Ok so it is time for us to get a set of winter tyres and rims for the car however both me and my husband are a bit lost. We want to get them online from reifen but we have no idea what size we need. The tyres that are on ar 205/55/R17 but i cant seem to get 17's can i put 16's on?. Plus should we stick to the 205/55?

Thank in advance
Rachel

16 inch tires will never fit a 17 inch rim. I recommend you first go to a dealer who sells the same make of car you own (VW, Opel, Ford, etc., etc., etc.). He can best advise you on what sizes fit your particular vehicle. With that information you can then go shopping for the right tires.

You need to stick to the 205/55 bit, but you can go down to 16" rims (assuming you are buying complete, not just tyres). The tyre will be fatter to make up the difference so total diameter stays the same...more rubber less metal.

I know 16 inch tyres wont fit a 17 inch rim but i was wondering if a 16 inch rim and tyre (complete set) would go on the car which currently has 17 inch rims.

Just saw hecken hockers post, was a bit slow on the uptake thanks very much just what i wanted to hear

And if you drive over the border to Germany, to a tyre dealer, you will get good prices, get the German MehrWertSteuer back, and pay the 8% Swiss MWSt.

You cannot change the sizes of tyres without the approval of the car manufacturer, that would be illegal and can be very dangerous, the car could become uncontrollable. Only fit the sizes of wheels and tyres recommended by the car manufacturer, not by an EF member.

Yes but... I'd still ask for the dealer's advice first.

My car for example has 14" summer and 13" winter sets (bought that way new from the VW dealer).

Thanks for the reply's looks like i will have to go to the mazda garage tommorow.

I'd support going to the dealer...better to be safe and have the reassurance than spend the winter feeling a bit anxious about it

Is that really so? If you go down to 16" then shouldn't you actually also increase the profile accordingly to 205/60 (as you say)?

Anyway, usually all approved tyre sizes are listed in the owner's manual.

Correct. If you went to 205/55/16 your speedometer would be about 4% off. Choose a 205/60/R16 or a 195/65/R16 and you will be less than 0.7% off.

For conversion: Tire Size Calculator

Manual or call a tire shop bla bla bla....

Correct, if the rim size goes down, the profile has to go up so the total diameter of the wheel stays the same. Otherwise your speedometer indication will be incorrect. There are various calculators on the net that can give you the actual difference, for example here's a visual one: http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/vis...ize-calculator

Also remember that there is a range of tire widths that will fit a given rim, so you can't just go from e.g. 205 to 265.

All in all, I would say going to a garage is a good bet

General convention is that winter tyres are higher profile and thinner, you are trying to do two things with winter tyres, one is to have a compound that stays flexible at lower temperatures and to be able to get through snow onto tarmac.

Explanation of tyre sizes 205/55 R17 V, 205 is tread width, 55 is profile or the height of the sidewall and the 55 is the percentage of the width so in this case 55% of 205, 17 is the rim size it is designed to to fit on, so in this case 17 inches, and finally the letter is the speed rating, having the wrong speed rating will void your insurance, though continental europe it is common practice to have a lower speed rating for your winter tire and to have a sticker on the dash stating the maximum speed for the tires you have on. The other important thing is to keep the same overall diameter the same so with a higher profile you need a smaller rim size to maintain the same overall diameter.

The higher profile allows the tyre to flex more ( and is cheaper to make!!) and the thinner width allows it to push down through the snow more easily.

The lesser known thing about car wheels is offset and this varies from car to car, but basically wrong offset will cause one of two things either the tyre will protrude outside of the wheel which is illegal or more seriously will rub on the inside of the wheel arch and could cause a catastrophic blow out

So either as has been suggested go to the dealer to find the correct size or go to a reputable tyre dealer both should be able to help

Ok so i have been to the dealer who said they put on 205/55/R16 on my car, they also said it had to be a premium brand and thus quoted me 1700 chuffs, part of me thinks ok thats not too bad. So thanks for all the info guys.

Is this price just for the tires or for rims as well?

Some info for other people who might need winter tires (since you already bought yours). You should be able to get one of the TCS top rated premium winter tires (four stars - Michelin, Dunlop, Continental, Pirelli) for less than CHF 900 installed.

Do a search on EF for the on-line retailers (there have been many discussions) and order the tires and have them installed in any garage for about CHF 80 or less. Or if you are in the Suisse Romande area you could come to Lausanne and have it done at the garage that I recommend as the least expensive in this area of the country.

I guess CHF1700 is a bit too much... Quick checking in the internet, found Dunlop 205/55 R16, same brand I use in my car since years, would cost you CHF130/each.

For sure you can find offers for complete set tires/rims, not from a car dealer, but in a tire shop (maybe in germany boarder), cheaper than the CHF1.7K.

BTW, if you're considering bying only the tires, check this (205/55 R17): http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...&sort_by=preis

I just bought winter tires for my new car there, it was delivered fast, without problems.

So your original tyre size is 205/55/R17 and they are recommending
to change to 205/55/R16.

Can someone clarify this for me is that wrong? Won't the overall tyre diameter will be smaller??

Correct. The dealer would appear to be ignorant, to say the least.

Go somewhere else, I'd say.

The garage advice cannot be right! Isn't the correct tyre size mentioned in the car hand book?

It really is important to fit the correct size! The tyre has to be a certain dimension to carry the weight of the car, and the suspension is designed for a certain weight of tyre. If you fit the wrong size you can be fined for unauthorized changes to the design, and your insurance will also be invalid.

The 1700 chuffs is for the full set of rims and tyres (pirrelli), he came and looked at the car, checked the green document that i got with the car. Also it was the same retailer/garage that we bought the car.

I did ask if the 16" was appropriate for the car and he said that as the rubber is thicker on winter tyres you have to go down to a 16" to accomodate it. He also said that a smaller tyre ect is better for the snow.

I dont know, i have no idea about snow tyres even a google search didnt help me much.

We checked the hand book cover to cover last night and there was no mention of approved tyre sizes.
Checked online and my make of car can come with 16" or 17".