im looking at picking up snow tires (hopeully in the morning) cause i cant find another pair of artic alpins to replace my worn out pair. so i was looking at the blizzak ws-50's but the outside diameter is 24.5 inches vs 24.2 stock. anyone know how much this is going to screw up my speedo?

 

What do you drive? A tire that is 24.5in tall is okay, but a taller tire would be better, depending on what you drive.

 

i bought ws50's and i just came back from heavenly and it was awseome going 80 through a storm with already 4 inches on the ground no problem. probably not recommeneded but there is stability and awesome braking

 

I'm glad I wasn't anywhere around you.

 

You should always replace snow tires as a set of 4. Tire Rack strongly recommends against replacing them 2 at a time on any car, not jsut awd. And assuming you drive a newer Subaru, stock diameter is 24.9". However, going to a smaller tire isn't an issue if they're all the same, you just have to remember that your speedo will read slightly higher. If your car has a diameter of 24.2" and you put a 24.5" tire on it, your speedo will read low, so keep that in mind.

 

i trust my tires! and they are really good.

 

You obviously didn't have to stop or turn suddenly. Going straight is easy on any tire. 4" of snow, and there's no way you could maintain control in a panic stop or emergency lane change maneuver regardless of tires. Not to mention how many places in the Sierras you would hit intermittent ice.

 

ban i drive a 97 L, and default is 24.2... granted i knew it was gonna read slow, but by how much? am i looking at 2-3mph or 6-7mph? aww screw it im gonna try the blizzaks even tho ive got artics on 3 cars

 

This calculator will tell you exactly how far off it will be. I forgot about older 14" and 15" wheel combos. What was your stock size, 185/70R14? What size are you planning to run?

 

thanks ban


but thats part of the problem. stock for a 97 L bridgestone re92's are listed as an od of 24.2". the ws-50's are 195/60-15(same as oem), but the od is listed as 24.5". so thats where my conundrum starts and finishes. damn tire bastages

edit

thats the one thing i dont like about that calc... it takes a "standard" tire size and puts it out.... but different manufacturers have different sizes for the same size tire.......

case in point do a search (specs) on tirerack for 195/60-15(subie, or actually just look at the size, same specs different od for multiple tire size on the re-92's) on re-92's, x-ice, and ws-50's.. granted im not taking tr as wrote, but im hoping they are close... basically iwas looking fer how low the speedo was going to read w/ the 0.3" increase


luke care to chime in?

 

.3" is a pretty small difference... since you know how much your speedo will be off, I say 24.5" is fine. You'll have a very slight loss in accelration, but also corresponding small gains in gas mileage (remember that your indicated milage may actually be lower, because your odometer is turning slower the same amount as your speedo is off).