Winter Tires

[toad]

indianapolis, indiana. it's been YEARS since we've had anything close to that, though. normally just gets very cold sometimes icy.

[WolfWings]

Originally Posted by toad

will the extra .1" in radius make a difference on lowered vehicles? i only ask because i think i found the snow tire i want - 175/65/15 michelin x-ice x2 - and the tire calculator puts it at .2" diameter more than stock(185/60/15), but i'm lowered on df's. i don't have any rubbing issues right now because i'm just on stock rims, but you've got me worried now about snow piling-up in the wheelwells! i'm mostly concerned about ice/slush traction because where i live we rarely get snow more than a few inches at a time - although we did get almost a foot in a 24hr period once last season(i wasn't lowered then)! i've read great things about the michelins online and yes - they're pricey, but there's a $70 rebate right now on them.

With stock ride height I can sneak away with 0.25" extra radius to run Goodyear TripleTred tires, but that scraped on the inside wheelwell at full lock even then. Lowered I'd be extra paranoid about scraping tires on your wheelwell sheetmetal then.

Get a seperate set of 14" steel rims, mount some 175/65-14's on them to be safe if you can afford it. Remember, winter tires should only go on once you get first snowfall/slush, and go away if there's no snow/ice on the ground for more than a day or two. Yes, you might put them on and off if winter has a month of nasty, two weeks of nice, and another month of nasty. If you do that those winter tires will last 2 or 3 years before even starting to really wear out. Otherwise they'll only last 1, or maybe 2 if you're lucky.

[silver_echo]

Originally Posted by WolfWings

With stock ride height I can sneak away with 0.25" extra radius to run Goodyear TripleTred tires, but that scraped on the inside wheelwell at full lock even then. Lowered I'd be extra paranoid about scraping tires on your wheelwell sheetmetal then.

Get a seperate set of 14" steel rims, mount some 175/65-14's on them to be safe if you can afford it. Remember, winter tires should only go on once you get first snowfall/slush, and go away if there's no snow/ice on the ground for more than a day or two. Yes, you might put them on and off if winter has a month of nasty, two weeks of nice, and another month of nasty. If you do that those winter tires will last 2 or 3 years before even starting to really wear out. Otherwise they'll only last 1, or maybe 2 if you're lucky.

i ran one set of snow tires for almost 5 seasons on nov 1st off march 31st with no problems, so i am arguing the point... also, i would not recommend taking them off again until you are sure that no more snow should fall, because you never know if you are gonna have a big drop on the next snowfall...

[WolfWings]

Originally Posted by silver_echo

i ran one set of snow tires for almost 5 seasons on nov 1st off march 31st with no problems, so i am arguing the point... also, i would not recommend taking them off again until you are sure that no more snow should fall, because you never know if you are gonna have a big drop on the next snowfall...

Well, also note I'm referring to using multi-compound snow/ice tires that actually get better traction than studded tires here, the tires as a whole will last 5 or more seasons, but the ice-sticky compound and bad-weather tread only goes down about half the tread depth before they're just normal all-season tires again.

So when I say 'just starting to wear out' I actually mean the tires are down to half their original tread, which is still plenty for mild winters. And those same tires peel away rubber like R-compounds when driven on dry asphalt. Note I'm not saying pull em' off every time it goes dry, but if no snow is expected for two weeks, yank em' off and put em' back on in two weeks. It's not like 14" steelies with winter tires for our car are heavy at all, they'll be sub-40lbs each.