The newbie to summer tires is back with a related question.

[Rmay635703]

Even 16"? 16s are small.

I have 10” and 13” rims on my older cars. 14 &15” on my newer cars, the old suburban had 15” rims . Unless you are driving a semi, you probably don’t need much bigger.

The small rims are easy to mount and dismount rubber at home. Breaking beads manually gets increasingly more tiresome the larger the rim gets.

Worth noting the 28,000lb dry military vehicle has 20” rims. I doubt the brodozers even need 17’s

 

[cheesepuffs2]

I have 10” and 13” rims on my older cars. 14 &15” on my newer cars, the old suburban had 15” rims . Unless you are driving a semi, you probably don’t need much bigger.

The small rims are easy to mount and dismount rubber at home. Breaking beads manually gets increasingly more tiresome the larger the rim gets.

Worth noting the 28,000lb dry military vehicle has 20” rims. I doubt the brodozers even need 17’s

The reason why wheels have increased in diameter over the years is because the "beltline" is cars has risen. Due to side impact standards getting more stringent, the overall height of side windows has shrunk, while the amount of sheetmetal has increased, giving cars a more slab-sided look. Because of all that sheet metal, wheels have grown to keep the car looking proportional. 13" wheels on a model car would look ridiculous, not to mention they wouldn't fit over the size of modern brakes.

Cars aren't getting any lighter as more safety features and structures become necessary, and more amenities are required to stay competitive in any given segment, so brakes won't be getting any smaller. Wheels that tiny are never coming back on passenger vehicles.

 

[TiGeo]

Yup. I'd be fine with 16s on the Crosstrek, but no, the factory had to put on 18s. At least there is still enough sidewall there (225/55) to battle average sized potholes...

55s? I mean hello monster truck tires J/K of course.

 

[Vercingetorix]

I'm becoming more of an expert every day and thanks everyone for the replies. I did pull the trigger on some cheaper all season 285's just to get me through the next two months then I plan to do a proper performance summer on the 23s and wil have time to find a good set of all seasons on 22 s for next winter.

Yes the load factor on the 285's is a 107 versus 108 on the Oem. Maybe I'm ignorant but I can't imagine that 50 pounds per tire max load is going to make a huge difference? I'll be sure to update when I'm actually done with this process. Yes remind me not to buy 295/35/23's in the dead of winter. Finding tires has been much more difficult than it should be.

You may have trouble because some installers , like Costco will not mount tires that don’t meet the load rating.

 

[TimeFlies]

You may have trouble because some installers , like Costco will not mount tires that don’t meet the load rating.

Must depend on the costco.
The closest one to me, the tire shop staff are so stupid, I would be surprised if even one person there knew what load rating is.

 

[chfenton]

You may have trouble because some installers , like Costco will not mount tires that don’t meet the load rating.

Is this a real concern if I take them to DT this week? Will they really know or bother to see that the OEM is 108 and these are 107? Will a visit from President Grant change their mind if it came down to that? I need new tires. Also do I have same concern that mounting 285 after taking off 295"s? I would think this is a non-issue because on the 22's even Audi recommends reducing from 295 to 275 for snows so there shouldn't be an issue going from 295 to 285 on the 23's should there?

 

[TimeFlies]

10 mm plus or minus on a tires width, is so tiny, that you won't even notice.

 

[TiGeo]

Is this a real concern if I take them to DT this week? Will they really know or bother to see that the OEM is 108 and these are 107? Will a visit from President Grant change their mind if it came down to that? I need new tires. Also do I have same concern that mounting 285 after taking off 295"s? I would think this is a non-issue because on the 22's even Audi recommends reducing from 295 to 275 for snows so there shouldn't be an issue going from 295 to 285 on the 23's should there?

Many tire places won't install a tire unless it directly meets the OEM specs. Many won't give a flip. Find the later. If you die, don't sue them. I always get DT to do mine but I have so many sets I just take them off the car for install and when I order tires, I just lie about what car w/r to the specs I need so I get what I want HAHA

 

[CapriRacer]

Good grief... You're TPMS is only concerned that the operating pressure of all four tires is within a certain window. When you downsize the diameter of the tire by going to a smaller size, as proposed in this thread, it will not matter to the TPMS.

Don't be so sure of that. I encountered an ABS system that malfunctioned when new tires of a different size were applied, then changed back to normal when the original tire size was restored. I can envision a computer algorithm that remembers the tire diameter and kicks out a bad signal if that changes significantly.

 

[TiGeo]

Don't be so sure of that. I encountered an ABS system that malfunctioned when new tires of a different size were applied, then changed back to normal when the original tire size was restored. I can envision a computer algorithm that remembers the tire diameter and kicks out a bad signal if that changes significantly.

What car/how long ago was this? On my VWs with indirect TPMS, you just reset it for whatever tire/wheel/pressure you want as it's only looking at relative differences between wheel speeds on all 4. On the direct TPMS, how would it know? This difference is so freakin' small I can't believe we are on page 3 - it's like saying the TPMS will care if 3/4 of my tires are at 5/32" and 1 is new at 10.

 

[cheesepuffs2]

This difference is so freakin' small I can't believe we are on page 3 - it's like saying the TPMS will care if 3/4 of my tires are at 5/32" and 1 is new at 10.

Bingo. People really, really overthink things here, to the point of being illogical.

 

[TiGeo]

Bingo. People really, really overthink things here, to the point of being illogical.

Yep, see my post on running 1 new tire on a set of older tires on awd....OMG OMG OMG it's so funny. I provided ABS wheel speed data logs...crickets....

Folks run all sorts of different sized tires from OEM without issues that are much larger/smaller/wider than stock. My Sportwagen came with the 16s listed here, currently running 235/40/18s and track wheels are 245/40/17. I have to change the coding for the speedo and reset the TPMS each time I switch. My summer tires aren't even XL rated like the OEM calls for so DT wouldn't install so I just lied about the car, made it the Golf R vs. wagon, boom, no issue haha. I'm fine....I do get however why larger chain tire places won't run a tire outside of the OEM specifications but plenty will mount tires you bring them without a question.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Is this a real concern if I take them to DT this week? Will they really know or bother to see that the OEM is 108 and these are 107? Will a visit from President Grant change their mind if it came down to that? I need new tires.

It's probably hit or miss, individual store by store.

Walmart also has that policy of not installing tires with a lower load index than OE, but you can take the wheels off the car and carry them in, and they'll install them.

If you're still insistent on using them, you might have to go to one of those used tire shops

Also do I have same concern that mounting 285 after taking off 295"s? I would think this is a non-issue because on the 22's even Audi recommends reducing from 295 to 275 for snows so there shouldn't be an issue going from 295 to 285 on the 23's should there?

The narrower tires probably have more sidewall.
For example, going from 295/35-23 to 275/40-23

The load index of the narrower tires will still be equal or greater than the OE/summer tires

the 285 seem to all have a load of 2149, where the 295 is 2205.

According to tire rack those pirellis are a little over 4700 a set... (yikes). Maybe he could just buy one of those mythical 4000.00 civics for winter....

I think we scared him off...

Its 20 in Atlanta this morning.

Yikes!

$4700 is more than a complete tire/wheel package for this car. For example, the 21" package I mentioned earlier is "only" $3000, and that includes mount/balance, road force balance, TPMS sensors pre-installed, and shipping to your door.

This is common with cars with ridiculously big wheels for no reason. It can often be cheaper to get smaller wheels and tires than to replace the OE size tires alone

 

[chfenton]

So OP here back with continuing saga/update. If you recall I ordered a set of 23 inch snows from Italy two weeks ago. I'm going to return these but I still haven't got them as they apparently are hung up in customs in Indy. Also ordered another set of all seasons from Florida that were supposed to be here today but of course Murphy's law and we had a snowstorm in Atlanta so still waiting for those as well and expectation would be tomorrow.

So still without tires for the 23 RSQ8 rims. Also thinking ahead to next winter I'm going to take many peoples advice and do 22 all season for next winter. My question is I see a few oem wheels on eBay - they typically mention for q8 and sq8. I'm trying to confirm that wheel size is identical for RsQ8 as well and that any oem q8/sq8 wheels would be oem for the RSQ8 as well? Thanks.

 

[cheesepuffs2]

Where do you live that there are no tire shops local to you? I mean this nicely that my local mom and pop tire shops can always order a specific set from their distributer at any time and then it comes in their next delivery truck within the week. I just feel bad like it shouldn't be this much of a headache for you to get what you need.

 

[Vercingetorix]

So OP here back with continuing saga/update. If you recall I ordered a set of 23 inch snows from Italy two weeks ago. I'm going to return these but I still haven't got them as they apparently are hung up in customs in Indy. Also ordered another set of all seasons from Florida that were supposed to be here today but of course Murphy's law and we had a snowstorm in Atlanta so still waiting for those as well and expectation would be tomorrow.

So still without tires for the 23 RSQ8 rims. Also thinking ahead to next winter I'm going to take many peoples advice and do 22 all season for next winter. My question is I see a few oem wheels on eBay - they typically mention for q8 and sq8. I'm trying to confirm that wheel size is identical for RsQ8 as well and that any oem q8/sq8 wheels would be oem for the RSQ8 as well? Thanks.

Ceramic brakes? I think ceramics may require a 22” wheel.

 

[chfenton]

Where do you live that there are no tire shops local to you? I mean this nicely that my local mom and pop tire shops can always order a specific set from their distributer at any time and then it comes in their next delivery truck within the week. I just feel bad like it shouldn't be this much of a headache for you to get what you need.

I've been to the local discount tire, good year, called another discount tire, tire rack and a local shop. No one had OEM specs for either winter or all season. Thus my pivot to 285 vs the oem 295 and those were due yesterday. I also did find some Hankook winters in oem size in Italy but they are still stuck in customs ( over a week now).