I'm a female and apparently men at mechanic dealerships believe that I will believe anything. Unfortunately, I have so little knowledge about vehicle things that they are probably right.

I recently moved my 2004 tsx to Kansas from Arizona, with its original michelin pilots. They're 40,000 miles into the warranty, and although they are touted as all season tires, I almost got my life handed to me on a platter last winter when I took some slush under my tires from a passing snow plough as i entered the freeway. I spun 95 degrees, and stopped perpendicular to an oncoming SUV, who, thankfully, was able to stop about 2' shy of broadsiding me.

After searching for new tires, reading a zillion reviews, etc, I decided on the Nokian WR G2, the newly revamped all weather tire. The reviews on the old WR were also excellent, but the G2 has asymmetrical treads to try to overcome some of the road noise.

Well, the tire dealer (www.tirefactory.net) did not have 215/50/17s in stock, saying that they were waiting (probably 6-8 weeks) for a shipment from overseas, but that they DO have the 225/50/17s. I asked a bunch of questions about rim fit, etc, and they had what sounded like logical answers. on the other hand, i read that you should actually go DOWN in size (e.g. 205) for winter tires to increase the weight across the tire width to improve traction. However, I'm going to be using these tires winter/summer/spring, fall, so I'm not sure I wanna do that either.

Any opinions about whether to wait the 6-8 weeks (winter isn't here yet, obviously, but i am having an alignment done next week and it just made sense to do this now), or to go ahead with the 225s?

Thanks!

Sandy

 

I would wait, 2 months from now you're still not going to have snow to deal with.

 

Usually smaller tires are better for going thru deep snow, and are cheaper. I use 205/55/16 Dunlop Graspics on steel wheels for my TSX, and the same tire on my Mazda 6 GT . And i know all about snow, by living in the Canadian prairies for my entire life.

 

correction: 205/60-16 vs 215/50/17

225/50/17 is 1.5% bigger than 215/50/17 . Since 215/50/17 is stock and you're looking for winter tires, you should look into 205/60-16. And Nokian tires are great for winter. Generally you want a smaller foot print for winter tire and deeper tread so you can cut throw snow/light ice. Wider foot print will tend to make your car stay on top of snow more than a smaller one.

See https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20434 for sizing explanation. And pm Sauceman .. imo, hes the our inhouse snow driving expert.

 

Larger 225/50-17 are typically heavier and combined with the slight increase in diameter will make your car accelerate slower.

A torque-limited car like the TSX needs its aggressive gearing to compensate for the low torque, and while you might think that increaing tire diameter will also improve fuel economy I believe that the result is more lugging of the engine, meaning more load, meaning you'll use more fuel, and I know that I drive around a lot less in 6th gear than I used to, with 215/50-17 tires.

Last year was Toronto's second snowiest year on record, and while I'd like 215/55-16 snow tires in the dry I was glad I have 205/60-16's. Perhaps 215/50-17 is a better compromise if you only have one set of tires.

 

Several months ago, a neighbourhood street radar speed-clocking sign was installed near a local school. Instead of 215/50-17 tires (25.5" OD) on my 06 TSX, I have 225/50-17's (25.9" OD), a nominal diference of 0.4", raising the car by 0.2", give or take...it seems like a pretty simple 1.6% increase in overall diameter.

The radar sign, however, has understandably always reported the car's speed to be higher than the speedometer, so the sign reads 60 kph when the speedo reads 57 - that's about a 5% difference. I took the tires off the car, to install my snow tires, and measured a generally uniform 4/32" - 5/32" of tread depth on each 22550-17 tire. If they started with 10/32" of full tread depth when new, then the OD of the tire is now about 1/3 of an inch ((10/32 - 5/32) x 2) less than the reported new dimension of the tire. That is, the worn tires have an OD about the same as a new 215/50-17, at 25.6" vs 25.5", approximately.

My TSX's 205/60-16 snow tires are supposed to have an OD of 25.7", and at an indicated 60 kph on the speedo, the sign reads 60 kph. Similarly, my Mazda P5 and my 2012 Focus all show 60 kph on their speedos when the sign says 60 kph, if they're on their summer or their winter rubber.

I realize that adding the weight of the car might change the actual ride height, size vs size, but I'd thought - incorrectly I guess - that the soft sidewalls of the Continental DWS might let the car ride a bit lower, not higher.

I don't know why, but it seems like there's a lot more guesswork involved when changing tire sizes than you'd been lead to believe by looking at the numbers on the sidewalls.

 

No offense, but you may be really over thinking this. First of all, those roadside radar units are notoriously unreliable as far as an accurate speed reading is concerned (strictly informational, they don't have to accurate). They're banged around on a trailer, they sit out in all weather, no maintenance, etc. I've done fairly extensive research (OK, not that extensive) with GPS speed tracking with all the tire sizes in question. As to be expected, the TSX speedometer (as I've suspected all cars will with OE size tires) reads approximately 2% high with the OE size 215/50x17's. They do this so I assume so there's no question about ground speed when you drive through your friendly neighborhood speed trap (also racks up mileage faster since you're odometer is registering 60 miles for every 58 miles you travel). And I'd also guess that for liability concerns (those frigging lawyers again......), it would always sound better to be able to say that the car was going slower than the speedometer said so should something happen. So, with that in mind, it only makes sense that a tire that's taller (the 205/60x16 is slightly taller, the 225/50x17's a little more so) will actually allow the speedometer to provide a more accurate ground speed (I run 225/50x17's on 7.5" wheels in the warmer weather and have found that size to be right on the money. Per GPS, I'm actually doing 90 MPH when the speedometer is reading 90 MPH).

To be honest, in my opinion, this all relatively meaningless though in the big picture. Unless you're on a continuously flat road, on cruise control, your travel speed (second to second, minute to minute) will always vary more than any speed discrepancy that tire size might introduce (unless you're running some wildly out of spec tire size).

 

Actually .. our speedo is off by 4-7% for tsx 04-07. there was a class action lawsuit from a honda odessy owner. it applied to all acura and honda from certain years production. I know the end year was a 2007. if my memory serves right.

 

ight guys quit confusing the lady !!!

Sandy....the 2 tires which fit your ride spot on are: 215/50/17 and 225/45/17

either way I think the tire company will try to screw you over with the cost....I am from KC as well and there is a tire shop on 135th and Ridgeview in Olathe called Chihuahua Tire (LMAO) and the owner is Joel....he sells lightly used tires....I got my winter tires from him for $150 installed and balanced....ALL 4

I am not in KC right now, am in Philippines coming back in a week....but yeah I get my tires + tires for my girls car from him....I have referred many people to him and they have had 0 issues....

PM me if you want more info about the shop....also where in KC are you from...finally a LADY member

we guys meet up once a month and everyone brings there girl/wife but we have not had a single lady member....

 

My guess is that Sandy is long gone (the thread was started by her well over 3 years ago and died then till a couple of days ago), but your point is a valid one (early morning hangover... sorry). And though Acura specifies the 225/45x17 size for the Aspec package (I assume it's so they'll fit (barely) on the OE 7" wheels), they're a little short. The correct plus0 size (to maintain the same diameter as the OE 215/50x17) is 235/45x17 (but you'll need wider wheels).

 

^^^ hahaha i didnt check the date for the OP hahaa....

I saw someone above me has posted the same day so replied LOL....

 

Its an old thread, but maybe this info would help someone in the future:

In the place where I live we say that things that are made for everything are useless. So are all weather tires. So if you often have temperatures below 32F/0C in winter you should get winter tires, because all season tires are worthless on snow. Even the cheap China made winter tires (like Nankang or Wanli) perform better on snow and ice than the expensive all weather tires (like Michelin or Goodyear).
All proper winter tires are marked with this sign:


From what I've had in winter I could recommend Pirelli SnowSport and Goodyear Ultra Grip



Also wide vs narrow: on snow wide tires act like a bulldozer.

So narrow tires are better on snow.

 

Three cars, six sets of tires, all with their "correct" overall diameter, and only the significantly tread-reduced 225/50-17 prompts a 5% speed "error". That225/50-17 now also has a correct OD (I, sort of, measured it) of 25.5" when off the car.

The Continental DWS is a light tire, with reportedly very soft sidewalls. We know that it's the air in a tire, and not really the sidewalls, which supports the weight of the car as it's just cruising down the road.

I'm suggesting that perhaps there's, what, a lot more air in a 225/50-17, so maybe the tire doesn't "flatten out against the road" so much, so that that tire's actual OD remains larger, perhaps from a % point of view. If I pump a 215/50-17 up to 45psi, will it's OD increase by 1/4"? Is it a function of Load Index?

It appears that going to a tire that has an overall diameter that is 0.4", or 1.6%, greater (and raises the car - so you would think - by 0.2") shouldn't have such a large real world impact, but my butt dyno's been saying the same thing, for years.

Going to a larger diameter tire isn't really a performance upgrade, and I should just trust my gut, or butt, or whatever, more than the math.

 

IF you live in an area that gets snow every winter .. get a winter dedicated set of tires and wheels. Go narrow and taller than OEM size for winter, yet the over all outer diameter is withing 2% difference of the oem size. pretty common recommendation for winter tire for our car is size 205/60-16 on a 16inch wheel for winter.

that's all it is for winter.

 

Short and to the point and I agree totally. I became a winter tire convert over 25 years ago and have used them ever since. The above mentioned size is the most commonly used I believe and I have found works well.