Opinions on tallest snow tires for stock rims?

[PJGross]

May be driving the galant this winter. Will need snow tires.
Current H&R springs with KYBs is a very low stance. I don't care about the speedo, I'd like to know the tallest practical tire I can run to maximize ground clearance.

I will be just commuting, not too much messing around, but still want them somewhat safe.

I didn't search b/c I wanted some current opinions, and because I was being lazy.


-PJ

 

[464/2K]

I wouldn't go any more then 65 series, should be plenty tall, and have room to move in the fender well.

 

^^^ That's an aspect ratio, so 0.65 of what? Generally speaking, for true snow driving, you want to run a narrower tire than stock (just look at WRC cars in Finland; they run on pizza cutter tires) to get through the loose stuff and something hard to grip on. Too wide of a tire will just "float" on top of the snow, not very dissimilar from hydroplaning. That being said, I don't think running a tire that's both narrower and taller than stock would be a very good idea, especially for mixed driving (I'm assuming you're not planning on switching tires between pavement and snow driving). I think something like a 205/65/15 would be right up your alley, giving you a 5.2" sidewall versus 4.6" stock, although your speedometer will be off by 5.3%, so at an indicated 60mph you're actually travelling 63.2mph. Another option, 195/70/15, would give you a 5.4" of sidewall, but that might be rubbing territory.

 

[turbowop]

I just asked this a couple weeks ago.

click

I think the WRC guys run such narrow tires because they're studded? In that case you would want to dig down to the road surface. In our case though, with something like a studless, I think a little float is what you want. Hightower says it keeps the friction down which in turns keeps from melting the snow under the tires which makes it really slick.

I'm still undecided on whether or not I want snows that are taller than stock.

 

[Struc]

I'd vote for stock 195/60/15 personally. They are plenty narrow for proper snow tires. That's what I'll be putting on mine for the winter.

 

[464/2K]

Usually when talking about tires anything around that number is the size of the sidewall dont act stupid.

I'd reccomend 185/65or70/15.

 

[kartorium]

^^WTF? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif


I haven't had snow tires on the galant in a very long time, but I did recently get some pretty burly snows for my legacy. Stock I had 195/65/14 and I jumped up to a 205/70/15. The car is lowered and pretty much tucks tire with the snows on, but man does it dominate in snowy conditions. I drive in deep snow pretty much every other day once winter hits (talking 6"-2.5 ft) and I'm convinced that the bigger tires have helped a lot.

On the galant I run a 255/40/17 falken azenis with the car lowered quite a bit, the tires are within the fenders. I haven't heard any rubbing yet. That being said its a full .8" taller than stock. The 205/65 that Qship mentioned seems like a good size. If not even a 205/70/15. Should do the trick. Not to mention that 205/70 came on outbacks so finding a good tire for cheap should be easy.

Oh, btw, the galant is too big of a car to be messing around with 185 tires. Seriously, the stock 195 in a snow tire is almost dangerous for typical winter duty. If all you were to ever drive in is hard snow/ice then maybe.

 

[turbowop]

Ricky, you need to stop posting for awhile. First the synchro argument and now this? You're making yourself look really stupid. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

Aspect ratio is a percentage of the width of the tire. A 225/50 is going to be taller than a 205/50 and so on. It's not a set number for height.

 

[prove_it]

here we go again, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

 

[turbowop]

Where are we going? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[PJGross]

Thanks for the input, guys.

I run 205/55/15's for summer tires on the VR4. 195/60/15 is stock. I like the 205/70/15 suggestion best.

In terms of radius, that makes: 11.93" vs 12.1" vs 13.1" respectively -or- 1.4% too fast vs normal vs 8.6% slow mph wise.

So, for ground clearance, gaining about an inch sounds pretty good to me. I was hoping to gain 2" but guess that's wishful thinking w/ the 15s.

We don't get too much deep snow, but a few "footers" here and there and my sub doesn't get plowed for a week. I haven't got stuck in the SS in 5 winters, though (in my driveway, yes, in the street, no). Summer tires on the SS are 275/40/17 and in winter I run 225/65/15 winters so I'm used to the narrower tire on the 4200lb car for the winter months. Haven't rolled her over yet. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Wierd, that's a 13.25" radius tire. I push a lot of snow with the SS, though. It rides just a tiny bit lower on the springs in front than stock.

I'm starting to think if I'm really going to keep the GVR4 over the SS I better get some coilovers so I can crank it up a bit in the winter.

Decisions are tough to make sometimes.

 

[PJGross]

On brands, I put the Gislaved Nordfrost 3's on Lesli's Volvo and they did pretty well last year (branded as General Altimax but still made in Germany in the same molds w/ the same compound)confirmed my buddy in Continental QC engineering.

Was going to look for them for the GVR4 but had to look at a size first. Looks like about 64 bucks at tires-easy.com, where I got them for the Volvo.

They are a 96 load rating which should be plenty and rated for 100mph, good enough for me during the winter months.

-PJ

 

[turbowop]

You won't be gaining an inch of ground clearance with an inch taller tire. You'd be gaining a .5" of ground clearance. So yeah, in order to gain 2" you'd have to run a tire that's 4" taller than stock. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif Get some coilovers and run the perches up if you want to gain that much clearance. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[PJGross]

1" taller "radius". THose 13" tires would be a bitch for getting brakes to fit under! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I know sidewall squish will be a little off for different ratios, but it will be close to as stated.

But yeah, I'm going to need some coilovers to get some 4x4 action, though 1" will be quite an improvement as my transfer case sits at 4.5" off the ground right now.

-PJ

 

[skivittlerjimb]

I've been running 185/65R15s in VT for 3 seasons on two different GVR4s. 280 isn't going to see much winter duty anymore, but I guess I don't see how this tire size is any more or less dangerous than 195/60R15. The taller aspect ratio was a nice thing on crappy VT winter roads, and even with off brand studded tires with barely any studs left, ice driving was very predictable at reasonable speeds. 1432 came with 195/65R15s I ran for most of one winter, but they were tall enough to sometimes rub at full turn lock or in reverse while turning.

-Jim B.
280/1000
1432/2000(R.I.P.)
54/1000 (sold)

 

[kartorium]

I recently had to step down to a 195/65/15 from my old 205/70/15 and man what a difference. The car handles way worse in the snow now, doesn't oversteer as easy as with the 205's, doesn't turn in as well, doesn't go through nearly as much snow (depth wise), about the only thing that stayed on par was ice and hard pack traction. I was on cooper studded snows, and now I'm on some brand called aurora which are also studded. The 195's are in way better shape than my old coopers, but comparatively they aren't nearly as good. I attribute most of that to the size difference.

This is on my 95 Leggy.

Overall, the 205/70 is the ideal winter tire size for me I think. I'm contemplating trying a 215/60/16 (winterforce) cause I can get them for free, but don't really want to spend the money on mounting that experiment at the moment.

Forgot, braking seems to be about the same in most conditions, however I haven't had a chance to brake hard in some of the sloppy snow we usually get.