winter tire use?

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

i have a leased honda civic. its a grocery getter. tires are so-so quality and at 50% tread. end of lease is october. i picked up a set of winter tires/rims for free and they are about 50% tread also but kinda old. seem to work ok in snow. i want to just drive them till next oct and put stock wheels back on and give car back and my plan is to save the stock tires from excessive wear. or damage. its MN. its never hot here. i figure someone might want the winter wheels as they are oem and 16" steel which are sorta hard to find for cheap. no issues with using winter tires in the summer? truck guys drive their all terrain tires year round.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

stoveguyy
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

stock wheels are 195/65/15 and winter wheels are 205/55/16 and they seem to fit ok. i did find another set of 215/55/16 tires but i am not sure they will have enough shock tower clearance if i use them. i can lay my hand on top of tire and the strut mount does not touch the back of my hand. i think i have about 1" clearance to strut mount. maybe a bit more
jemdandy
7 years ago
You do have to be mindful of clearance with wider tires, and in particular in front. Will the wider tire rub against anything with the steering turned all the way to one side and the suspension depressed?

The other concern is tire diameter. Both of these wider, but lower profile, tires have smaller circumferences than the stock, although the 215/55/16 tire is only 3% smaller.

Tire designation-----Circumference (inches)------% of stock

195/65/16 ---- 82.77 ---- 100%

205/55/16 --- 79.18 ----- 95.6%

215/55/16 ---- 80.59---- 97.4%

Tire circumference affects speedometer and trip meter readings, acceleration, and road clearance.

The 3rd concern is handling change, notable torque-steer for front wheel drives. If the center of the replacement tire falls at the same location as the stock tire, steering feel should be the same. If the center of the tire shifts away from stock, you may encounter torque-steer, i.e., with power applied or when braking, the location of the applied forces tends to rotate the wheel about its steering axis (vertical). This adds load to the steering rods and joints and if the force becomes different between the wheels, a reaction will be felt at the steering wheel. The choice of wheels (rims) is important. The combination of wheel and tire must put the contact patch at the same location as stock to retain stock performance. The amount of dish the wheel has determines where the center of the tire will be. Another factor: Wheels made for older cars with drum brakes may interfere with the caliper of disc brakes. The dish shape of the two wheels are different. The dish in wheels made for disc brakes have larger diameters to clear the caliper and disc. Tightening the wrong wheel can damage parts. A mix of wheels can happen when buying from a salvage yard or other sources.
Related Discussions
I am tired of winter!!!!!!!!
Q
Comments (11)
Me too... Come on spring!! Nice orders folks. I have ordered Arctic Blast,Alex Summers,Bennie McRae,Blue-Mammoth, B.Umbrellas,B.Rock,Bodacious Blue,Fickle Blue Genes,Cat & Mouse,Clear Fork River Valley, Guardian Angle,Hack Saw,Key Lime Pie,Kiwi Sky Scraper, Lakeside Coal miner,Mississippi Delta, Orange Marmalade, T-Rex, Valentine Lace,& a few others.....Wow I didn't realize , my hosta collection is nearing the 100 mark this year . Guess that means I am past the hopeless hosta addiction mark now. I can't wait for my orders to come so I get my fingers back in the dirt. Its in the 50'*s here in NJ today, so its gonna be pure torture waiting the next 8-9 weeks. I will be playing w/ my seedlings till then. ;) Dot
...See More
Extra Set of Wheels For Winter Tires
Q
Comments (5)
Make sure that the wheels you get are for disc brakes (if you have disc brakes). Although you may find that the bolt pattern of wheels for shoe brakes will fit a disc brake equipped wheel, the wheel may interfere with the caliper assemby and that won't be discovered until the final tightening of the lug nuts. Damage may result since great force can be developed by the lug nuts. The dished shape of wheels for disc brakes are different to older wheels for shoe brake autos. Beware of this when getting wheels from a slavage yard. Also, when buying used wheels, make sure that the beveled holes for the lugs are not worn out. The lug nut should contact the wheel face and become snug before the backside of the material around the hole touches its clamping surface. The wheel acts as a very stiff spring lock washer to keep the lug nut in place. If the backside of the wheel bottoms, or the lug nut bottoms, before the lug nut begins to tighten on the wheel face, the lug may loosen, or the wheel will not be tight. This happens when the beveled hole is too large.
...See More
Mixing Tire Sizes (Winter Rubber)
Q
Comments (4)
The 235 45R-17 tires are slightly less in diameter than the 225 50R-17 tires. If used on the front, your speedometer readout will be affected by 2.1% It will indicate a greater speed than actual. Calculations below: 225 50R -17 Tire diameter: 17 + (2x225x0.5/25.4) = 25.86 inches 235 45R -17 Tire diameter: 17 + (2x235x0.45/25.4) = 25.33 inches The speedometer will read fast by 25.86/25.33 or 1.0209 or 102.09%. At indicated speed of 60 mph, the actual speed would be: 60 x 25.33 / 25.86 = 58.77 mph. But, since these will be on the rear, therefore handling and wheel well clearance are the main issues. Wheel well clearance gains importance when snow packs into the wheel well. The 235 45R tires are wider by 10mm or about 0.4 inches; That would be 0.2 inches per side. If you have ample clearance, this litle difference can be accomodated. The effect on hamdling is unknown to me. There should be little change if the sideways stiffness of the two tires are the same. However, if the replacement tires are more flexible in the side-to-side direction, it may cause the vehicle to 'hunt' while at speed, e.g., wanders from side to side and require constant steering correction to stay in your lane. A few reports that I have read states that the ride is stiffer with the lower profile tires. I have no experience therein.
...See More
Hmm do you think our Buyers Agent is Tired of Us?
Q
Comments (8)
They automatically send us MLS listings each day in the area and price range we are interested in. Otherwise, they are not involved in our home search. Did they set this up or did you? Every (real estate) site I've been to has an email feature where you put your search options in and can get email updates as they come on. I don't know what the difference is between the two as I've never had an agent sign me up. Since it sounds like the agents are a bit lazy, you might think to start doing your own searching using the various sites. Here in NJ I've had different results with different sites, they all don't seem to pick up the same listings. Between the 4 or 5 sites I'm signed up at, I have a pretty good variety of houses. I agree with dabunch, and have also lost houses due to an agent that is too laid back. Last year I had about 20 houses I was interested in, I emailed them to the person I was going to use, they never replied. A few weeks later I finally decided to find a different agent, the houses I'd picked were gone. Do you all think our realtors don't want to work with us anymore but are too nice to say? We actually haven't had a signed contract for the last 9 months but they know we will use them in completing a transaction. They haven't said anything negative to us, but they are real Texas gentlemen so who knows. BTW, we referred our son to them and he just bought a starter home from them ($155,000) after seeing 5 other houses. You realtors out there and others, what do you think? Thanks. I don't know what to think about the agents but since there are 2 of them, there is no reason that you should be left waiting, and with what you are saying, I actually wonder if they dragged their feet on putting offers in for you. It almost sounds like they don't think you are serious about buying. You can go 2 ways, have a talk with them and tell them that you are really ready to spend your money and don't want to lose a house and be honest about them being late, not returning phone calls or just ditch them and move on. If you do sign up at a few sites, you might get an email from one of the agents. If so, establish an email relationship, it's actually what I've done. Some agents are wonderful about returning emails while some can't be bothered. I like email because I can email them the MLS numbers that I would like to look at, and it's in writing. I also use the favorites feature on the sites, the Remax site allows me to make folders to save houses to; one is called appointments. One agent I had was great about watching that folder, she knew when I was going to be ready to go out by what I had saved.
...See More
stoveguyy
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago

stock wheels are 195/65/15. winter wheels are 205/55/16. <1% diff i believe. the steel 16" rims are honda oem. i would have to mount the 215/55/16 tires which is annoying. maybe i can find a 2nd set of wheels? ugh. too much effort. i got the vw rims/tires for $30 cuz i need the cores at the junkyard. core charge is 15/wheel so my 30 investment is better than a 60 core charge. i like to go to junkyards.if i sell the tires than i get my money back. a set of 4 ok tires is worth something. to someone.

civic SI has 215/45/17 tires but they are 1/2" shorter? dont know offset or rim width though
stoveguyy
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
sold tires. dont thave to worry about non stock tire size now.
jemdandy
7 years ago
Refer to the chart I provided above. The 205/55/16 tires are 4.4% smaller in diameter than stock.

winter tire use?

Comments (5)

stoveguyy
Original Author

jemdandy

Related Discussions

stoveguyy
Original Author

stoveguyy
Original Author

jemdandy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

winter tire use?

Comments (5)

stoveguyyOriginal Author

jemdandy

Related Discussions

stoveguyyOriginal Author

stoveguyyOriginal Author

jemdandy

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

stoveguyy
Original Author

stoveguyy
Original Author

stoveguyy
Original Author