16" vs 17" rims / Winter tyres - advice sought

[ship69]

Hi

Okay sorry for the newbie questions but I've read around this forum and I cant find out:

Background
I have: Facelift version of Honda Accord 2007 i-CTDI and am driving on 16 inch rims (I think and I think they are made of alloy). At least inside the drivers door it says: "205/55R16 91V" (and so I am ***uming that the "16" is the diameter of the inside of my wheels??). Most of my driving is on motorways. Occasionally I will be driving to Scotland this winter.

Questions:

1. What are the pros and cons of 16" vs 17" inch wheels (i.e. rims) - for Winer use?
i.e. Do I HAVE to buy some more wheels in order to use winter tyres?

2. I am planning to buy some winter tyres
But somewhere it implied that I would need to buy steel rims for this?
If so should I buy 17" or 16"?

The reasons why I am planning to do this are:
a) apparently my front tyres are very worn on the extreme inside side
B) winter is coming up
c) I am hoping to buy something quieter than my current Michelin HP Primacy tyres (if possible!)

3. My speedo is rather inaccurate according to my TomTom. e.g. At a steady 80MPH on the speedo, my TomTom is reading a full 5 MPH slower - i.e. 75MPH!
Is this anything to do with rims - or are 17" tyres just lower in the profile(?)... and overall the wheels will end up being the same diameter.
(The latter was my understanding but how come my speedo is quite so far out?)

Cheers

John

 

[crespo]

mate all speedos over read. its impossible to caliberate accurately the mph on all cars so the manufacturers just get them to over read by a few mph.
can you imagine a car leaving the factory with a speedo reading perfectly and in 3 years running out by a few mph. with the amount of speed cameras on our roads you would soon lose your licence. so its safer to over read. less law suits.

as for your winter tyres. go for 16s as the tyres will be cheaper and with them being slimmer they will cut in to any snow or standing water better than the 17 inch wheels which are a wider profile.
and yes you can put winter tyres on alloy wheels.

 

[Simon2354]

Hi

Okay sorry for the newbie questions but I've read around this forum and I cant find out:

Background
I have: Facelift version of Honda Accord 2007 i-CTDI and am driving on 16 inch rims (I think and I think they are made of alloy). At least inside the drivers door it says: "205/55R16 91V" (and so I am ***uming that the "16" is the diameter of the inside of my wheels??). Most of my driving is on motorways. Occasionally I will be driving to Scotland this winter.

Questions:

1. What are the pros and cons of 16" vs 17" inch wheels (i.e. rims) - for Winer use?
i.e. Do I HAVE to buy some more wheels in order to use winter tyres?

2. I am planning to buy some winter tyres
But somewhere it implied that I would need to buy steel rims for this?
If so should I buy 17" or 16"?

The reasons why I am planning to do this are:
a) apparently my front tyres are very worn on the extreme inside side
B) winter is coming up
c) I am hoping to buy something quieter than my current Michelin HP Primacy tyres (if possible!)

3. My speedo is rather inaccurate according to my TomTom. e.g. At a steady 80MPH on the speedo, my TomTom is reading a full 5 MPH slower - i.e. 75MPH!
Is this anything to do with rims - or are 17" tyres just lower in the profile(?)... and overall the wheels will end up being the same diameter.
(The latter was my understanding but how come my speedo is quite so far out?)

Cheers

John

Hi John

I was going to put winter tyres on my Accord but am not going to bother as I had to buy a 2nd car (01 Civic) for my work commute. This runs on 195/60/15 88H tyres. I too need to change 2tyres in 1k so I have just decided to bite bullet for 4 tyres - prob Michelin Alpin A4 on the H rating.

I'm not going to by a 2nd set of rims as my budget won't permit. You don't have to have a 2nd set of rims....just saves you having to go to a tyre fitter to have them removed and the summer tyres put back on. If you had a 2nd set of rims & tyres then you can easily change them yrself when the weather improves in the spring.

If you consider the fact that the tyres on a 17" rim have a lower side wall profile than the 16" ones, I would be inclined to stick with yr 16" rims so that the rim has "pothole protection" - we all know bad the roads get in winter!

If u upsize to a 17" rim, the tyres are likely to be dearer than the 16's - you would fitting a 225/45/17 with 91 min load index and a min speed rating of Y (although you could get away with a 94W).... The other factor would depend on the price / brand and also increased load index from the 16's

In current financial climate cost is going to be the big factor.

Does any of this help?

Simon

 

[nick 9-5]

As said already, Winter tyres will be fine on your existing wheels but you must have 4 winter tyres fitted. Mixing "normal" tyres and winter tyres will see you in serious trouble as the front will stick very well whilst the back will be swapping ends.

 

[dl0205]

mate all speedos over read. its impossible to caliberate accurately the mph on all cars so the manufacturers just get them to over read by a few mph.
can you imagine a car leaving the factory with a speedo reading perfectly and in 3 years running out by a few mph. with the amount of speed cameras on our roads you would soon lose your licence. so its safer to over read. less law suits.

as for your winter tyres. go for 16s as the tyres will be cheaper and with them being slimmer they will cut in to any snow or standing water better than the 17 inch wheels which are a wider profile.
and yes you can put winter tyres on alloy wheels.

I'd second what crespo has said. Does depend on how severe the winter weather is, but the narrower the tyre the better it is at cutting through the snow. Also the higher profile helps with pot holes re: Simon's comment & if you do get stuck in the snow you can lower pressures more & use the extra give in the tyre wall to get going (although I wouldn't drive to far with very low tyre pressures).

 

[OB1]

You don't necessarily need a 2nd set of wheels but as has already been said it does make it easier to just swap your winter wheels over whenever you want. i've had tyres put on / taken off wheels and its cost between £5 - £7 a wheel. One garage I know will, if you buy from them, fit your winter tyres then re-fit your summer ones free of charge. You'll have to find somewhere to keep them over winter, of course, but it beats having to.pay the likes of Kwik Fit to store them in a "tyre hotel."

If you can pick up a 2nd set of alloys they'll take winter tyres no problem. The rationale behind steel wheels in winter is that they're cheaper to buy and it saves you knackering your nice alloys with all the salt and ***** that you get on the roads.

 

[nodrogs]

I managed to get a very cheap set of second hand genuine 16" alloys of gumtree last year. It can work out cheaper to buy a second hand set of 16" alloys and 16" winter tyres than to buy a set of 17" winter tyres.

Steels are of course the other way to go but be careful, as they are not genuine honda wheels your insurance may view this as a modification.