snow chains???

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MSP & MS3
So this brutal north eastern winter finally decided to go into hybernation. I think my common sense did too. Instead of getting an SUV (a "practical" ride for someone living in CT) I led with my right foot and got a sweet a$$ Orange MSP. Natually I love the car... but I'm worried. Should I have gone with the suv? (or at least the awd WRX) Has anyone driven one of these bad boys in the snow? If so... how was it? These tires of ours... they seem pretty performance oriented. I'm guessin I'm gonna have to shell out some dough for some snow tires when the winter comes around. That's gonna suck... but not nearly as much as watching the snow, salt and sand destroy my ride!! Someone knock some sense into me and tell me I'm worrying for no reason. Though it LOOKS like a show car, it IS a "regular" car that's designed to handle this sort've crap.. right? I'd hate to have to trade this sucker in for a slow a$$ SUV but... I guess that's better than dying. I guess.
 
horrible in the snow, i highly recommend you DONT drive with the stock potenzas on. *shudders*
 
man, don't people know that the tires are SUMMER tires only?

not only that, people never cease to amaze with complaints saying that the tires suck in the snow FULLY well knowing they're summer tires only *scratches head*
 
sleeper_ said:
man, don't people know that the tires are SUMMER tires only?

not only that, people never cease to amaze with complaints saying that the tires suck in the snow FULLY well knowing they're summer tires only *scratches head*

i know the tires are summer tires, im just warning him...sheesh...
 
LOL I was only kidding about snow chains!! Anywayz, thanks for the feedback crew. I guess I'lll just get some steel wheels and snow tires. any suggestions? do I have to get 17 inch wheles and tires or can I manage with smallers ones?
 
You can (and probably should) get smaller wheels and tire diameters. What you want is for the outside diameter of the new tires to be the same as the 17" ones that you replace. That means that if you go with say 16" wheels then you don't want to get p215/45R16 tires. The reason is that with the 45 sidewall, the outside diameter of the 16" tires will be smaller than your 17" tires. That will make your speedometer and odometer read incorrectly.

What you need to do is the opposite of what is called a +1 conversion (a -1 conversion?). Often if you want to get low profile tires, you go up an inch in wheel size and go down by 10 on the sidewall. For example, if your car comes with P215/60R15 tires, you could go to P215/50 R16 tires. What that does is to have a bigger wheel in the middle of the tire, but a thinner sidewall, causing the outer diameter of the tire to stay the same.

Since we have 215/45R17s originally, you could go to a 215/55R16 with steel wheels for the winter. Now the adding or subtracting 10 from the sidewall is not always exact, so you might end up wanting to use something slightly different like 215/60R16s. The best thing to do is to measure the outside of your tires and then go with 16" tires with whatever sidewall ends up making them the right diameter.

The one thing that limits how far you can go with this is the brake rotors. They need to fit inside the new wheels. 16" wheels should be fine. I don't know if you could go as far as 15" or not.

One list thing that I just thought of. Be careful if you drive in the snow since our cars ride so low. Don't want to rip off the exhaust pipe or anything.

Hope this info was helpful.
 
You can run 15's to save cash. I'm running Michelin Pilot Alpin's
size 195-55-15 on steel rims.

It's pretty fun in the snow, as long as you have grip.

I got caught in the ine storm here on the summers and it was a nightmare! Could barely move.

MS MSP #143
 
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