Does putting 17" rims on regularly 19"-rimmed Canadian CX-5 GT

L

lalalala125

Member
:
Mazda CX-5 GT
My dealer and trusted tire guy both recommended I buy 17" rims for winter and put on Nokian, as I used to use on my previous CR-Vs. This is based purely on cost (4 19" Nokian cost $1900, whereas 4 17" snow tires+ new 17" rims cost about $1500). My questions are: how does this affect ride, handling and also, how does this affect the computer's reading of speed and fuel economy, etc given that the GT computer is based on the rotations of a 19-inch wheel. Can anyone possibly advise? THANKS!
 
Put 225/65x17 (the same size Mazda puts on the Sport and Touring) Nokians on your 17" hoops and you'll end up with the same rolling diameter as your 19s. The car won't know the difference! What kind of dealer or "trusted tire guy" wouldn't know that?(huh)
 
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Seems pretty spendy for winter setup. Call TireRack or visit your local tire shop and I bet you can get an entire winter setup for < $1,000
 
Mark12345 said:
Seems pretty spendy for winter setup. Call TireRack or visit your local tire shop and I bet you can get an entire winter setup for < $1,000
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I agree. That's a lot. I paid somewhere around in the $800-$900 range for 16" rims and winter tires.
 
paris1 said:
Put 225/65x17 (the same size Mazda puts on the Sport and Touring) Nokians on your 17" hoops and you'll end up with the same rolling diameter as your 19s. The car won't know the difference! What kind of dealer or "trusted tire guy" wouldn't know that?(huh)
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^

Dealer told me 17" rims with winter tires are the same ground clearance as the 19".
 
lalalala125 said:
given that the GT computer is based on the rotations of a 19-inch wheel
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It doesn't actually care about the wheel diameter, it is set up for a given wheel + tire diameter. Since a 17" wheel and 225/65R16 yields virtually the same overall dimensions as a 19" wheel with 225/55/R19, the different models of CX-5 all share the same computer. Loads of Mazdas have been built with 17" rims over the last decade, so if you hit up kijiji you should be able to find a set of wheels more interesting to look at than a set of steelies, if you care about that kind of thing. Personally, I kind of like the look of black steel wheels in the winter, but I've never had any luck keeping steel wheels from looking like total garbage after a couple winters of salt and sand.

And yeah, Nokians are expensive but they're Nokians. I've always kind of wanted to try them, but I haven't been able to justify the cost yet. I went with Blizzak DMV1s for this car, ~$650. Thankfully, no white stuff to try them out in yet.
 
@tirerack, I ordered 17x7 black steelies (back ordered until 10-28) and Blizzak DM-V1 225/65R17. Should get them in 2 weeks. Total cost including mounting, balance, and shipping $866 USD - $50 rebate on Blizzaks (no longer available) so $816 total. The Blizzaks alone were $500 without rebate.
 
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The only problem with tirerack in Canada is that we get dinged for import duty (was about $280 for my summer wheel/tire combo, IIRC). Because their prices are so much lower than tire shops here, it's still often cheaper than buying tires and wheels at full price from a Canadian retailer, but since there are always sales and promotions on snow tires, tirerack loses it's advantage for the winter rubber.
 
Edmund's thought the ride with the 17s was better than with the 19s. Likely the short side walls on the 19" tires resulted in a stiffer ride. We have a 2014 Touring and believe the ride is very good compared to the 2009 CR-V the CX-5 replaced.
 
Still curious...

costermonger said:
It doesn't actually care about the wheel diameter, it is set up for a given wheel + tire diameter. Since a 17" wheel and 225/65R16 yields virtually the same overall dimensions as a 19" wheel with 225/55/R19, the different models of CX-5 all share the same computer. Loads of Mazdas have been built with 17" rims over the last decade, so if you hit up kijiji you should be able to find a set of wheels more interesting to look at than a set of steelies, if you care about that kind of thing. Personally, I kind of like the look of black steel wheels in the winter, but I've never had any luck keeping steel wheels from looking like total garbage after a couple winters of salt and sand.

And yeah, Nokians are expensive but they're Nokians. I've always kind of wanted to try them, but I haven't been able to justify the cost yet. I went with Blizzak DMV1s for this car, ~$650. Thankfully, no white stuff to try them out in yet.
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_____
Maybe this is splitting hairs then. My physicist dad explained how the slightly different circumference between 17" and 19" is equivalent to just less than 1%, so it means that the odometer, speedometer, rpm, etc. are going to be slightly inaccurate. As the

I'm still putting 17" snow tires on, and really appreciate all the advice people have shared. Now, if only I can figure out how to get fuel economy to improve...
 
My dealer suggests 17" but I can't stand the thought of it. Going for 18" from OK Tire or Miller Tire for roughly the same price as at the dealer. Likely Firestone Winterforce studded (I've had them on my last two cars - always impressed).
 
costermonger said:
The only problem with tirerack in Canada is that we get dinged for import duty (was about $280 for my summer wheel/tire combo, IIRC). Because their prices are so much lower than tire shops here, it's still often cheaper than buying tires and wheels at full price from a Canadian retailer, but since there are always sales and promotions on snow tires, tirerack loses it's advantage for the winter rubber.
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That's the reason why I'm getting the rims from Tire Rack and the tires from Costco. The price difference is about $60.00, but you get free tire repair/balance and seasonal tire change with Costco... that's worth those extra $$
 
Actually 225/65-17 is a little shorter than our GT's stock 225/55-19. TR tried to talk me into 225/65 but the best I could do was Xi2s that I didn't trust in terms of performance attributes (I don't need a severe conditions winter like a hak or blizzak) and found the WRG2s nice but not quite justifying the price nice. So I went with the slightly wider and a hair taller 235/65-17 Dunlop wintersport 3Ds ($145ea) on the cheapest ($89ea) basic 5 spoke alloys that are too a bit wider @7.5" for a ttl of 1035 shipped- 60 rebate gets them under 1g. Results: Great handling, slightly rougher ride, and noise but not bad at all. No snowfall yet (maybe couple "s tonight) but great tires so far awesome in wet far better than toyos and surprisingly nice truckier look to it.
 
I'm surprised that people listing Sport/Touring oem 17s on ebay are not willing to let them go cheap for snow tire use. That appears to be the only way to unload them as no one seems to want them for any other purpose. Instead, I see people trying to get $150 each like they were a desirable wheel or something. 75 bucks is better than nothing and every little bit helps to offset the cost of more desirable 19"/20" aftermarket hoops.
 
lalalala125 said:
My dealer and trusted tire guy both recommended I buy 17" rims for winter and put on Nokian, as I used to use on my previous CR-Vs. This is based purely on cost (4 19" Nokian cost $1900, whereas 4 17" snow tires+ new 17" rims cost about $1500). My questions are: how does this affect ride, handling and also, how does this affect the computer's reading of speed and fuel economy, etc given that the GT computer is based on the rotations of a 19-inch wheel. Can anyone possibly advise? THANKS!
Click to expand...

Ride is excellent, my 2013 GT has 17" wheels and studded nokian tires (Hakkapeliitta 7's) so I can drive as aggresively as I want. $1500 is about right with alloy wheels and the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2's at Kal Tire.
 
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