Snow tire

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Fede_italiano

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Contributor
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2003.5 Mazda Protege' MazdaSpeed
Today I went looking for snow tires to get an idea on what is around here.
First I went to Belle Tire and they did not know what a mazdaspeed was.
They told that I coudl not run 16 or 15.
They they called and they said that I could mount 16 205-55-16 but I had to buy alloy rims. Total price with Blizzack $985. INSANE.
I told what about 195-60-16 or some 15?
He said no.

Then I want to the bridgestone store and again they told it was a bad idea to downsize the tire.
They gave me an estimate with 205-50-16 and steel wheels and blizzack for 1100???!!!Insane. They cahrges 110 for each STEEL wheel.

I was reading about the sizes that you guys have and I am bit confused about the issue.

Is it safe and sound to run 15 or 16?
I read the post about 15 inches and I was just wondering why betwwen all this places they have all these different opinions and tire sizes.
Why can't I just run the stock protege 195-50-16 tire on mine?

Thanks for the help.
 
Hephaestus said:
you can run a different size without any safety problems, the only thing that will be affected is your speedometer

with a smaller tire, your actual velocity will be slower than indicated


play around with this to see how big a difference it will make

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

you should try to keep the speedo within 5% of stock
Click to expand...
thanks a lot.

From what I see 195 65-15 or 205 -50 -16 or 205 55 -16 are all good alternative.

I cannot find a good deal I might get 4 Dunlop Graspic for $408 and put them in my stock rims.

We shall see...
 
Just get something online from discounttiredirect. Most local shops can't beat their prices and you can downsize to 16 or 15 if you want.

Also check out the for sale section here. Hell I was/am selling my set of 16" snows WITH p5 rims for $200 + shipping. They're tentatively sold right now though...just waiting for the money.
 
I just ordered my blizzak lm25's from discount tire on wednesday. I got the set for $650 which includes tax and free tire swapouts for the life of the tires. tirerack with shipping was about $575 or so.

I should have them early in the week. I would have just gotten some different rims but since its the holiday I dont have a ton of money to spare on stuff like that. Just need the tires.
 
I'm running winter tires on P5 16" rims
I bought the rims which came with Vredestein Wintrac 205/50/16 which is a bit small but it works very nicely. I had to change 2 of them b/c they were shot so after comparing something like 2 dozen different types in different size (they are not always available in a given size), I got 2 Dunlop Winter Sports M3 in 195/55/16 (slightly larger than the Wintrac) which I just put in the front. I'm very happy with the tires.

Just until a couple of days ago I had the Wintrac up front and they are awsome on the dry and slush (feels like some very good A/S, stiff sidewall). But since we had serious snow lately I switched them in the back b/c they understeered badly in the snow. The Dunlops up front right now are oustanding, I can do whatever I want!

The smaller size is nice, makes the car feel more nimble, easily tossable. I'm even considering stepping down from 17" for the summers, we'll see...
 
That's why you should buy mine :)
Fede_italiano said:
Today I went looking for snow tires to get an idea on what is around here.
First I went to Belle Tire and they did not know what a mazdaspeed was.
They told that I coudl not run 16 or 15.
They they called and they said that I could mount 16 205-55-16 but I had to buy alloy rims. Total price with Blizzack $985. INSANE.
I told what about 195-60-16 or some 15?
He said no.

Then I want to the bridgestone store and again they told it was a bad idea to downsize the tire.
They gave me an estimate with 205-50-16 and steel wheels and blizzack for 1100???!!!Insane. They cahrges 110 for each STEEL wheel.

I was reading about the sizes that you guys have and I am bit confused about the issue.

Is it safe and sound to run 15 or 16?
I read the post about 15 inches and I was just wondering why betwwen all this places they have all these different opinions and tire sizes.
Why can't I just run the stock protege 195-50-16 tire on mine?

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
 
I've got blizzaks mounted on 16" steelies from tire rack. Bought them a year ago, but the price then was about the same as what nobleclem was saying. $575 shipped.

Can't say i'm familiar with discount tire, but tire rack is nice because you can input your car and they've got a pretty good selection of combinations of wheels and tires that will fit the car pre-selected.
 
Discount Tire (www.tires.com) is a good shop, bought several sets of tires from them with no issues. 205/55/16 is the right size for an MSP, it's maybe 1/8" larger in diameter than stock 215/45/17 tires, the narrower cross section helps cut the snow better and they actually drive "nicer" than the OE 17" tires (here's a technical reason for this involving slip angle, section width, rim width, etc. but suffice to say they turn easier and don't tramline as much, only giving up a little of the go-kart-like MSP "feel"). That said, Tire Rack has some nice 16" alloys for the MSP last time I checked, only problem is you have to input your car as a Protege ES or the site only recognizes fitments of 17" and up. Good luck!
 
Golani said:
I've got blizzaks mounted on 16" steelies from tire rack. Bought them a year ago, but the price then was about the same as what nobleclem was saying. $575 shipped.

Can't say i'm familiar with discount tire, but tire rack is nice because you can input your car and they've got a pretty good selection of combinations of wheels and tires that will fit the car pre-selected.
Click to expand...

I have gone to Discount Tire for a while now and have great luck with them. The big thing that got me to get them through them instead of tire rack was that Discount Tire will swap out the tires on my car for free. Of course I could have looked at doing the 16" Steel Rims but oh well ...
 
From what I am reading you can put a smaller size tire on the Mazda 3 for the winter.The quote my daughter got from Sears with Michelin tires was about $750 for 4. She probably won' need them more then one season for the snow as she will be moving South so wondered if it was a good investment. She can't drive the car up here without snows. Price seems high. After reading responses to snow tires it would seem she could get a new quote using a 16" tire versus the size quoted . I know very little about these things but trust the source that gave the quote as they stated it was the best after even checking with Tire Rack. She is a conservative driver and has two small children.
 
You should check the Owner's Manual and look for the size of winter tires. I'm not sure but maybe you could fit 15" tires withe the Mazda 3. That would be cheaper and if she drives conservatively then I would suggest Dunlop Graspic DS-2. They are great and very safe even in the worst winter conditions. I've used them for 2 winters and was very satisfied (I live in Montral, that's 600 Miles North of NY! :)

PS: They are also quite reasonably priced
 
Last edited:
www.tirerack.com

I got a set of 16" steel wheels with Pirelli SnowSports mounted and shipped for just over $550. This will be their third winter, and they're still in excellent shape.

I wouldn't go with 15" wheels. I don't even know if they'd fit. The 16" wheels on my MSP are a pretty tight fit as it is.
 
Rush said:
I wouldn't go with 15" wheels. I don't even know if they'd fit. The 16" wheels on my MSP are a pretty tight fit as it is.
Click to expand...

Are MSP brake rotors larger than P5 rotors?
 
In the end, ANY winter tire is going to be better than an all season. To be honest, if I had to buy them again, I would go with the cheapest option if I was using seperate wheels. Stock wheels, I would probably go with Nokian if I could afford it, or Dunlop Wintersport. Here is my run down on winter tires:
#1: Nokian - even some of their all seasons are better than others snow tires. Call local tires shops and see if they can get them. They cost a lot of $$.
#2: Bridgestone Blizzak - Not worth the extra money when Nokians cost about the same
#3: Dunlop Wintersport - Excellant tires if you want to use your stock rims, little cheaper than Nokian
#4: Winterforce M+S - Great cheap winter tires.

TireRack and Tires.com are going to be your cheapest bets. I would call local shops and see if they can match TireRacks prices. Dunn tire back in NY used to do that, and then you just pay for mounting and balancing.
 
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