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haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

Snow tire choices

A friend just bought a Miata MX 5 which, I believe, isn't designed for winter driving. I am trying to assist in the choice of winter tires. The car has 17" 205/45 tires. From the little research I've done, it appears that smaller tires do better in the snow (I'm no expert and this is only based on doing web research).
Tirerack.com suggests 16" 205/50 for snow tires for the car.
Obviously, that would require the purchase of wheels.
It seems that the cost of 17" tires is only slightly higher than the cost of 16" tires plus the cost of wheels.
If so, what is the best advice?
The car is on a two year lease, so long term investments don't make sense.
Would it be better to get 17" tires, and mount and balance twice a year or 16" tires with wheels and swap them. I assume that either purchase will end up being sold on craiglist at the end of the lease term.
Thanks!

Lurch77
Premium Member
join:2001-11-22
Green Bay, WI

1 edit

Lurch77

Premium Member

Wheel size has little to do with snow and ice traction. 16" or 17" wheels will not matter. When you hear smaller tires work better, they are talking about tread width. A narrow tire increases the contact pressure, theoretically increasing traction. How much this works on a small car is up to debate. However, you will often see pickup trucks that run big wide tires in the summer switch to smaller in the winter for this reason.

As for your friend's choice, he can go with either. If the car has nice wheels, he might consider a separate set of winter wheels with the tires. Road salt can ruin the finish on nice wheels. Also in the long run it will be cheaper, since all he has to do is mount a set of wheels, instead of paying labor to have someone switch out the four tires on the wheels each fall and spring.

If you go 16", be sure they will fit. Some vehicles have brake caliper clearance issues with smaller wheels. I don't know if that is the case with the MX-5.
yazdzik
MVM
join:2000-07-26
Honesdale, PA

yazdzik

MVM

said by Lurch77:

Wheel size has little to do with snow and ice traction. .

Dear Friends,

Although contact patch shape does, thus the preference of some for the sixteen inch wheels.

I have no issues on light snow with my MX5(Mazdaspeed 04) but the limiting factor is ground clearance at some point. Driving a car with six inches of clearance on ten inches of snow is no longer a question of driver skill.

That said, my own preference would be to go for separate wheels and tyres as it is ultimately, from someplace like tirerack.com cheaper, and, given the patch shape, safer.

All good wishes,

Yazdzik

haroldo
join:2004-01-16
USA

haroldo

Member

thanks!
IamGimli (banned)
join:2004-02-28
Canada

1 edit

IamGimli (banned) to yazdzik

Member

to yazdzik
said by yazdzik:

Although contact patch shape does, thus the preference of some for the sixteen inch wheels.
The contact patch will not change between a stock 17" tire and an appropriately-sized 16" tire, unless the width is also modified (as mentioned previously).
yazdzik
MVM
join:2000-07-26
Honesdale, PA

yazdzik

MVM

True, up to a point.

»www.tirerack.com/tires/t ··· echid=10
is a reasonable, if oversimplified way of looking at aspect ratio vs shape of footprint.