Hi all!
Here are a few questions for the car people of the Northern latitudes. I'm looking for winter tires for my girlfriend's car (the one we use the most), which is an SUV with 215/55R17 tires. I'm looking to get steel wheels for those tires, so I don't mind/would prefer going for another size. My questions :
1. Which size would be the best handling for snow (city driving, lots of ice, some highway but nothing crazy, no speeding) out of those 3 ? I'm thinking that the narrower/taller alternatives might be better for snow driving (what I've always done in the past), but am I right ?
-215/55R17" (stock)
-205/60R16" (cheapest combo)
-205/65R15"
2. Would you go with more expensive non-studded tires (like Michelins or Bridgestone Blizzaks) or cheaper studded tires (like Maxxis NP5 - I've never used any Maxxis car tires) ? I've always had studless tires and feel like studded ones would be better on the city driving we mostly do as it's quite hilly and icy here.
I've always ran Nokian tires without studs and the last unstudded Pirellis on my GF's car didn't feel any worse honestly. Nokian is off the list, as I've been driving Nokian winter and summer tires for the last 15 years and the last winter set cracked after 5 years of the MGFR date. The last summer set wore off after half of the advertised mileage so that's two strikes out for them.
Open to any option and opinion. Thanks!
Here are a few questions for the car people of the Northern latitudes. I'm looking for winter tires for my girlfriend's car (the one we use the most), which is an SUV with 215/55R17 tires. I'm looking to get steel wheels for those tires, so I don't mind/would prefer going for another size. My questions :
1. Which size would be the best handling for snow (city driving, lots of ice, some highway but nothing crazy, no speeding) out of those 3 ? I'm thinking that the narrower/taller alternatives might be better for snow driving (what I've always done in the past), but am I right ?
-215/55R17" (stock)
-205/60R16" (cheapest combo)
-205/65R15"
2. Would you go with more expensive non-studded tires (like Michelins or Bridgestone Blizzaks) or cheaper studded tires (like Maxxis NP5 - I've never used any Maxxis car tires) ? I've always had studless tires and feel like studded ones would be better on the city driving we mostly do as it's quite hilly and icy here.
I've always ran Nokian tires without studs and the last unstudded Pirellis on my GF's car didn't feel any worse honestly. Nokian is off the list, as I've been driving Nokian winter and summer tires for the last 15 years and the last winter set cracked after 5 years of the MGFR date. The last summer set wore off after half of the advertised mileage so that's two strikes out for them.
Open to any option and opinion. Thanks!
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