Winter Tires and Rims

delpieve · Sep 14, 2004

I have seen a few of these posts on here but just needed a few questions answered....i currently have a mazda3 sedan gt
currently 17 inch rims with 205/50r17 tires on....
i want to buy some steelies for winter but would like to go down to 16 inch
and can get close to overall diameter with a 205/55r16....my questions is I believe the bolt pattern for the 3 is 14 x 1.3 on five...but not sure and what is the offset required for the wheel...
second question...i know that the 3 reccommends minimum of h rated tires..however how big of a deal would it be to run winters that werent h rated......as the price difference is huge.....i know that the rating is the speed rating but also has to do with sidewall stiffness etc..
any info would be greatly appreciated...

thanks

wongpres · Sep 14, 2004

P205/55R16 is the perfect size as that's the stock tire size for the Mazda3 on 16-inch (it's even listed on the driver door sticker in addition to the 17-inch tire size on the GT with GFX). I'm going with this size myself.

Other stock parameters are: offset of 52.5mm. 6.5-inch wide rims for 16-inch & 17-inch, and bolt pattern is 5 * 114.3

Yes, a H-rated winter tire will have stiffer sidewall, which means for better dry pavement handling on cold conditions. However, Q-rated winter tires typically perform better in deep snow and ice.

I'm going with H-rated because I'm in Toronto (relatively little snow with a lot of dry pavement during winter, and I also do 90% highway driving). Given your location, a more snow and ice oriented tire would probably be more suitable for you.

delpieve · Sep 14, 2004

wongpres said:
P205/55R16 is the perfect size as that's the stock tire size for the Mazda3 on 16-inch (it's even listed on the driver door sticker in addition to the 17-inch tire size on the GT with GFX). I'm going with this size myself.

Other stock parameters are: offset of 52.5mm. 6.5-inch wide rims for 16-inch & 17-inch, and bolt pattern is 5 * 114.3

Yes, a H-rated winter tire will have stiffer sidewall, which means for better dry pavement handling on cold conditions. However, Q-rated winter tires typically perform better in deep snow and ice.

I'm going with H-rated because I'm in Toronto (relatively little snow with a lot of dry pavement during winter, and I also do 90% highway driving). Given your location, a more snow and ice oriented tire would probably be more suitable for you.

thanks alot for the info

delpieve · Sep 28, 2004

has anyone had any experience with tiretrends.com...good or bad....their prices are way cheaper then anything i have been quoted.....any feedback would be greatly appreciated

Winter Tires and Rims

delpieve

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wongpres

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delpieve

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delpieve

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