Crud, Winter Tires Question... HELP!

D

dashto

Member
Okay, dropped by my neighborhood tire shop, and they told me that I can't put any tires on my 2002 P5 other than 195/50/R16. And their cheapest winter tire for that size is $225. I'm in Toronto.

On this forum, I'm hearing that buying steel 15" and putting on 195/55/R15 is just fine, which of course reduces the cost significantly. Also, just makes me pissed off at tire guy if it's true.

So what's the right story here? Also, anybody know a good place in TO to buy tires, at a good price?

Thanks in advance,
Ian
 
I'm running 185/65/15 (skinny) and it's perfect for deep snow and ice and stuff, but you obviously would need different rims (i.e 15" rims).

On my stock rims I have 205/50/16 summer tires, which is also working out quite well. Yes, 195/50 is a rare tire size and is expensive.
 
Woohoo! another Ian! haha

Nah dude, you can run whatever size tire you want. That guy is full of s***, don't go there. Like Sveivo said, 195/50/16 is a rare/expensive tire size. Your best bet would be to do as you said and get some 15" steelies with a skinnier and higher profile tire. If you do want to use your stock rims play around with this:

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

and find a tire that will be approximately the same size as your stock setup.
 
i bought some 195/55/15's off a p5 member here and they should work out fine he has used them before ....except i need to find some ******* 15" steelies
 
dashto said:
So what's the right story here? Also, anybody know a good place in TO to buy tires, at a good price?
Click to expand...

Your local guy is full of it.

Have you checked any of the online tire places? It's getting kind of late in the winter tire buying season, so selections might be thin, but you can try www.tirerack.com or tons of others.
 
225.00 for each tire? I got a set of 4 winter tires AND wheels, shipped, mounted & balanced from Tirerack.com for about 600.00. Got them in just 4 days too!
 
I had on my P5 185/65/15 tires on last winter, with steelies (pukey)

This winter I have original alloys with 195/55/16 tires. And there's no problems. Could run even bigger diameter tires.
And the car is lowered -30mm
 
Stock size are more exspensive usually but if you shop around you can find some good deals. This year they passed that law in Quebec for mandatory winter tires so there was a tire shortage which made things even worse.

I found four tires 195/50/16 for 517.89 taxes in for just the tires, were a $110 a piece and the tire levy was $4.50. They are Hancook W300 Ice Bears winter sport tires. They also had Cooper X-treme Avalanche for the same price but in a 205/50/16.

That tire guy was full of s***. I run stock size for numerous reasons but you can run quite a few sizes, and most run the 15" steelies. Sometimes if you call around to local mechanic shops some of them also sell tires and usually have better prices. I looked into buying them from tirerack but the shipping and brokerage fees were quite steep. Oh and try kijiji to, someone may be selling used rims, tires or both.

Good luck!
 
axisboldaslove said:
i bought some 195/55/15's off a p5 member here and they should work out fine he has used them before ....except i need to find some ******* 15" steelies
Click to expand...

Hells yes!!!


But yeah, I run 195-55-15 inch tires every year for the past 5 yrs. No problems, and the cost isn't that bad. Its what tire rack recommends and no one questions the all Mighty TIRE RACK(first)
 
Thanks folks, ended up buying steelies for $46can each, and Goodyear Nordics in 195 55 R15s for $114can. Not the best tires, but will do the job... Also feel like I stuck it to that jerk from the first tire store...

Seemed to be low stock on most tires in TO, had trouble finding stock in anything...

Appreciate the info.
Ian
 
yeah, i just went out and bought 4 snow tires for my p5 today. I got mastercraft glacier grip II's for about $350, balanced and mounted. I just bought this car about 2 months ago and LOVE it, but we had an extremely bad snow/ice storm yesterday and I had a helluva time getting home from work and started doubting the wisdom of my purchase. I could hardly move from a stop on any kind of incline when there was any snow at all on the road surface. Stopping wasn't a problem, in fact the ABS never kicked in once. (yes I lucked into a 2002 with the abs/airbag package). I was running on Kumho Ecsta ASX all seasons on the front and Kumho's powersomething on the rear and thought I'd be fine, but I could hardly get it going in first and had to go to 2nd right away. So any feedback on any of this? How is the p5 in snow? I read some and all said that it is up to the tire. How are these tires? They were the best my tire guy had (a Cooper heavy tire dealer) and he said they are great. what about the purchase price? Could I have done better? One good thing is that my car came with Nexen tires on the alloy 16's and had the Kumho's on 15" steelies.
 
Please log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S
New CX-5 but old Winter Rims/Tires?
Replies
6
Views
2K
weitau
W
J
Winter Tire Size for 2023 CX-5 Turbo?
Replies
6
Views
1K
Chocolate
Chocolate
W
Question about replacing one tire
Replies
14
Views
906
onerpm
O

Latest posts

Back