Downsize tires for winter? Calculations?

[Eug]

Thanks guys. I've put in an order for 215/65R17 tires on 17" alloys. As mentioned, stock on this RAV4 Hybrid is 235/55R18. Since it's so late in the season, I got a great quote. It seems some of the larger retailers are starting their winter tire clearouts.

Just swap snow tires on and off of the OEM wheels. You don't need to incur the cost of a second set of wheels and TPMS sensors that way. It is also cheaper to have the tires mounted each time than to have the TPMS sensors reprogrammed each time.

I don't think I'd ever do this.

Furthermore, you can buy TPMS sensors that don't need you to reprogram the car each time. Just clone the sensors of the original all season tires and now you have two sets of wheels with the same sensor IDs. That's what I did with my other car. And it's moot anyway, since the RAV4 Hybrid in Canada doesn't have TMPS anyway. (TPMS isn't mandatory in Canada, so a lot of the big manufacturers are removing this feature from their cars.)

 

[jlee]

For driving in snow you either want narrower tires or REALLY REALLY wide tires. But, since REALLY REALLY wide isn't practical, or even legal, narrower is the way to go.

OTH, unless you live in a particularly bad area the number of days in a year that justifies true winter tires is pretty small. I live in the Salt Lake City area and we get a lot of snow ... in the mountains, but down in the valley we maybe have four days in a year where snows would be much help.

And, even on those days when dedicated snow tires would be a help it's probably best for even those cars to limit driving. Most of the people we see against the K-rails in the snow are folks with 4WD/AWD and snows thinking they can't get stuck -- or crash.

I haven't bought or used dedicated snow tires in more than a decade.


Brian

It's not just about snow - in cold temperatures, winter-compound tires provide better grip on dry pavement as well. The Dunlop Direzza Z1 Sport Star Spec ultra-high performance summer tires on my MR2 are practically ice skates under 40f under any decent amount of throttle.

 

[Brian Stirling]

It's not just about snow - in cold temperatures, winter-compound tires provide better grip on dry pavement as well. The Dunlop Direzza Z1 Sport Star Spec ultra-high performance summer tires on my MR2 are practically ice skates under 40f under any decent amount of throttle.

Yeah, I get the compound difference and how that improves even dry road driving, but the dry road driving of all seasons is pretty decent so unless you're pushing it the value of winter tires just doesn't justify the added cost unless the area you live has more actual snow days in the year.


Brian