[eSVeeTy]

I'm looking for winter tires and having an issue....

I currently have Pirelli P6 205/50R16 tires on my stock rims with Ford Racing springs (1" drop I believe). The tires are horrible in snow/ice and I need to swap them ASAP. The car is pretty much non driveable in the winter weather.

Will a 55 series tire fit on that setup?

Looking at getting a set of Goodyear Nordic tires but they don't come in a 50 series. I'm not worried about speedometer/odometer calibration. All the 50 series winter tires I found are pretty much beyond my price range at this time so I'd like to go with a 205/50R16 tire but not sure if it will fit.

Any help would be great, thanks!

Dan

[NefCanuck]

What is your budget? That'll go a long way to determining what's available in the stock size that you can afford.

NefCanuck

[eSVeeTy]

$500 range


I've done my shopping, I just want to know if 55 series will fit without issues.

[guilty]

Using the tire size calculator here: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

The diameter of the tire goes from 24.1" on the 50 series, and 24.9" on the 55 series tire. So you'll end up with .8" bigger wheel diameter.. you'll have to look at how much clearance you have in your wheel wells.

I'm running a 195/65/15 winter tire when the stock size is 195/60/15, and I'm lowered on FK 35-40mm springs (about 1.5") and haven't had any problems. There's a little less wheel gap but I haven't had any trouble. It might be more of a pain if you get a lot of ice buildup in your wheel wells, really depends on the type of snow/ice you're driving in and the temperature.

[NefCanuck]

and your speedo will be out by approximately 3.24% (to the low side) according to the website at:

Tire Size calculator

NefCanuck

[mo_focus]

you can always go with 195/55/16's I belive they should fit the rim and the diff is only 1.6%. Less then 2km/h speed diff.

So I would recomend 195/55/16, and since its a popular size, i'm sure you get get even a better price for them.

Regards Mo

[mo_focus]

or try 185/55/16 and you have the exact caliberation. Also your sidewalls are the same so the tire should fit with no problems.

Your speedo will be off 0.2% or 0.2Km/h

[eSVeeTy]

I'll look into those sizes, thank you!

[Focus man. Focus.]

Or you coud but steel rims and tires. I bought mine at Wal Mart for just over $500. I got 4 14" Ford rims and 4 185/65R14 Winter Mark Magna tires and now I don't have to worry about switching back in the spring. I got all the info I needed from this Webpage. The setup I am using will not work on an SVT as the brakes are different but that is shown on the page. Good luck on your quest for winter traction.

[schade]

55 series tires fit fine on the 16" rims .. i've used them with no problems

the thing to remember with snow tires is that the smaller the treadwidth the better they'll preform in the snow/slush ... so i wouldn't go with anything bigger than a 195

I just got a set of the Nordics about 3 weeks ago and i love them so far

[eSVeeTy]

Thanks guys! I just bought a set of 195/60R15 tires on steelies. Now I have 3 sets of rims but oh well LOL

Played it safe and went with a complete setup. :D

[guilty]

You don't have an SVT do you? As far as I know, there are very few 15" wheels that will clear the SVT brakes. Now if you don't have an SVT (or a big brake upgrade) then those wheels will suit you just fine.

[eSVeeTy]

Nope, SVT package (rims/suspension) but its a ZX5 SES.