scottmcphee Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 The sticky post above says to use: "16 in. rims for 2.5i 195/60/16 (great for snow rally or snow use)" and gives the bolt pattern for the car. I'm not a diameter snob and rubber is cheaper in lower rim sizes.. so 16" is just fine. The higher wall height for winter makes good sense. Great, now looking for source of cheap rims, and tire choices / opinions based on similar experience. Living in Edmonton Alberta which is the northern-most major city in Canada means we see snow, sometimes deep - lower grill makes a good plow, for a good 4 to 5 months of the year. My driveway is up a hill and I *need* AWD just to get the car to the garage on many days. It's my first winter with this car and I'm finding it likes to swing its rear end out too easily on winter roads, on corners, with any kinda power. The consensus was: winters should help. Don't need beauty for winter here... the car is so dirty most of the time, black steel wheels with no covers looks right at home.. and kinda rugged too. Tends to scare off the wild animals - not attracting the moose like the shiny wheels do. ;-) Hey Canadians out there: best source for rims that fit, Canadian Tire, Walmart (I'm not proud)? And your experience with tire brands that work well for our roads??? thanks Cheers Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forestir Posted November 17, 2006 Share Posted November 17, 2006 Check out TireRack for winter packages. Aside from actually "fitting", you should be careful with wheel offset since the cars already seem prone to wheel bearing issues. You definitely want winter tires, if for no other reason than the sheer low temperatures will freeze lesser tires solid. Nokian Hokkapoliita (sp?) seem to be the winter tires to have, but Blizzaks, etc. are all pretty good. Learn to drive with the rear out. It can be done consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pflo Posted November 19, 2006 Share Posted November 19, 2006 I would just check out your local tire or tuner shops. They have huge catalogs full of wheels to chose from. Make sure you know what you are looking for with respect to fitment. Having lived in Edmonton for almost 30 years I would recommend a dedicated winter tire like the Nokian Rsi or Toyo Observe G02. There are lots of options that will work well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendite Posted November 22, 2006 Share Posted November 22, 2006 check ebay, I got 2002 16 inch WRX wheels for $300 shipped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amason Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 Walmart apparently sells a rim with the right offset for cheap. But since you should be getting tires here: http://www.tiretrends.com/Winter-Tires-Packages.php?tireID=396 You might want to see about packages. Hmm, they don't list a 195/60/16 (in any tire at all), and 205/55/16 is sold out. Oh, forgot to add that I had Nordic IceTrac's on my WRX, that I liked b/c I paid $75 for 205/55/16. They were made by Michelin, they're now made by Goodyear, which might not be a bad thing, given that Goodyears have been getting good reviews for winter tires lately. They're $117 though, so for $12 more the Hankook would've been the way to go. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendite Posted November 25, 2006 Share Posted November 25, 2006 here's my 2.5i with winter tire setup http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/aboone1970/car2.jpg http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b179/aboone1970/car1.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottmcphee Posted November 29, 2006 Author Share Posted November 29, 2006 It appears 195/60/16 is a very rare breed of rubber. 205/55/16 is much easier to get in the form of many popular winter tires. Michelin X-ice, Costco package, with 4 rims: $939 Canadian Tire, same package: $991 GoodYear Nordic (Canadian Tire specials) package is: $748 I found it interesting that both these shops refer to the same part number for a generic 16" rim having bolt pattern 5 x 100mm, as p/n x41657. Costco is $52 for a rim, Crappy Tire is $69 same part, and is why the package becomes higher price. Yes, $20 per rim adds up. My wife doesn't want ugly black wheels for half the year, so I'll need that money for some HUB CABS. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottmcphee Posted December 9, 2006 Author Share Posted December 9, 2006 I ended up getting 205/55/16 X-ice at Costco, must have been last set in Edmonton.. jeez, hard to get. Every Mazda 3 is putting these on this year, apparently. And I ordered mags on Ebay from WAC ("Wheels and Caps").. they are Impreza knock-offs, look just like a Subaru wheel.. Exact size 16 x 6.5 with 55mm offset. Really happy with them, and a heck of a lot nicer than black metal rims for winter. The tires really do the job!! We got up our driveway in the worst possible conditions of snow.. about 2 feet of compacted base churned up by the water delivery truck. It's an incline too. It took *all the power* the car had to offer and was just a churnin' and spittin' snow as it clawed its way up the hill.. Stalled once. Started up again from a dead stop on this incline of quagmire... The BOBCAT for snow removal that came to clear our driveway a couple hours later could barely make it up. So I'm totally impressed with the snow capability of the X-Ice. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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