for the worst. Just because you only go a few times doesn't mean you'll miss the biggest storm of the year.

ALSO. You cannot put chains on an S4, even with 16" wheels. So you need to remember that you can't "bail out" in bad conditions by chaining up - you are going to be limited by the rubber on your wheels.

I live in SoCal, commute to Mammoth. But I'm running 16" wheels and snows on my S4 for the entire winter. Sure, I lose something around town, but the added security when I need it (like last weekend - 5 feet in 3 days) is worth it.

My advice - get a good set of snows. Dunlop M2, Blizzak, Nokian Hakka's, Pirelli's, Michelins - all are good. You may argue which is best, but all are more than acceptable. Save your "performance driving" for summer when you put your fat, sticky summer tires back on the car.

Reggie

worst case look at the Dunlop SP5000s

ba2.7t

I make 3-4 trips up to Tahoe each winter and had a hard time trying to justify getting dedicated snow tires while living in the Bay area. I just got a new set of wheels with Dunlop M2s for winters from Tirerack - the issue that drove me to this solution is that you need tires to handle the WORST conditions you'll drive in during winter, not the average. I' ve driven to Tahoe many winters where I never needed chains, and other times it seems like I've needed chains each time. High performance snows should will work well for the 5 month ski / snow season and you'll get better life out of your performance tires since you'll be driving them only 7 months/year.