BrickYardRed350

Here is the problem. I bought a set of stock 17in rims to put winter tires on. I have and 03 Performance. I'm not use to dealing with the tire offset. I want to buy a set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta 4 or if they have my size Nokian Hakkapeliitta 5. I went to STS because they are the only Nokian Dealer around where I live in New Jersey. He said I could run 225/50r17XL in the front which is fine since it is the stock size. No problems there, the problems are the rear tires since they are 8in wheels. He said I could run 225/55r17XL and be fine. But isn't that tire for a 7.5in wheel? I have heard of people running smaller tires on larger wheels or vice versa. I have never done it, nor know anything about it. They make a 235/45r17XL tire, but would that mess with the VDC? Lastly, could I run 225/45r17XL fronts and 235/45r17XL rears and not mess up the VDC? I know the sidewall will be a bit smaller. Will this combination be okay? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I was just confused after I got home from STS. Hopefully you all can help me out. Thanks

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Tire width is variable. The OEM width plus or minus 10 mm is safe. What is the relationship between overall tire height and VDC? See: https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-tires/203755-will-these-tires-work-with-my-vdc-enabled-car-read-here.html.

One Quick Z

iTrader: (8)

I have brand new blizzak ws-50s on stock 17s.

I bought 225/50/17 all around so they can be rotated. The VDC works perfectly and I have yet to see the SLIP light come on.

I recommend you buying (4) 225/50/17s, they'll last you longer because you can rotate them each season

Spike100

Your dealer is correct. The optimum snow tire size for your Performance model is:

225/50-17” Front
225/55-17” Rear

You don’t need to worry about mounting a 225mm tire on your rear wheel with its 8” width. A 225mm tire fits perfectly on an 8” wide rim. In fact the stock setup on your Performance model is a 225mm tire mounted on an 8” rim in the front (with your 18x8" wheels and summer performance tires)

Additional Notes:

225mm is probably the widest you want to go with snow tires. Anything wider won’t dig down enough and you will lose traction.

One Quick Z is correct. You can run “all square” (225/50-17” all around) with your snows. As he mentions this allows rotating the tires (and studless snow tires wear quickly). I have run this setup on my 2003 Performance model and had no problem with VDC.

--Spike

BrickYardRed350

^^^
You have run this set up and have no problems 225/50r17 all around? Or 225/50r17 front and 225/55r17 rears?

Thanks again for the help guys

redlude97

iTrader: (11)

For a square setup, I would recommend 225/55/17 rather than 225/50/17 so it matches the rear tire diameter better. This will make your speedometer more accurate, and the larger overall diameter will give a better ride and is probably cheaper as well

Spike100

OK… I have a 2003 Performance model (and thus equipped with its fussy VDC).

Here are the snow tires sizes I’ve run over the last 4 years (in order of best to worst):

Setup 1: 225/50-17” Front -- 225/55-17” Rear (works perfectly w/VDC)
Setup 2: 225/50-17” Front -- 225/50-17” Rear (works almost perfectly w/VDC)
Setup 3: 225/55-17” Front -- 225/55-17” Rear (occasionally fails w/VDC)

In fact, all of these work well with a 2003 Performance model and its VDC. You would think that Setup 3 would not work at all since the fronts have too tall an overall diameter according to the value and caution returned by a Tire Calculator when inputting 225/55-17” as the front size for a Z. But, I’ve never had any significant problem with “all square” 225/55-17”all around with snow tires other than very infrequently seeing the SLIP light (and it goes away quickly)

Additional Notes:

Setup 1 is what most closely matches the Z’s standard setup, so that is the “gold standard.”

Setup 2 works very well and allows rotating tires (as One Quick Z recommends). That’s significant since it extends the life of studless snow tires (which wear quickly).

Setup 3 is a little quirky because you have tires that have a larger overall diameter than stock fronts. VDC doesn’t like this, and this setup will cause occasional and unwanted VDC engagement. I’ve experienced this firsthand because my tire guy inadvertently put this setup on my car, and that is what I’m running right now.

Mixing different brands of studless snow tires is a bad idea. In fact it makes the car unsafe to drive. I briefly ran Blizzaks on the rear with Dunlops on the front, and the car was nearly undriveable.

--Spike