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Winter tire time again...

F

Fretman

Ready to race!
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Hi Folks,

Just picked up my 2018 VW Golf Comfortline last week. Now it's time to start thinking about winter tires being that I'm here in Ottawa and there are some days where the winter weather can be quite bad.

Looking for some recommendations from all of you. I'm leaning towards the Bridgestone Blizzaks WS80. I never tried them but they seem to be getting very good reviews every year.

One more thing. The stock tires are 16" on my car. Is it recommended that I drop to 15" winter tires? Did some research and I read that dropping a tire size lower for winters has some benefits. Anyone else do this? And if I do drop a tire size lower and a tire blows out, can I use the 16" spare with the other tires being 15"?

Thanks for the help.
 
F

Fretman

Ready to race!
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
chiefhiawatha said:
I have the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, did a ton of research and where they rated best was important to me. Really make a huge difference. I downsized from 18” to 17” but that was mostly because I already had a set of wheels from my last VW.

https://www.caranddriver.com/features/winter-tire-test-six-top-brands-tested-compared-feature
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation and article. I never heard much about Nokian winters but will look into them. I see you also did the downsizing. Do you find winter driving better with a size lower? Most important part for me would be traction on packed snow and ice.
 
C

chiefhiawatha

Ready to race!
Location
Chicago
The nokians are tops for snow and ice. There are winter tires that handle better on cold dry ground. I cared more about the snow and ice traction and was willing to give up some sporty handling for it. I like knowing that no matter how bad the roads are I’ll get to my destination just fine.

I don’t have much to say about the advantage of downsizing other than the taller sidewall is nice when you hit a pothole.
 
F

Fretman

Ready to race!
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
chiefhiawatha said:
The nokians are tops for snow and ice. There are winter tires that handle better on cold dry ground. I cared more about the snow and ice traction and was willing to give up some sporty handling for it. I like knowing that no matter how bad the roads are I’ll get to my destination just fine.

I don’t have much to say about the advantage of downsizing other than the taller sidewall is nice when you hit a pothole.
Click to expand...

Good to know. They are pricier than others for sure. Looks like the review you provided was for the R2. Now they also have an R3 for the same price. Will have to see what the differences are. Thanks.
 
T

Tsi7

Ready to race!
Location
Ontario, Canada
The profile is the same regardless of rim size... A 195/65/15 tire will be the same diameter as a 205/55/16... The 16 inch tire has thiner side wall but a larger rim... Here's a site where you can compare tire sizes...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=195-65r15-225-45r17

Now course if you got say 205/75/16 tire then the profile would be way off compared to a 195/65/15 as the rim and tire will now have much bigger overall diameter

As for tire brand... Just get something decent and reputable. There's no point to over think it...they should all do the same job more or less
 
F

Fretman

Ready to race!
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
Tsi7 said:
The profile is the same regardless of rim size... A 195/65/15 tire will be the same diameter as a 205/55/16... The 16 inch tire has thiner side wall but a larger rim... Here's a site where you can compare tire sizes...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/tirecalc?tires=195-65r15-225-45r17

Now course if you got say 205/75/16 tire then the profile would be way off compared to a 195/65/15 as the rim and tire will now have much bigger overall diameter

As for tire brand... Just get something decent and reputable. There's no point to over think it...they should all do the same job more or less
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info on the tire sizes. I'll take a look at that website and see what they have to say. I'm leaning towards 15” right now.
 
T

Tsi7

Ready to race!
Location
Ontario, Canada
I run 17s in the summer, might end up running 18s next summer and 15s in the winter so running 15s would be ideal for saving money, unless you really care about looks in the winter
 
F

Fretman

Ready to race!
Location
Ottawa, Ontario
One more thing. When I get my new winter tires and wheels, do I need to get sensors for each wheel for the TPMS system. I am not even sure if the TPMS system uses sensors or uses some type of other system that measures wheel rotation speed. Can you help?
 
C

chiefhiawatha

Ready to race!
Location
Chicago
Here’s what the Nokians look like on Enkei wheels. 17”

 
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