Quote:
Originally Posted by Voodooking
With the winter package, the car doesn’t put power down well, doesn’t grip in the wet, and struggles to find traction in ice or snow.
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The story of my OEM winter wheel set of Nokian Hakkapeliitta R RSC 225/45 R17 on 7,5Jx17. They float on tarmac at +4 C or so (thus they are for hardly above zero), setting off from a puddle feels the same as on ice (I've survived a recent long motorway ride in extreme wet/slushy conditions at 100+ km/h though), on snow I see other cars (not necessarily 4WD, but mostly FWD) go away while I'm struggling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voodooking
My question is, would it be suitable to “up-size” the winter tyres to a “plus zero” configuration, with the following size:
Wheels (Same): 17 inch x 7 inch
Tyres (Different): Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 225/45 R17 94 R XL
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This tyre width takes 7,5Jx17 rims actually (handling might suffer from the misfit).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Voodooking
Would this wider, larger footprint provide an advantage during acceleration by giving me more ‘rubber on the road’? Also, could I expect better ice and snow performance due to the larger number of sipes / surface area able to find purchase on the snow or ice?
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On snow it's considered preferable to dig through to some firmer surface (which is presumed within the clearance, of course, otherwise increase the footprint by decreasing the tyre air pressure reasonably
), this is what DTC is about incidentally. This is why narrower tyres are favoured.