The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[Finny61]

So I am getting a set of Blizzaks, looking forward to it! One thing the guy at the garage told me was that for my car I have the option to go with 1 inch less on the tire (standard all season is 17 inch, go to a 16 inch winter). Is this viable? I guess there would be some savings but does it hurt the tread life to go with a tire with a narrow profile?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Finny61

So I am getting a set of Blizzaks, looking forward to it! One thing the guy at the garage told me was that for my car I have the option to go with 1 inch less on the tire (standard all season is 17 inch, go to a 16 inch winter). Is this viable? I guess there would be some savings but does it hurt the tread life to go with a tire with a narrow profile?

The 16" versus 17" is referring to the diameter of your rim. 16" will be fine and I don't think it will affect tread life in any noticeable way, but it might make it look like you have disproportionately large wheel wells since there will be less wheel/tire in there to fill them up...depending on how "cool" you want your car to look, this could lame it up a bit.

[Jimmy Stang]

On each of my vehicles, my rims are 1 inch less for my winters. The tires, however, are 1 inch higher to compensate. This works great and saves money on tires. The circumference of the tire needs to be the same or close, otherwise your speedometer will be off considerably. I'm sure that there are other safety, performance, etc. issues with having a circumference that is too far off as well.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Sliver

The 16" versus 17" is referring to the diameter of your rim. 16" will be fine and I don't think it will affect tread life in any noticeable way, but it might make it look like you have disproportionately large wheel wells since there will be less wheel/tire in there to fill them up...depending on how "cool" you want your car to look, this could lame it up a bit.

Tire size compensates for the smaller wheels. The overall diameter is the same, so they will fill the wheel wells just the same.

Smaller wheels are good for winter because you get more tire sidewall, which is good for bumps, ruts and pot holes. They will be squishier in the corners.

The narrower you go, the better ice traction you'll get.

Higher profile tires (for smaller wheels) are usually cheaper too.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

The narrower you go, the better ice traction you'll get.

This part seems counter intuitive to me. I would have thought that a wider tire would have more rubber on the ice and thus more traction. I could see how a narrower tire would cut through snow better though.

Any reason why narrower would be better on ice? (This isn't a challenge but an honest question as I'm not as knowledgeable with tires as many of you here).

[zamler]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

This part seems counter intuitive to me. I would have thought that a wider tire would have more rubber on the ice and thus more traction. I could see how a narrower tire would cut through snow better though.

A more narrow tire is better because it has more pressure per surface area. There is a limit of course, too narrow and there will not be enough contact area for effective traction. But in the range of a normal tire, the narrower the better for winter driving. This differs for example if you drive in mud, you need the widest possible tire to keep you from sinking, the same can apply to very deep snow but how many of us actually drive in such conditions.

edit - but I think a much bigger factor is using winter tires versus all-season, the rubber compound of a good winter tire is so much better. And I don't like the trend of larger and larger/wider wheels and lower and lower profile rubber, it may enhance the look but it hurts ride quality significantly.

[Jimmy Stang]

^ Thanks for the explanation. My winters are a bit wider than my summers, but that's because I found the rims and tires on Kijiji for a good price. The big disadvantage to that set or tires, as you have eluded to, is that the rubber seems a little old and I don't get the same level of traction as I get on my other vehicle with newer tires. They're not overly worn, but they are a brand/style that hasn't been sold in quite some years, and I think that they were sitting in a garage for a while before I bought them. The difference in rubber compound is noticeable. Still better than summers or all seasons, but I'll be happy to change them over to a more modern, sticky tire after another season or two of winter driving.

[wooohooo]

A little bump...

I'm buying winter tires for my girlfriend car (195/60/R15). I am looking on kijiji and find a variety of tires and I basically put it in a tire calculator and try to get something within 3%. Now my understanding is you need to check 1) Tire size and 2) Rim bolt pattern. The car is 5x100mm so no other pattern would work for that? And if I were to buy the rims itself, do all tires fit onto 15' rims if I buy 15' tires? So say the rims were to come off a Van, could they fit my car?

Thanks!

[MoneyGuy]

How much does it cost to have four winter rims installed and balanced? The tires are already on the rims. $80?

[Coys1882]

At Harper's Tire, I pay $20 a season per tire to store them there and have them switched over each time.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

How much does it cost to have four winter rims installed and balanced? The tires are already on the rims. $80?

I've seen some places for as low as $12 dollars/tire

Edit: I'm in edmonton so.... that probably explains it

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

A little bump...

I'm buying winter tires for my girlfriend car (195/60/R15). I am looking on kijiji and find a variety of tires and I basically put it in a tire calculator and try to get something within 3%. Now my understanding is you need to check 1) Tire size and 2) Rim bolt pattern. The car is 5x100mm so no other pattern would work for that? And if I were to buy the rims itself, do all tires fit onto 15' rims if I buy 15' tires? So say the rims were to come off a Van, could they fit my car?

Thanks!

I noticed no one directly replied. Not sure if too late.
When buying tires, the most important things to keep in mind are overall diameter, wheel/rim size and load rating. (Speed rating as well if you plan on driving like a maniac)

Regarding the wheel/rim, if 5x100 is your cars bolt pattern, you need to buy a rim to suit it. Some rims are have two different bolt patterns on them. However, this is not the only thing to keep in mind when looking for rims. Also important is the offset. The offset is how far towards the inside or outside of the rim that the mounting hub is located. Get this wrong and the tires can rub on the car or have other effects.

[Bill Bumface]

^Offset is usually printed on the inside of the wheel. It's in mm, and measured from the centre plane of your wheels, and can be negative or positive, so pay attention to that.

Because it's measured from the centre plane, wheel width comes into play for rubbing.

Here's a great offset calculator: http://www.1010tires.com/wheeloffsetcalculator.asp

[THE SCUD]

Picked up some 19" RS6 rims and Toyot Observe GSi-5's for my Q5 - fantastic tires, another +1 goes to Gary @ The SE Urban Expressions!

[ranchlandsselling]

NOKIAN WR G2 - 225/45/17 94H ALL WEATHER WINTERS
Any comments on the above tire? Looking for a Mercedes 2010 C-Class sedan that currently has factory All Seasons that almost killed me first snowfall. The car is 4-matic, traction going uphill seemed fine and I moved past people that were stuck with their FWD and RWD cars but then I was going down southland drive, it was icey and I suddenly realized I was floating no traction what so ever. So I could use a winter tire. Found a set of these at a tire shop they're selling for a good deal.

Thanks!

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by THE SCUD

Picked up some 19" RS6 rims and Toyot Observe GSi-5's for my Q5 - fantastic tires, another +1 goes to Gary @ The SE Urban Expressions!

Thought I'd follow up after a few mini-tests on the recent snow-then-ice we've had.

It's true what they say about these tires, they certainly were developed for Canadian winters. They are fantastic in the snow but true excel in the ice we get a lot of here in Souther Alberta (thanks Chinooks!)

+1 for these tires.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

^Offset is usually printed on the inside of the wheel. It's in mm, and measured from the centre plane of your wheels, and can be negative or positive, so pay attention to that.

Because it's measured from the centre plane, wheel width comes into play for rubbing.

Here's a great offset calculator: http://www.1010tires.com/wheeloffsetcalculator.asp

I played with the offset, and I found the offset are usually two numbers. 34-45mm. Which number do I use? I put them in and I think it fits...

If the hub is a little too large is that okay? I know there's something about hubcentric where the weight is on the hubs and the lugcentric is on the lugs. Is it the rim that makes it hubcentric/lugcentric? How can I tell which it is? Would it be bad to run say a different cars wheels (neon) onto my car (corolla)?

Thanks

[THE SCUD]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

NOKIAN WR G2 - 225/45/17 94H ALL WEATHER WINTERS
Any comments on the above tire? Looking for a Mercedes 2010 C-Class sedan that currently has factory All Seasons that almost killed me first snowfall. The car is 4-matic, traction going uphill seemed fine and I moved past people that were stuck with their FWD and RWD cars but then I was going down southland drive, it was icey and I suddenly realized I was floating no traction what so ever. So I could use a winter tire. Found a set of these at a tire shop they're selling for a good deal.

Thanks!

they are okay. They are a great in the snow for an all season. Why don't you buy some winter tires and rims? You have (I assume) relatively new all seasons, use those for the spring/summer/fall and put on dedicated winters for the winter. It won't cost you anything over the life of the car, as you'll wear each set half what you would 1 set of all seasons. You can likely sell the rims for close to what you pay for them when you sell the car.


coles notes: Buy a dedicated winter on their own rims, best time to do this is when the car is relatively new and you can amortize their cost over the life of the car to result in a lifetime cost of zero.

[wooohooo]

Also.. I can't for the life of me remove my rear tires. I've tried spraying penetrating oil where the hub and wheel are but I think they're just too rusted on. I've loosened the lug nuts a bit and took it for a drive around the block but no luck. I've tried to use a mallet and wack it but it's on a spare tire jack and caused the car to actually shift to fall off the jack. F me! I've called 5 tire places and they said the earliest slot is next week... maybe...

What else can I do?

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

NOKIAN WR G2 - 225/45/17 94H ALL WEATHER WINTERS
Any comments on the above tire? Looking for a Mercedes 2010 C-Class sedan that currently has factory All Seasons that almost killed me first snowfall. The car is 4-matic, traction going uphill seemed fine and I moved past people that were stuck with their FWD and RWD cars but then I was going down southland drive, it was icey and I suddenly realized I was floating no traction what so ever. So I could use a winter tire. Found a set of these at a tire shop they're selling for a good deal.

Thanks!

When I was looking for tires, some places recommended them to me over some cheaper winters. I was told it was probably on par with the middle of the pack of winters which was truly amazing for all seasons.