Cashing In On Snow Tires

Winter is clearly here, as it smacked us in the face with snow and freezing temperatures the other day. Fresh snow on the roads provided us our first slidey test for the Insight.

After driving to work and sliding through 17 stop signs, I concluded that the Insight's all-season tires failed the winter test. The main reason it sucked in the snow is because it is so damn light. The combination of aluminum, titanium and plastic adds up to only 1,800 lbs. of banana-peel-oil-slick hybrid action.

Enter my sister. Working at a Honda dealership, she was able to score me a huge deal on Insight wheels and snow tires. Our first choice was the high-tech Michelin X-ice tire, but it was only available in 175/65/14.

I was understandably upset, but instead of grenading the local Michelin plant I decided to go with Bridgestone's Blizzak MZ03, in the narrow, Insight-approved 165/65/14 format. The extra anorexic tire will cut right through the snow and supply us with extra gripping force - To The Max!

The aluminum wheels were a whopping $470.75 each, but fell to an astounding $306 each with my sister's discount. The super soft Blizzak tires rang up at $233 each, then fell to $117.90. For one pair, we achieved a phenomenal savings of $559.

That means under normal circumstances we would have paid $1,407.50 per pair, or $2,815 for a complete set of four. Realistically however, we would never have paid $940 for two manufacturer's wheels. Instead, we would have bought some fancy aftermarket wheels, so long as we could find some extraordinarily light ones.

Consider this: The Insight wheels with the Blizzak MZ03s weighed only 22 lbs. each! And according to the Bridgestone website, the tire is a chubby 15 lbs, making the Insight wheel a svelte 7 lbs.

As a result of our transaction, my sister has now pulled a Godfather and started cashing in on the favour. I've already had to deliver a coffee, some Reese's Peanut Butter Bites, some gum and a sleeping bag up to her house. I wonder if it was worth it? I don't want to start offing people.