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winter tires

turbowop

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I need some new studless tires for 503. Probably going to get some Nokian Hakkas. I searched and found threads regarding tire sizing, but nothing for larger sizes regarding height. Anybody run taller tires during the winter? I'm thinking about going up a size or two for ground clearance, and raising up the GC coilovers when I get the tires on.
 
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bustedsm

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Ripley, Tennessee
If you're able to raise up the coils then going up a series or two isn't going to hurt it.
 

Olson

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Moreno Valley CA
blizacks
 

teamhightower

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Which Blizzak did you have? They come in (at least) two flavors. One is best for ice and the other best for snow.

LM series is best on ice. WS series is best in compact snow. I've run WS-50's on my VR4 in the arctic and they stick like glue. I'm told the LM's are better for black ice conditions.

I LOVE Hakka's with studs. Only tire I'd own with metal sticking out of it. Won many rallies with them on the Subie. However, I'm no real help with the non-studded version. Everybody I know rallying with Hakka's have studded versions or the studded version sans studs. I assume your are looking at one of the purpose compound studless Hakkas.

Let us know how you did come Spring.

EDIT: BTW - try to keep as much sidewall as you can. That makes a huge difference. You need the tire to 'mold' to the ground as much as you can, so don't go with short profile tires. Unlike studs where you 'go skinny', with studless you go wide to reduce the PSI per tread block and thus reduce melting under the treads.
 
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turbowop

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I had WS50's. They worked great last year. Just figured I'd try something different. They'll be going on stock wheels, so I was thinking something a little taller than the factory 195/60/r15's.
 
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atc250r

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Orange County, NY
I would probably go with a 195/65/15 unless you can squeeze a 70 under there.

John
 

Struc

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Nov 24, 2008
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Oconomowoc, WI
You can play with the numbers here:

Tire Size Calculator

Works great when you are trying to keep your speedo close, but choose different size tires. I'd assume you'd want to keep your speedo accurate, so if you went with a 65 profile tire, then switching to a 185 would be closer to stock.
 

turbowop

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I'm not worried about speedometer accuracy. I can use my GPS to see actual speed, and I've learned to deal with inaccuracy by driving trucks I've had throughout the years with larger than stock tires. My current Toyota has 37's on it, which translates to the speedometer reading 70mph when I'm really doing 60mph. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rofl.gif
 

kartorium

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ellensburg,wa
Quoting teamhightower:

EDIT: BTW - try to keep as much sidewall as you can. That makes a huge difference. You need the tire to 'mold' to the ground as much as you can, so don't go with short profile tires. Unlike studs where you 'go skinny', with studless you go wide to reduce the PSI per tread block and thus reduce melting under the treads.




Interesting. I did not know this, can you link us to more on this, or is it pretty common stuff, like can be found on tirerack and whatnot?
 

CarRacer

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Shakopee, MN
The Topgear guys did that during their polar special. They let their tire pressure down to a couple of pounds to help get traction. I'm not sure of the exact reasoning behind it, but I do know it helps.
 

turbowop

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That's for deep snow, same as what I do in my Toyota when wheeling. Air down for more float/footprint. Ice is a different story though.
 

Gimpin

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Jun 9, 2007
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Plant City, FL
I ran the Hankook ice pikes studless and loved them
 

2of9

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IGH, MN
Hmm...I'm not sure how bad your winters get over there but I'm planning on running with 195-60-15 snow tires from Discount Tires. IRCC, it's like $55 a piece......free install because I work there :p /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif. Anyways, my brother ran on Sam's Club snow tires (I forget who makes the tires) and when I drove it during the winter one day, it was much much much more better than the "all" season tires he had on.
 

teamhightower

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Bellevue, WA
Quoting kartorium:
Quoting teamhightower:

EDIT: BTW - try to keep as much sidewall as you can. That makes a huge difference. You need the tire to 'mold' to the ground as much as you can, so don't go with short profile tires. Unlike studs where you 'go skinny', with studless you go wide to reduce the PSI per tread block and thus reduce melting under the treads.




Interesting. I did not know this, can you link us to more on this, or is it pretty common stuff, like can be found on tirerack and whatnot?



Nope, no data on the net about this as far as I know. I've been rallying street cars on winter rallies for about 25 years and we all sit around beer on Sunday night and talk tires. Conditions from year to year on the same roads varies so you get a chance to try the same roads each way. With studded tires you run as skinny as you can. This puts max PSI on the studs to grip ice. With studless tires you are trying not to put max pressure on the tread blocks since this heats up the ice and causes the water layer that makes ice slick. In case you didn't know, ice isn't that slick, the water layer that friction causes is what makes it slick. So a little wider tire gives you more tread block edges to grip snow/ice without additional heat.

I've done WS50s and loved them in the snow. Ice was good but dry pavement was very scary /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Hakka 10's with no studs were very good snow tires, but not great on ice. Hakka 1's are a little better on ice. I've heard good things about the compound of the Yokohama ice tires, but don't have any experience myself. My feelings are that any of the dedicated snow/ice studless tires will be light years ahaed of the all-season varients. Nothing beats studs and until they outlaw them that will be my choice.

So, I run the stock size or +1 on stock rims of studless snow tires. I'd run skinnier if I had studs. For what it's worth I run stock width on my gravel tires so they will bite. It's only dry pavement that warrents wider tires.

but remember, YMMV...
 
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iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
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Quote:
In case you didn't know, ice isn't that slick, the water layer that friction causes is what makes it slick. So a little wider tire gives you more tread block edges to grip snow/ice without additional heat.




Think: ice skates.
 

Redlinegvr4

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Feb 24, 2003
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Tampa Bay
i had hankook ice bears last winter in albany.. they were awesome. i put a ton of miles on em while traveling every weekend refing hockey in the northeast. and have no complaints about em.
 

turbowop

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Apr 29, 2001
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Yakima, WA
UPDATE:

I'm picking up a set of Toyo Observes on Sunday. Found them on Craigslist an hour away for only $50/set. Over 70% tread left, so I'm not going to pass this deal up. The Toyos on my girlfriends Honda do awesome in the snow, so while they're not Hakkas or Blizzaks, they should be fine. They're 205/70r15. About 2" bigger in diameter than stock. Should be fun. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

Brianawd

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Apr 18, 2005
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Portland OR,
Quote:
I'm picking up a set of Toyo Observes on Sunday. Found them on Craigslist an hour away for only $50/set. Over 70% tread left, so I'm not going to pass this deal up. The Toyos on my girlfriends Honda do awesome in the snow, so while they're not Hakkas or Blizzaks, they should be fine. They're 205/70r15. About 2" bigger in diameter than stock. Should be fun.



That is what I used for years on my cars. I liked them better then the blizzaks I had before. I also used them for drag racing. Man can you get good 60ft times with snow tires /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 

324vr4

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Apr 28, 2006
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Bozeman, Montana
Best tires hands down I've ever used, in AK and MT have been the Hanooks Winter iPikes which can also be studded for extreme awesomeness...they're cheap as hell and soft in all temperatures! Looks 'em up and drool!
 
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