Right, -1 on diameter and -1 on width for my WINTER TIRES. That's a common setup. I love the smoother ride when my Bolt is on the 16" Winter wheelset instead of the low profile 17" stock wheels. I suspect wheel and tire sizes on newer cars are subject to the Style Department and not the Engineering Departments at car companies. And just to clarify, these are not your like you dad's Snow Tires on the back of the 60's Buick wagon with big chunky tread. These are modern WINTER TIRES. They are great in snow and ICE!
I started with the prime SE, so I just kept 17" for steelies and michelin winter tires were available, so I got those on the car. They work great. Though I do prefer Bridgestone Blizzaks over the michelins.
looking for snow tires for my Limited. it came with 195/50/R19. Would like to downsize to 17s. I see a few sizes mentioned in this forum - 205/55/17, 195/60/17 and 215/55/17. This is giving me a headache! Which would you go with and why?
Michelin makes the X-Ice Snow in both the stock sizes(195/50-R19 and 195/60-R17). As of now, they are the only* winter tire available in the stock sizes. They happen to be very good. Some will argue they're not the absolute best winter tire(some like Blizzaks and others like the studded Hakkapeliitta 10s from Nokian), but just about everyone will agree they're in the current top-5. About the other sizes: Benefits of 195 - better fuel economy, fits best on the stock rims Drawbacks of 195 - hard to find and extremely limited tire selection Benefits of 205/215 - much easier to find tire options Drawbacks of 205/215 - fuel economy hit(~5%?), slightly wide on the stock wheel(but only a bit - mainly with the 215) 205 vs 215 - Basically just what tire models are available. Some tires only come in the 205 version, others only the 215, still others come in both. Some people have a favorite tire model, so they'll pick the size they can get that particular tire in. 205 is slightly better in fuel economy compared to the 215. 215 is a little closer to the overall tire diameter that your car came with. Some argue that a narrower tire is better on ice and snow because the smaller contact patch means more weight pressing down per square cm, which means better traction. Others say a larger contact patch is better because more tire is in contact with the road surface. The truth(confirmed with testing) is that a difference of 20mm(195 vs 215) makes no practical difference in the real world. 30mm and up is where tire width differences start to have noticeable effects on traction(really needs to be 50mm+ before it becomes truly meaningful). In other words, don't make your decision based on which size is supposedly better for traction(because there actually isn't any difference). Questions to ask yourself: 1. Am I going to buy a second set of wheels for my winter tires? 2. If yes, am I going to buy stock wheels from Toyota or go aftermarket? I'm assuming the answer to #1 is yes based on you saying you want to switch to 17" winter tires. If you plan to go with stock Toyota 17" wheels, I'd lean towards the Michelins in 195/60-R17. If you plan to go with aftermarket wheels, then get 17x7 wheels** and go with 215/55-R17. The 215s will fit a little better on a 17x7 wheel instead of the stock 17x6.5 wheels, and the 215s have a wider selection of tires available and are also closer to the diameter of your original 195/50-R19 tires. *Oops. I see you're from Canada, so you guys also can get the Pirelli Ice Zero Asimmetrico in the stock 17" size(195/60-R17). Personally, I'd still go with the Michelins, but that's just my opinion. **You're looking for a 17x7J wheel with a 114x5 bolt pattern(or 144.3x5 - they're the same thing) and a 40mm to 45mm offset. The preferred hub diameter is 60mm or 60.1mm, but you can go bigger as long as you also get hubcentric rings to make up the difference. For instance, if you bought wheels with a 70mm hub opening, you'd look for a set of 70mm to 60.1mm rings.
17x6.5 is fine for 215/55 and, and 17x7 is fine for 195/60. Sure, 17x7 is optimal for 215/55 and 17x6.5 is optimal for 195/60, but both tyre sizes allow +/-1 inch on the wheel size. I wouldn't let tyre size dictate wheel size or vice versa. Despite going for 215/55R17 tyres, I wanted 17x6.5 wheels to keep it stock, and be in a better position if 195/60R17 became available in the future. I'd rather have slightly narrow wheels on 215-wide tyres now than slightly wide wheels on 195-wide tyres in future, to protect the rims a bit better. (And that 215/55R17 + 17x6.5 is what the Toyota dealer were offering in their winter wheels package - the European Prius alternative wheels are 17x6.5, and studded tyres are more available as 215).
If you go to sites like tirerack they talk about "-1 / -1 " sizing for winter tires. (They're not old school snow tires, like on your dad's old buick station wagon. They're good in Ice and Snow.) I went with steel wheels, with plastic wheel covers. No one can tell the difference from 30 ft. ,, for you style mavens. And went -1 diameter and -1 on width. A very common set up for Winters. You will feel a smoother ride with taller sidewalls and the tires/wheels less likely to get damaged with pot holes. And when you do slide into a curb, they are much cheaper to replace one of the wheels. How about $806 , for Mich X-ice, mounted, balanced, TPMS installed, delivered to my door !? But that was 3 years ago, on sale. Both summer and winter wheelsets last longer because of the seasonal swapping. Just IMHO.
I have the michelins, on the stock 17" rim They're good, no complaints. As Hammersmith said, I am a person who *prefers* blizzaks for winter, and Michelin all seasons for the rest of the year here in Ottawa. They're super comparable, the blizzak and michelins, either is fine for average daily driving in my experience over the years. I prefer the blizzaks a little bit for icy conditions, but not enough to worry about fitment and tire size. Going OEM is just easier. In addition to Pirelli, we also have Toyo winter tires in the appropriate size, offered to me by the dealer. Michelin is better
Round here we get such a mix through winter, mostly bare roads, sometimes icy, occasionally a snow dump. The Michelin X-Ice are a good fit for that, smooth rolling, quiet, yet grippy enough when needed. With our '10 using Michelin X-Ice Snow in 195/65R15 (on stock 3rd gen Plug-In Prius rims), we get equal or better mpg, through winter, than with 215/45R17 Michelin Primacy MXM4 all-seasons (on stock 3rd gen 17" rims) through the rest of the year.
Thanks everyone. I ended up ordering 215/55/17 Nokian Hakka R5s with steel wheels. Was going to get Blizzaks but there was a sale on the Nokians.
Are saying you have the tires swapped out on your only set of stock rims? How much is that yearly for the two seasonal swaps? I've bought, and had some online purchased tires installed at discount tires and now instead of my routine "Free rotation and balance" I have the young tough guys just swap my summer and winter wheelsets seasonally. This is for both my cars! But I bring a dozen quality donuts to the shop, so they like me! I'm their favorite customer that day!!
Some will say that a second set of wheels is wasted money. I like to swap my own wheel sets with the change in season and keep track of which was where on the car so they are rotated. I use a torque wrench so I know the values are correct. That's twice a year I don't run the risk of a shaved ape with an impact wrench warping my brakes.
Not sure what you're saying. You break the beads and all that and change the tires yourself on one set of wheels? What about a quality balance job? I guess if you have the tools and strong back for tire work that is cheaper than a separate Winter Wheelset. But for others that can't do 'tire work' , I would think that a second set of cheap wheels for the winter makes financial sense after a few years.
Typo, stock *size*, I got the second set of wheels. Its not worth the headache to use one set. Sorry.
Just to point out the typo on the second bolt pattern pcd you gave, it should obviously be 114.3mm not 144.3mm.
