minivan

[johnny the jibber]

you should get 22's. for the bling effect...

[Steve]

so maybe the WR is best for me?

I am of the opinion that if you're going to spend the money, you're better off buying real summer tires for summer, and real winter tires for winter. Using 4-season winter tires (whatever that means) can compromise safety in the winter..

then I have to get a second set of rims?

A second set of rims prevents you from dropping $90 twice a year to have someone mount and balance the tires.. which is why I neglected to take them off last summer.

[Dr. NO]

so maybe the WR is best for me?

I am of the opinion that if you're going to spend the money, you're better off buying real summer tires for summer, and real winter tires for winter. Using 4-season winter tires (whatever that means) can compromise safety in the winter..

then I have to get a second set of rims?

A second set of rims prevents you from dropping $90 twice a year to have someone mount and balance the tires.. which is why I neglected to take them off last summer.

If you purchase your tires from the proper place, they will mount and balance your snow treads for FREE each season. Of course, I would like to get a 2nd set of rims and just change the tires over myself, BUT I have had 3 different rims in the last 5 years. Ford 15, Ford 16 and now Chrystler 15.

[Geoff]

If you purchase your tires from the proper place, they will mount and balance your snow treads for FREE each season.

I'm not aware that anybody offers this these days. The best I've seen is free rotation and free swapping of winter & summer wheels.

[Bling Skier]

you should get 22's. for the bling effect...

tee-hee.

[johnny the jibber]

you roll on dubs yo???

[Dr. NO]

If you purchase your tires from the proper place, they will mount and balance your snow treads for FREE each season.

I'm not aware that anybody offers this these days. The best I've seen is free rotation and free swapping of winter & summer wheels.

Maybe they mean rims and all, but Town Fair Tire here says FREE MOUNTING, FREE FLAT REPAIR, FREE ROTATION EVERY 5000 MILES, FREE SNOW TIRE CHANGEOVER. Even have FREE FRONT WHEEL ALIGNMENT with purchase of 2 tires or more. I'll have to check it out next Fall as I need to replace at least 2 of my winter tires on the van.

[TheBullet]

If you purchase your tires from the proper place, they will mount and balance your snow treads for FREE each season.

I'm not aware that anybody offers this these days. The best I've seen is free rotation and free swapping of winter & summer wheels.

Get 2 sets of rims and dedicated winter and summer tires. Tires and brakes are the most important components of your car for safety purposes. Don't eff around and cheap out on them.

As for using the same rims, even if you get free monting, there is a school of thought that says you damage the seals on the tire/rim interface by taking them off and putting them on again and again. If you're switching, you'll be getting a lot of miles on these 2 sets of tires, so expect at least 3 seasons with each (unless your summers are serious high perfromance tres, which wear a lot faster but deliver on handling, etc).

I've got Nokian Hakke RSIs on my S4. It kicks my Grand Cherokee's ass in the winter weather.

[Steve]

We're on our 4th minivan. 84 Caravan, 90 Caravan, 97 Caravan, now 05 Sienna. Each passed down to our kids when we bought new one. We've gone cross country camping in them, hauled kids and dogs, filled them at various times with plywood, mulch and stonedust, moved the kids into many apartments, etc. The youngest lived in the 90 for a while in California. Now we can afford whatever we want, and we still went with a minivan, the Sienna for its versatility. The AWD made our decision. We keep the middle seats out all the time which makes it easy to throw in the two mountain bikes and provides plenty of room to change when skiing. The dog likes the 3rd row seat and if we're travelling, we can just fold it down, blow up the air mattress, and bed down anywhere. Heading for Florida for a month in May and will do some camping going and coming. And I never felt like a pussy for owning a minivan.

Mr. Rat,

I thought maybe killington would like to use your minivan for transporting its mulch. What do you think?