🚀 go-pugleaf

In an attempt to help this newsgroup start off on the right foot, may I ask
the following automotive technical question?  Why, thank you kindly.

I have 225/60HR14 Dunlop radials on my Toyota Supra right now, but, since
winter appears scant hours away here in northwestern New York State, I
solicit advice on what to do about snow tires.

Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

Assuming I do the latter, will my aluminum alloy wheels corrode and pit
because of salt during the winter?  Will the lag bolts sieze up?  Will silicone
spray on the wheels help protect them?  Will the smaller 215/60 tires affect
my speedometer/odometer enough to make a difference?  Are these good tires?
Will my handling be good on snow with wide, low-profile tires?  Anything
else I should know about?

					Mark Stevans
					ritcv!husky!mls

In article <219@husky.uucp> mls@husky.uucp (Mark Stevans) writes:
>I have 225/60HR14 Dunlop radials on my Toyota Supra right now, but, since
>winter appears scant hours away here in northwestern New York State, I
>solicit advice on what to do about snow tires.

I own a '79 RX-7 which spent its first four winters in the Berkshires... let
me answer your questions based on my experiences:

>Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
>go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
>Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

I have 185/70R13 street tires on 5-1/2" mag wheels.  I've used 175/78 snows on
5" steel wheels for 7 years now with no problems.  The tire store advised me
against mounting/demounting tires on/off mag wheels any more often than
necessary... indeed, when I went to buy new tires, I had to sign a waiver
indemnifying them for any damages to my mags caused by their mounting machines.
Good case for keeping your snows on rims of their own... also, if you are
surprised by a freak early (or late) season snowstorm, you can always put
your snows on yourself.

>Assuming I do the latter, will my aluminum alloy wheels corrode and pit
>because of salt during the winter?

Your front ones will anyway - unless you're planning on putting snows all
around (which may not be a bad idea for NW NYS).

>Will the lag bolts seize up?

A very definite possibility... I've had it happen.  A thin film of anti-seize
compound has prevented its recurrence.

>Will silicone spray on the wheels help protect them?

No, it would wash off almost immediately.

>Will the smaller 215/60 tires affect my speedometer/odometer enough to make
>a difference?

Probably not a significant one.  You can always measure the diameter of the
mounted snows vs. that of the other tires to get a correction factor... in
my case, it turned out to be < 3%.

>Anything else I should know about?

Yeah... you say you use lug *bolts*, ie. they screw right into the brake drum
(as opposed to lug *nuts* which screw onto studs mounted in the drum)?  Well,
if you go the steel rim route, make sure you have the appropriate lug bolts...
the ones for mags are typically 1 cm longer or so to compensate for the
added thickness of the mag wheels.  I had to pay about $30 for eight steel-
wheel lug bolts for the RX-7... that's nearly what the rims cost!  If your
spare is mounted on a mag (as mine is - back in the days when you got all
five mags and a full-service spare), make sure you carry a set of the 
appropriate lug bolts so you can use it!

AWR
thing... carry around 4 of the mag wheel lug bolts in case you have to
>
>					Mark Stevans
>					ritcv!husky!mls

In article <219@husky.uucp> mls@husky.uucp (Mark Stevans) writes:
>I have 225/60HR14 Dunlop radials on my Toyota Supra right now, but, since
>winter appears scant hours away here in northwestern New York State, I
>solicit advice on what to do about snow tires.

I own a '79 RX-7 which spent its first four winters in the Berkshires... let
me answer your questions based on my experiences:

>Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
>go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
>Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

I have 185/70R13 street tires on 5-1/2" mag wheels.  I've used 175/78 snows on
5" steel wheels for 7 years now with no problems.  The tire store advised me
against mounting/demounting tires on/off mag wheels any more often than
necessary... indeed, when I went to buy new tires, I had to sign a waiver
indemnifying them for any damages to my mags caused by their mounting machines.
Good case for keeping your snows on rims of their own... also, if you are
surprised by a freak early (or late) season snowstorm, you can always put
your snows on yourself.

>Assuming I do the latter, will my aluminum alloy wheels corrode and pit
>because of salt during the winter?

Your front ones will anyway - unless you're planning on putting snows all
around (which may not be a bad idea for NW NYS).

>Will the lag bolts seize up?

A very definite possibility... I've had it happen.  A thin film of anti-seize
compound has prevented its recurrence.  Another place to watch out for is the
mating surface of the wheel, ie. where it touches the brake drum (or 
analogous component of disc brakes)... the dissimilar metals can corrode
and become very difficult to separate.  Again, a thin film of anti-seize
helped... don't use so much that it might squish out and contaminate your
brakes, though!

>Will silicone spray on the wheels help protect them?

No, it would wash off almost immediately.

>Will the smaller 215/60 tires affect my speedometer/odometer enough to make
>a difference?

Probably not a significant one.  You can always measure the diameter of the
mounted snows vs. that of the other tires to get a correction factor... in
my case, it turned out to be < 3%.

>Anything else I should know about?

Yeah... you say you use lug *bolts*, ie. they screw right into the brake drum
(as opposed to lug *nuts* which screw onto studs mounted in the drum)?  Well,
if you go the steel rim route, make sure you have the appropriate lug bolts...
the ones for mags are typically 1 cm longer or so to compensate for the
added thickness of the mag wheels.  I had to pay about $30 for eight steel-
wheel lug bolts for the RX-7... that's nearly what the rims cost!  If your
spare is mounted on a mag (as mine is - back in the days when you got all
five mags and a full-service spare), make sure you carry a set of the 
appropriate lug bolts so you can use it!

AWR

In article <219@husky.uucp> mls@husky.uucp (Mark Stevans) writes:

>I have 225/60HR14 Dunlop radials on my Toyota Supra right now, but, since
>winter appears scant hours away here in northwestern New York State, I
>solicit advice on what to do about snow tires.

>Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
>go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
>Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

The best solution (and probably the cheapest) is to buy a pair of 5J14
steel rims and mount 175SR14.  If you're going to be driving in deep
snow, narrow tires are the best (it's sort of amusing seeing Audi
Sport Quattros on skimpy 165SR15 Tiki snow tires in World Championship
Rallies...).  175SR14 should be about the right height.  A good choice
for the tire brand would be the Hakkapeliitta (from Finland), which is
available at most performance shops.

And yes, snow (and especially salt) will corrode alloy wheels.


				   \tom haapanen
				   watmath!watdcsu!haapanen
Don't cry, don't do anything
No lies, back in the government
No tears, party time is here again
President Gas is up for president		 (c) Psychedelic Furs, 1982

> Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
> go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
> Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

A local tire dealer told me that wide tires get much poorer traction on
snow than narrower ones.