ericdecker

I'm taking delivery on a new US Lancer (OZ model) this week, and my first order of business is to find winter tires and wheels. I'm using tirerack.com to review compatible wheel sizes, but I'm not quite sure how to make my choices.

Apart from looks (everybody likes a low profile tire better), what do you gain with larger wheel diameters? What do you lose (why do the manufacturers choose tiny wheels?) I do know that if you get ridiculous with them, you have to worry about denting the rim if you hit a pothole. A friend of mine did that with his BMW.

I've heard that steel rims are best for winter, since alloy wheels will take a beating in the salt and snow. Other than a marginal weight gain, are there performance differences?

Finally, can anyone recommend a great snow/ice/mud tire? I'm looking at the Bridgestone Blizzak right now.

I'm really excited to own this car, but it won't be much fun if I hit a snowy patch and drift into a utility pole!

DaTenshi

Low profile Tires gives better looks and it give better handling with the stiffer side wall with higher profile tire you more Tread on the ground and you have more rim protecter ^_^

diesel_fan

There's a great variety of snow / winter tires out there. Blizzaks have a good history of traction in all kinds of winter junk.

However, the one thing which they're noted for is that they wear quickly, especially if the roads are dry and ambient temp is higher than freezing. Michelin Arctic Alpin is also known for this. In Southern New England, we don't usually stay in the deep freeze for that long, and have a large number of mild winter days. But we do get more than our fair shair of winter slop to drive through, especially if a cycle of Nor'easters get going.

The higher the profile, the more cushion you have between rim and road. This is good for impact absorbtion, but bad for cornering if the sidewalls are soft - which they can be on some winter tires. Higher profile also slices through snow and usually does better in deep unpacked powder since it concentrates the weight placed on it across a smaller surface area. It essentially crushes down to get traction.

Lower profile equals better handling, more contact patch area to grab on packed snow or ice, and less protection for the rim. But in powder, a real low profile tire (like a 50 or 55 series) is going to perform worse in deep snow as it will tend to float on the snow surface. Since it's much wider, it tends to act as a snowplow building up snow in front of it, as a plow would. This gets you stuck pretty quick.

Whatever way you decide to go, make sure that the tire is designated with the Mountain Snowflake symbol for severe winter service. It's a newer rubber industry rating that established tougher standards that winter tires had to pass to earn it.

Tire Rack has a nice selection of winter packages at a good range of different price points. ILP Performance was also running a special on Hankook Winter Tires as well. Since there's no dealers carrying Hankook tires conveniently close to me, I decided to go with another brand with a dealer close by that could replace the tire if I have a warranty issue.