Need Tire Advice! Quick like a Bunny!

[Aeridyne]

Ok, i need some new tires bad. I live in Michigan and I drive 100 miles + per day. The snow and my tires don't get along At All So i go to my local discount tire and I don't know if that guy was trying to sell me or not, he sounded like he was, so I don't know if i want to listen to him.

Anyway, I have an 02' Protege ES - I think i have stock rims, but not sure, the tires i have on those rims are Kuhmo Ecsta 195/50 R16. They are absolutely dismal on snow, otherwise on dry roads they are great, so i was going to either get something that fit my rims and was good on snow, or possibly look at something on a diff rim size, if it might be better/cheaper, whatever. Someone here has got to have experience with snow and a protege es... Help me Please I beg of you, I'm going to die on the roads if i don't find some good cheap tires, lol (btw cheap is a major factor, i am way broke).

 

[Tom03es]

A Protege with a good alignment with dedicated snow tires makes an awesome combo. I have a set of 15" wheels with 195/55/15 Hankook iPike tires on my ES.

 

[Aeridyne]

A Protege with a good alignment with dedicated snow tires makes an awesome combo. I have a set of 15" wheels with 195/55/15 Hankook iPike tires on my ES.

Nice I looking at some of those.

What is the difference between running 16" vs 15" rims?

Also If i run 15" rims, should i increase the size a bit like running 195/55 or 195/60? what are the differences between a 195/55 R15 a 195/60 R15 and a 205/50 R16?

I can get tires for any of those sizes, but i want to know what the best size to use is, I do a lot of driving to work as i noted above and on the weekends i drive my family around alot and right now it's pretty dangerous on the tires I have.

I asked a lot of questions at my local discount tires and i have options, what is good i have no idea...

Blizzak 205/50 R16 $150 each
Yokohama 205/50 R16 $136 each

Hankook Ipike 195/55 R15 $87 each
Yokohama Iceguard 195/55 R15 $87 each
Blizzak 195/55 R15 $96 each

Yokohama Iceguard 195/60 R15 $96 each

On top of all these questions... which size is best? & is steel vs aluminum really that important?

 

[Aeridyne]

btw aside from all that, i might try to find some cheap rims elsewhere, can anyone tell me what the exact dimensions on my rim should be? I think they should have a 5/114.3mm bolt pattern, but I don't know how wide they are?

 

[Speed3.5]

get the yokos , seem to work better and keep the damn stock rims don't worry about changing them

 

[Aeridyne]

get the yokos , seem to work better and keep the damn stock rims don't worry about changing them

Well the reason i was considering getting some wheels at the same time was that i rotate them myself and on dry times i would run my normal wheels, even in winter. I saw some pretty darn cheap wheels on the website for discount tire, but I don't know what would mount up right, i see people talking about offset and a bunch of other stuff and I don't even know how many inches wide my stock are... Anyone see any really cheap ones around that i could pair with 15 inchers? If the 16" would really be that much better I would go with that, but at 136 a pop for the 16" i figured that i might be able to find some cheap wheels to go with the 15" for the same or less and simplify changing them for seasons. Also to boot, they have a deal for 100 off a set of 4 wheels, but they have to be alloy.

 

[probin94]

if you want a nice all season. get the yokohama avid h4s 205-45 and call it a day. i drive on these year round. they are awesome in snow for not being a snow tire and perform well in warm weather. only tire ive had that i felt safe drving in the snow with. they are fairly cheap also.


james

 

[Tom03es]

You want a narrow tire for winter. Narrow equals more contact pressure, which in turn equals better slippery surface traction.

If you get a 15" tire, then obviously, you'll need a 15" wheel. The cheaper cost of the 15" tire is offset by the added cost of the additional wheel. So for the first set of 15" tires, the actual start-up cost will probably be more than getting 16" tires.

Or you could get a set of 16" winter tires and swap them out with your normal tires each year in October and April (or whenever the seasons permit). That's another option.

 

[Tom03es]

If you enter your car on the Discount website, the wheels that pop up "should" fit the car without issus.

www.tirerack.com is another option for wheels and tires.

 

[Aeridyne]

Btw. I was in the lobby and talking to the manager when one of the other guys came up and was talking about the Hankook, he said that the tire, just like the blizzaks, has an all season tread under the winter tread and that after it wears down about half way it's no better, he then pointed out the "wear bar" and it was about 1/2 way down, is that true? seem like a major ripoff to the average buyer who wouldn't know that. I read up on the blizzak rev01 and it said they have full winter tread to 4/32" that may be different from the original blizzak, i have no idea. I guess the question would be, is that true about the hankook? and does every winter tire that is half a55 have this wear bar?

 

[Aeridyne]

Well i did use the site's tools to lookup the sizes that it says will fit, but they only list what would fit 16" and up. They don't have the option to see tires or wheels that are 15", which is what it looks like may be my best choice

 

[Aeridyne]

Tirerack is nice, i have looked at a lot of online places, but i really like the free mounting, balancing, rotating and optional warranty at discount, I pretty much am set on shopping there. So now i guess I would like to find the best combo of wheels and tires. If 15" is the way to go I would like to get a set of wheels for cheap to go with them, but I still don't know what will fit on my car from them.

 

[Tom03es]

The discount site isn't smart enough to offer a 15" wheel when you enter in a Protege ES like Tire Rack.

So, you can say your car is a Protege LX/DX when you look for wheels, but you HAVE to make certain that whatever wheels are available, are also available with a 5x114 bolt pattern to fit your ES.

But discount is saying that they don't have any tires in the 195/55/15 size. That's what you get for waiting so long in the season before ordering winter tires.

Use the tire size calculator to try to find alternate sizes that are in stock that keep your speedometer error within a couple %.
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html

When I bought my 15" wheels, they came with some 205/60/15 tires.

And that's the first I've heard of the Hankook rubber issue. But personally, I like my Michelin X-Ice tires on my wife's VUE better and I will probably not get new iPikes when the time comes and instead get something else.

 

[Aeridyne]

The discount site isn't smart enough to offer a 15" wheel when you enter in a Protege ES like Tire Rack.

But discount is saying that they don't have any tires in the 195/55/15 size. That's what you get for waiting so long in the season before ordering winter tires.

When I bought my 15" wheels, they came with some 205/60/15 tires.

And that's the first I've heard of the Hankook rubber issue. But personally, I like my Michelin X-Ice tires on my wife's VUE better and I will probably not get new iPikes when the time comes and instead get something else.

the site is not that smart no, but if you look for 195/55 R15 tires there are a bunch, same with 195/60 R15... Don't know why you don't see them.

I thought you liked the Hankooks; have you thought about what set you would get next time?

what 15" wheels did you get anyway? what is the offset? and what is the inches width on my stock rims, i went out and measured them and i think they are 7 inches... is that right? what should they be in a 15" rim?

 

[4giglz]

For whatever it is worth, I run Dunlop Graspic GS2's on plain old steel wheels from the Tire Rack. The wheels are 15x6 and were $36 each. Tires are 195/60-15 and work great in the snow and ice. I think I paid under $80 or so for the tires each, and the mount and balance and lug nuts were free. This is the third winter on the set, and they are still noticibly better than the much newer Bridgestone Potenza G009 on my wife's 626.

You will notice how squirrely they are on dry pavement(especially when new), and are worse in the rain than the snow. I was a bit suprised at this at first, but got used to it. They are really ugly with the steelies, but I made it to work last year in a 20" blizzard. I was one of 25 people to get there out of the 600+ where I work on that day, and helped my boss get his truck out of the ditch on the way. Definately function over form, but I wouldn't go without them.

Eric

 

[rs39]

Depends where in MI. If N you should have 15" and 195/55/15 snows already, if S then decent all-season may be fine.

In NE OH I had been running Kumho ASX since the mercy killing of the oem Dunlops that were hazardous on snow or any hard rain. No getting around the wide/short 50 series footprint, but they are decent in snow up to about 4". Soft side walls needed 37f and 33r to drive right.

My screw flat (against the sidewall corner = fatal) last month got me into my favorite shop which asked me why I did not try Toyos. Seems TireRack does not really carry them so they did not show up on my size search. I have 1 whole week on the Proxes 4 up front and am happy so far. Starting at the same 37f, they have a bit less feel and dart out less over bumps in turns, and hold their set fine after a slightly bigger initial steering wheel move to turn in from center (fair bargain on Akron roads). Never had over 2" snow yet, but they are at least as good as the ASX. At 15deg on salt-grey pavement, the compound sticks better than the ASX.

 

[Aeridyne]

I bought a set of Blizzak Rev01's from a Firestone retail w/ some ugly black steelies. Got 185/65/15 size. It looks like my offset is +41 and my rim size for the width of it on a 15" is 5 inches, the bolt pattern is 5x114.3mm or 5x4.5"
I think thats right, anyone agree/disagree?

Now i just need to find some sweet hubs to cover that ugly black, lol.

Thank you much to those who put in useful information.

Now is there any other comments or questions for me?
Anyone think i shoulda got something else or any answers to previous questions etc?

 

[Tom03es]

I think you'll be happy with your purchase.