Winter set up for B5 - 17"... thoughts appreciated, Gary

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Dec 8, 2007 | 03:47 PM

A4F4T

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Winter set up for B5 - 17"... thoughts appreciated, Gary

I'm upgrading to 17" winters from my 15's due to brake issues. I run 225/45-17 summers and was hoping that I could run a narrower 17" for the winter? Please help with thoughts on sizes and also tires - I'm more interested in snow/ice performance than dry pavement performance for the winter. I had Pirelli Ice's in 195-15's on steelies, and they were incredible (half tread left and for sale if anyone is interested!). Thanks for the help.

Dec 8, 2007 | 10:20 PM

jprice@CPS

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Couple of thoughts

As long as your wheels are 7.5" or less wide, you can run 205/50/17 sized tires which will be noticeable better in the snow and slush vs 225s. Ice performance is going to come down to tread compounds and siping strategies.

Note that with 17", your choice of snow tires decreases, and price increases. If you have the option of going with 16" wheel and 205/55/16 sized tires, I feel that would be a better choice. (coincidentally this is the size I run)

The other problem you may face is many of the tire sizes are sold out for the season. I didn't see any 205/50/17 ice tires still in stock at Tirerack.

I'm not sure if you have a Nokian Dealer close to you, but the Nokian RSi in 205/50/17 would fit your requirements well, but is a pretty pricey tire currently due to weak dollar.