benamodeo

I need to start looking into some new wheels and tires for winter, we got a LOT of snow here, at times some roads are closed so I wanted to go for the absolute smallest wheel that fit over the brakes and the largest tire that will fit without rubbing.

Will 15" wheels fit over the front brakes on a base model Automatic from 2005? I believe these are the non-brembo brakes. Acura recommend 16" for winter when I asked the dealer but that's for "04-06 and 07-08 non-TypeS".
I'm pretty sure the Manual version of the base model has different calipers made by brembo which are slightly larger, but not as big as the Type-S calipers which makes the automatic Non-Brembos the absolute smallest which leads me to believe that a 15" might fit over the brakesfor optimal tire sidewall grip for getting through the bigger snow banks in the near future.

Any tips or pics of TL's sitting on 15" or 16" wheels would be awesome.

This is how it sits now

Jackass

Base model manual and Type-S have the same brakes.

I have no idea about a 15" rim fitting...but that would be a seriously sloppy handling car with tall snow/ice tires on it.

What do you mean sidewall grip? I have never seen tread on the sidewalls of passenger car tires. Only on LT tires.

NBP04TL4ME

I'm confused as to what you are trying to do. How does a 15" tire help you in snow??? Or are you trying to offset smaller rims with taller skinny tires?
You want a narrower width tire to cut into the snow and get to pavement vs. a wider tire which will have a tendancy to showshoe on top of it. I believe I have seen a thread here on AZ where a member was able to put 16" steelies for Winter but it looked like hell and unless the roads are covered with snow for days at a time you are giving up ride, handling and performance.

Nick216

Please no

benamodeo

I probably should have specified I was going to find some skinny light truck tires.

15" will be a softer ride over the various ice chunks that cover our roads, the previous owner traded it in for a truck because he felt the roads here are too bad and in the winter they get worse. And that's exactly what I'm going to do, try and fit 15's on it with a super skinny light truck tire so it has some sidewall bite for the super deep snow

I'm giving up all of the aspects of a decent driving car for the ability to stay in it my entire route and not have to shovel and sand and push to get it out of snow banks lol. There are times its taken more then a week for our street to get plowed and I've had to take a taxi to and from work because my old Jetta became one with the drive way lol.

I had 14" BMW wheels on it with some studded light truck tires and even then it was a struggle from time to time.

NBP04TL4ME

Maybe you should be looking at a 4x4 instead of rims and tires.

Jesstzn

OP stick with the 16" option .. and maybe a 205/55/16 to get a narrower footprint. a truck tire is too stiff sidewall for the cars weight. And not enough tread flex.

NBP04TL4ME

^+1. I don't believe a 15" rim will fit.

paperboy42190

iTrader: (7)

with that kind of weather you might want to get a truck or something

Jackass

LT tires will likely not be any better than proper snow/ice tires. Most LT tires will be worse than proper snow/ice tires since they aren't designed for winter use.

If you are trying to get tires that aggressive and are worried about ice chunks and such, you should be more concerned about your front bumper. Snow that deep and your car isn't going anywhere no matter what tires you have on the car. If the bumper and undercarriage are sitting on the snow, your tires won't be making contact with the road anyways.

I managed to get my wife's AWD SUV stuck in the snow last year. No matter how good of tires or how many wheels are turning....if there is enough snow under the car it will get high centered.

350

iTrader: (4)

Maybe get some 2GTL 16" wheels and snow tires? Or Accord wheels, but if you're gonna make those sacrifices I'd just get cheap snow tires, I had some called Winterforce on my old RWD Buick and never got stuck.

benamodeo

A friend of mine put VW Jetta VR6 suspension on a base model Golf and it raised it, then he put light truck tires on it and it didn't get stuck once which is why I was looking into going the same route he did with tires. But, like suggested, I bought a 4x4 for winter. 2003 Dodge RAM 1500 4x4 QuadCab 8ft box, already lifted with big tires so winter is dealt with. The TL will be another salt free winter yet again.

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

I got the truck for the same price I was going to spend on tires, wheels, under coating, and new rear brakes for the TL.

NBP04TL4ME

Sounds good. Just make sure you put some weight in the bed of that truck.