Ok, the question was what did you (do you) use for Winter tires?
New car owner so I had to trust the OEM that was on the vehicle - Optimo 195/50/16
- 1st Year? Not bad, able to walk out of many a winter slush and ice with little problems ...
- Once issues with braking were addressed
- 2nd Year? Kinda got a bit of hydroplaning and more skid - not able to walk out of as many slushy moments with OEM tires
- An ongoing problem with an alignment and track from front to rear came to a head while viewing the tracking tires left behind in the snow - saw where crabbing was occurring so had to address that - again, not much help from the dealerships on this condition.
- Although conditions for temperature and snow levels varied between the years, I was able to experience the new grip versus the wear - or worn down tires and the grip - of two years lifespan, seems a bit too little time between changes for my liking.
Had owned a Scion with it's own special considerations - the "stock" the car came with was 205/55/R15 on a 15" rim - but the PLACARD of that year, was correct, that same geometry - but the tire dealer stated 185/60/R15 series on their tire catalog.
I went looking for 175/70 series on a 5.5 - 15 rim. 4X100mm versus Ford 4X108mm (4.25in) if you needed to know settled on a Walmarts overstock special order leftover because they didn't like it sale.
Many of you are wondering why the "70" series, well that came from the Scion I used to have from the older 2004/2005 year, in 2007 I switched from the typical goodyear (small caps intentional) to a off brand that Walmart offered.
It was mostly due to the eagles (again small caps intentional) were sized for a different car geometry than the Scion.
The low caps part is due to the nature of owning a car that - back then, your tires were special order - you didn't always get the best in performance and quality in these cases - special order is just that - replacement - not a refund if you decided to switch. IT was on you to find rims and the tires for it to fit.
I finally settled on a 175 / 70 series - which the Eagles used a 15" rim 185/60/TR15 - special order due to the TR and 60 sidewall. IT had to fit in the Wheel well - which had it's own offset issues. +45 offset. So the 175 was a narrower tire width so took to the 5.5 rim I had to locate - Dodge Neons are a good source of parts for those d*mn things if you needed to know.
You think Fiestas were low-riders - the Scions used that as a selling point on footprint and center of gravity tips type of handling feature.
They don't offer that 70's series anymore - well you can special order them, and wait. But the ones I got for the Scion, I simply transferred over when the Scion got sold off. It's what made the XYL (wife) unhappy, using those old tires on a new car, so I've now switched them to BF Goodrich Advantage - which was the tire the shop I work for, put on when the older tires wore out of the delivery vehicle I use.
These are the BF Goodrich 185/65/R15 series.
Notice... Real sipes!
Now if someone were to ask a question about Optimo (Ford's OEM for '18-'19+) - you just need to look at two factors to know the rest of this story.
You got 195, 50 series in a 16" x 6.5" wide Rim - with a 47.5 Offset on an Alloy rim...
Note I used the word Sipes...
As you can see in the Optimo tread my OEM ones lost most of the Siping in the tread - the Replacement tire - put on in a different mileage due to road hazard, was replaced at about 27,000 miles. It has the Siping still visible.
To me these OEM tires are just to get them by that 36,000 mile Bumper to Bumper.
A better size to use would be 205/50R16 x 6.5" x 4x108 - 16" rim. This width generates a clearance issue though so the typical +47.5 offset would be replaced by a +37mm (Positive) offset - moves the tire out 10mm (1cm) but gives you the clearance to turn in tight spaces and allow the circumference of the tire to fit the wheelwell.
- There is much to be said about Tires and why a larger size seems to do better - Although wider footprint gives you more friction to grab the surface - you also run a risk of bead seal failure - it is due to the WIDTH of the Rim
- The narrower the Rim width, you can use a smaller Tire width (your 1st number in the series) like 195 or 185 and still have plenty of traction and stiff sidewall - due to you are only going to keep the same perimeter or Circumference of tire - the second number (50-55-60-70 and so on) then plays a role in how far up from the road the Rim sits above so it doesn't have it's bead seal damaged by impacts from potholes and road debris.
- But if you try to use as Tire that is too wide for the Rim - the bead may fail just due to the oversizing and the curvature of the Tire squeezed to fit that width of rim versus using a WIDER rim to give the sidewall room to seal against the bead on the Rim.
We have not even talked about the performance and the Siping issues yet - these Optimo tires - to me, are part of a vehicle history that spanned 3 years and thru several attempts to get the dealerships to help with alignments - I'm just lucky to have a tire replacement - but the amount of tread wear they show is what frustrates me as to the level of friction these tires work with in scrub and oversize rim width.
- Ok, you can say, hey didn't you have the lift done to the car - yes.
- Didn't you also have a trailer hitch and used a trailer - Yes.
- But - are you also looking at...
- Alignment issues - never checked except for 1st time - after lift kit install. and was told to wait and see not necessarily in those words. I wound up fixing several issues regarding this as I waited for them to say ok, let's have a go at this. Can be an article in itself for later.
- Brakes - and then there's brakes. Bleeding and Handbrake tension issues.
- Mileage - for these tires to lose siping and be at treadwear bar showing moments - kind of soon for this even when you only used the trailer to haul leaves to the dump. Not all tires has even siping or balding loss either - which is what I find interesting. The uneven "Wheel to wheel" tread wear shows up - one tire tends to show more than the others raises questions...
- Hockey pucks for the Shock and Strut mounts - which relates more to the undersized width of tire for the Rim width it was mounted to. Sidewall flexing of the shorter height from the road left little room to absorb the shock of bad roads.
- Tires rotated on every oil change and even more during the two summer seasons. So, yes, Tire pressure monitored and tires inspected quite often.
Ok, sounds more like a whine than a fix - but you did ask in the header of this thread...
Yes, oversize rim width. As in the sidewall of the tire pressed the edges of the tires own tread pattern into the ground and road more than that at the center - which not only affects performance but the ability of the tire's shoulder to the rim to handle tire impacts from road hazards like the one that caused the replacement. Using a slightly narrower tire rim width can offset this shoulder to road effort and make the center of the tire wear more evenly with having to bear the load and scrub more equally.
The above are cross section drafts of how the BEAD of the tire and the Shoulder of the Rim meet.
You can see how the tires seal against the rim in some vehicles by observing how the seat and seal of the tire are in the the outer rim to bead - where the seal is made between the bead of the tire and shoulder of the rim.
IF there is an excessive gap - the tire may not be able to seal well in times of where road conditions and potholes can force the bead to bend - breaking the air seal - putting your tire, vehicle and even you - at risk.
- Even an excessive balloon effect from oversize width of tire - can also force the rim to bead seal at the shoulder to generate a dangerous condition. The oversized tread affects how the load or weight the tire handles is changed - the sidewall can not support the weight - being Radial design - the tire bead will "pinch " and move away from the rim - breaking the air seal and even causing rapid deflation and tire failure.
- On the Far right, the tire sidewall is not allowed to flex out of the rim's load bearing "axis" - the lack of balloon makes the tire act or handle loading as a stiffer unit. So the road hazards and potholes the tire will roll over and through - the sidewall then transfers the force into the rim and if too great, will cut or tear apart the tire by a shearing effect
The Balloon effect, if done right can help the Rim and Tire tread bear more load using the flexing the ballooning effect does to transfer from load, thru the tire, to the wheel, the forces bear thru the sidewall.
The Balloon effect though does affect the handling, tire tracking to roll in turns and less stiffer ride adds to more sway as the result. So they adjust suspension to accommodate by lessening wheel drop and using any-sway bar/link technology to distribute that force of impacts, and load shift - to the other side of the axle to more evenly handle and control the load shift.
But I mentioned sipes because if you look at the OEM Optimo tires, the siping used to get rid or drive away water from the sides are gone, the tire mainly pushes the water / snow ahead or behind thru the gaps in the tread - but no pressure or transfer can happen to the sides because the sipes are worn off.
Makes such worn tires a dangerous thing to use.
YMMV -
Caveat Emptor!
