Hi all,
Okay, it is that time of year and we are finally purchasing our dedicated winter snow tires. I have a 09 GT-AWD with 20" rims. With all of our previous vehicles (Jeep Grand Cherokee, Subuaru, Toyota Truck, we have always had studded tires. We live in Truckee, CA, a mountain/snow community, and I drive a steady 10% grade approx. 3/4 mile long, and other slopes on mountain roads daily. We also get the lowest temperature gradient in the nation, highs to lows, so we go from ice, snow, slush, etc. in a day.
I have finally convinced my husband to go from studded to non-studded tires for the Sexy-9 (he is getting studded tires again for our Cherokee, our last set lasted 5 seasons, and now we removed the studs and use the tires for summer), and our local tire shop convinced him to get 17" rims instead of 18", which is originally what I wanted. Anyhow, the best option for this size rim seems to be the BLIZZAK DM-V1 $130/tire), which are new this year, replacing the DM-Z3. We are going through our local store vs. tirerack.com as they will switch out our tires 2x/year on both cars free of charge.
He also thinks we will skip the TPMS due to cost, as we are told when they swap the tire out, they also charge to reset or disconnect or ?? This part I don't understand. We will keep the tires on hopefully for only 4 months of the year...(Novemberish to Marchish) depending on snow levels, and we can cover up the TPMS light if it bothers us.
My question is, does anyone have any opinions about this set up with 17" rims. I am afraid it may look a little small for the car, but I don't know, as I haven't seen any pics. I suspect handling should be about the same for 17 vs. 18, but then again, I am not knowlegeable in this area. All opinions are welcome!! Thanks