<p>I have never had an issue with regular all season tires on front wheel drive cars in MA. I have found though rear wheel drive can be a bear in the winter and had to buy snow tires for that car. My all wheel SUV did fine with regular all season tires. Regardless, I have found Tire Rack has the best deals even after paying for shipping.</p>
<p>Ive bought through Tire Rack before, although last time for Hs tbird, we bought at Costco.
But for my Jeep, the tires are twice as much at Costco as through Tire Rack.</p>
<p>Question, my rims for my snow tires are 235/75/15, but the snow tires available are 235/70/16.
Is 16 the critical measurement for determining whether or not I can reuse the rims?
Should I just buy tires to fit the rims?
I suspect I have a smaller tire for clearance in turning.</p>
<p>The 235 is the width of the tire tread from side to side (in mm).</p>
<p>The 15/16 is the diameter of the rim itself (in inches.</p>
<p>The 70/75 is the aspect ratio of the tire, i.e. the height (from the rim to the tread) is 70% of the width of the tire. This is the distance from the rim to the outer edge of the tire. You convert this to inches, multiply by two, and add it to the rim diameter to get the total diamater of the mounted tire.</p>
<p>The 235 width has a bit of leeway on matching tires to rims.</p>
<p>The 70/75 aspect ratio doesn’t matter at all matching tires to rims – although it does matter (in combination with everything else) to keep the total diameter of the mounted tired close to the same.</p>
<p>The diameter (15 or 16) is critical and there is no leeway all you have to match a 15 inch tire to a 16 inch rim. Wrong size tire won’t physically mount to a mismatched rim.</p>
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<p>It is typical for snow tires to be narrower than all season tires. So, the ideal snow tire/wheel combination MAY be different – i.e. a 15 inch rim with a taller aspect ratio that ends up being the same total circumference as the 16 inch low profile summer tires/rims (so your speedo remains accurate).</p>
<p>If my math is right, the taller 235/75/15 combo (28.87 inches total diameter at the tread) should have approximately the same rolling circumference as the lower profile tires 235/70/16 combination (28.95 inches total diameter at the tread). So those two combinations are interchangeable. Those would probably be typical winter and summer combinations for a given car.</p>
<p>If you are using the same set of rims for both summer and winter tires, then you should get snow tires the same size as the summer tires (although marginally narrower (225 instead of 235) would be OK.</p>
<p>The best option is to buy a set of cheap steel rims for the snow tires. That way the switch over between seasons is easy – all of your tires will be mounted on rims. Tire Rack sells premounted packages like that – snow tires and rims.</p>
<p>I already have snow tire rims, those are 15. ( but the tires need replacing)
But all the tires listed for my car are now 16, so I suppose I need new rims- unless I can just do a search by size instead of make.</p>
<p>H was trying to tell me I can just get two, but he is cheap.( I have a jeep with 4wheel drive)</p>
<p>If your summer tires are 235/70/16s then I believe that 235/75/15s on your old snow rims should work fine – if you can find that size (and if a 15 inch rim is large enough to clear the brake rotors on your Jeep). The higher profile of the 75-profile tires makes up for the 1 inch smaller rim.</p>
<p>A decent tire dealer could confirm that, especially if you took your rims in to buy snow tires. They (or you) could simply put the old wheels/tires on the Jeep and confirm that there are no brake clearance problems. I doubt there would be. Most Jeeps have been made for so long that they probably came with 225/75/15s at some point.</p>
<p>It’s not advisable to only buy 2 snow tires. We were told that it was not a good idea. Something about traction or something, I can’t remember now. Just that you can’t do that.</p>
<p>Well, I was looking at the wrong snow tire .
Mine are 16", so that works.
:o</p>
<p>Here in Wisconsin, where they clean off the roads nicely, but I still have to drive on icy streets to get to work, few of us have winter tires. Back in northern AZ, decades ago, they were very useful. These days, with anti lock brakes, front wheel drive, and lack of local cliffs to careen over, no one seems to have them. </p>
<p>I did recently get new high end all season radials for my Honda Fit, and noticed an impressive improvement in traction. The car is from the Portland area, and per my mechanic, the previous tires were not appropriate for Midwestern winters.</p>
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<p>In that case, you would ideally look for snow tires in exactly the same size as your summer tires.</p>
<p>Update on tires: I chatted with tire rack and asked if there were any all season radials that worked well for the winters in western Mass and Vermont. They recommended 3 models. I then called the local mechanic in her area, and asked if they were familiar with and trusted any of those models. He was familiar with one and said he would have no concerns with that tire on her AWD CRV in her area. I ordered those tires. Hopefully I’ve done my due diligence. She is a careful driver and I trust her to only drive locally in her valley during the winter.</p>
<p>great lakes mom, we are in Wisconsin too and I had never thought about snow tires till this winter. My daughter got a new (used) car after her old car was totaled in an accident. It’s a Volvo and I thought it would be fine but after the first storm we had she couldn’t even get out of our neighborhood. (It is a manual transmission…don’t know why that would matter but I think she might have been driving in too high a gear trying to go up some steep hills.) We traded cars that day and I did not feel safe at all, so I got her snow tires. They make a HUGE difference and we both feel more confident.</p>
<p>Good for you. A veteran of decades of Wisconsin winters here (do not mind missing all of the snow predicted there this weekend!) H had a rear wheel drive car a long time ago and had snow tires- it was a pain having to change back and forth, one car we had the rims as well (I think it was the Volvo we sold to southern CA relatives- gave those tires to someone else locally). Especially since this is a short term investment I’m glad you opted for the all season tires. New tires will make a huge difference (when you slide on snowy roads coming slowly up to the stoplight you realize you need to get the new tires now instead of later).</p>
<p>I actually learned to drive in Florida and have never made my peace with winter driving. My first car in the midwest was a RWD Volvo wagon–not fun for Chicago commuting.</p>
<p>We don’t have a garage (another questionable decision) but Discount Tire, where we got the snow tires, will store your off-season tires and put them on again in the spring for a small fee. TOTALLY worth it, at least so far.</p>
<p>Grew up without a garage and a gravel driveway, and of course, no snowblower in WI. Now in Florida we made sure we had room for our cars in the garage- unlike many/most here it seems. Unfinished basements don’t count for square footage but they sure make a difference in storage options (as does not putting a water heater or other mechanicals/appliances in a garage).</p>