'05 RL - Winter minus size?
 

Hi all, am very new to site, just purchased.

Will my break caliper support a minus sizing from OE 245/50/17 to 225/60/16 winters on 16in?

Overall diameter is identical.

Dealership only offers 17in winter wheel and tire package using 225/55/17.

Hope to use 16 vs. 17...

Need help please, tks Jeff

I can't speak for the 16" wheels or tires at all. I can, however, speak from my experience. The 18" tire for the RL was cheaper for me than the 17" tires, strangely enough. Might be worth looking into the A-Spec 18's and a set of 245/45/18's. :2cents:

Why do you want to use 16" wheels?

I don't think they will fit. An easy check is to see how much space is between the caliper and your stock wheels. Any less than 0.6" and they won't fit.

I've run 225/55/17 snow tires on my '05 RL for 10 years and they work very well (summer tires are 245/45/18). The 17's fit pretty tight to the brake calipers, so my guess would be that a 16 inch rim would NOT fit. I don't really see any benefit to going with the 16 inch rims when the 17's are in stock and recommended by the dealer.

I've always used a narrower snow tire than my "summer" tire because I find that really wide tires tend to act more like a ski in deep snow whereas a narrower tire can "penetrate" the snow to get down to the road. Of course, when you get on ice, you don't want to be on some skinny bicycle tire, so "one size down" is usually optimal. Finally, the slightly higher sidewall in my winter tires helps when the temperature drops and the tires stiffen up.

Just my two cents.

@projektvertx: Interesting that 18s were not more than the 17s. Will surely check the A-Spec 18’s in the Spring – thank you.

@oo7spy: Your question is a great one. I think I have been so used to always going one size smaller in winter to narrow the tire ‘footprint’ with the notion that it would help me in the snow. Of course, the hit to the wallet is normally easier when going down, and not up in size..Thanks for your feedback; will tackle in the morning.

@hondamore: I appreciate you sharing your experience on your ’05 – there is likely a very good (fitment) reason the dealership recommended the winter wheel and tire combo that they did, and that there was not even a 16 in winter wheel and tire offering. I am leaning towards what you mentioned about not trying to go with the 16 in route (225/60/16) and just getting a winter with a higher sidewall. Like you, I’ve always gone narrower, and for the identical reasons.
Appreciate the info everyone, thanks. Jeff

I think you have a misconception about "one size smaller". The wheel diameter means absolutely nothing if the tire diameter is the same. 15" or 20", there will not be any difference between them. Tire sizes are designated by tread width(mm)/sidewall hieght (as a % of tread width)/rim diameter. "One size smaller" means you reduce the tread width one size and increase the side wall height one size. The reason for a skinnier tire is so you have less area of the tire on the ground. Pressure = force / area, so the less area, the more pressure on the ground the car has to sink into the snow. That's why Hondamore uses 225 mm tread width over his 245 mm tread width summer tires. He is a full 20 mm (0.8") skinnier on his snow tires. Because the sidewall hieght is a percentage of tread width, he increased the second number to get back to the same overall diameter even though his wheels are different diameters.

Make sense?

Cliffs: Change the tire size like this: -1/+1/+0, and leave the wheels alone.

@007 - Thanks for your post; it all makes sense. What you very clearly said, is kind of what I meant, in that the overall diameter remains unchanged. ''One size smaller'' is like you said, incorrect. In saying one size smaller, I only meant to refer to the size rim employed for winter is 'one size smaller' than OEM wheel with the vehicle. Going narrower, like you said, is the name of the game for winter, and so that is why I defaulted to looking into a 16 inch wheel versus stock 17 inch.

Appreciate you taking them time to comment - it all helps me. Safe motoring...

Jeff

Good sized brakes on the RL. 17" is the way to go.

Offsets are one more thing to check. Most, if not all of the 17" rims at tire rack have a 40mm offset that will stick out 15 mm more than the stock rims.