I found some cheap steel wheels with snow tires and I'm wondering if they would work on my 2003. They have the 4x100 bolt pattern. They are 175/70/r13. Would going to the smaller wheel matter?
Probably w on't fit. The wheels have to fit over the drums and calipers. Also, the tire size is quite a bit smaller and might fubar the hybrid electronics. Keep looking for the correct sized wheels and tires is my advice.
Agreed - I used a local America's Tire outlet to put slightly wider 15" inch tires and rim combination on my 2002 - the technician was careful to match the 15s with the 14 inch OEM tire heights to make sure that the speedometer worked correctly and the computer did not throw any codes - I have had them on for roughly 30000 miles now no problem except that gas mileage dropped a couple mpg due to the wider tire As an aside when I took the car to a local private hybrid shop the first question the mechanic asked me was "did the car throw a code with those wheels" "because it is a smart car and knows when it has the wrong tire and wheel combination "
Not that I think it's a good idea, but I think you could put any size tire on the car, any outside diameter, and as long they're all the same size the car wouldn't have a clue. The only thing it detects is wheel speed, and if they're all the same OD it won't detect a problem.