Snow tires

[Scott]

Hi all,

Glad we are back. Q for you, snow tires...

Friend has a nissan versa, and tire rack recommends 185-65-15 snow tires, while for my 99 9-3 they recommend 195-60-15.

I personally think the 195 would work fine, but tire rack chat disagrees. What does the collective here think? Are 60 series snow tires inherently worse? They would fit i would think????

Scott

[Geoff]

195/60 and 185/65 are pretty similar diameter. But for a snow tire it isn't really a question of the wall height but more of a question of tire width. A skinnier tire will dig down deeper into the snow and potentially give more traction. Although on pure ice I've seen people successfully ice race with a very wide siped snow tire.

On our '99 9-3 I used to run 185/65 snow tires on it. It could have taken 195/60 and because the car weighed over 3000lb the wider tires would have lasted longer. But I wanted the best snow traction possible.

Nissan Versas weigh about 2400 lb so I would even consider a skinnier 175/65 snow tire for that. My current car is about the size of a Versa and it weighs about 2600lb. I use 185/65 snow tires on it because that was the only size I could find at the time for a decent price from one a the very few snow tire manufacturers I'll actually spend money with. But now there are a few 175/65 tires like the Nordman 7s (old Nokain Hakka 7 tread pattern) so I'll probably get those next year. https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/416282/Winter-Tire-Nordman-7-P175-65R15-88T-XL-T430263/ The only snow tires I would buy that Tire Rack sells are the General Altimax Arctic (old Gislaved design).

Also of note, on my current car with 185/65 snows (standard size for the car is 175/65) I get a little rubbing in the front when turning the wheel. If your friend put wider tires on the Versa there's a chance there could be some rubbing as well.

[Scott]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the well thought out answer!

Scott