Biggest profile winter tire 17” Rim

L

lenniejames

Greenie N00B Member
Hey there guys,

I have some worn out winter tires that I will be replacing this winter and I’m wondering about ground clearance. I live in an area which receives a very large amount of snow and I am wanting to increase my ground clearance with a set of higher profile winter tires.
What’s the highest profile tire you’ve run on a stock suspension Gen1 with 17” steel rims?

I know it’s a specific question but I’m thinking if I can get a 55 profile tire that will raise the ground clearance but at least an inch or so
 
I run 235/45-18 on my 2010 and have no issues with height. A little bit of rubbing on the width but for winter tires you should be going narrower for whatever that total height works out to.
 
Stock dunlops sucked in the winter

All season Continentals I have never given it a second thought in Maryland

Based on my experience if you buy snows it will be unstoppable
 
lenniejames said:
Ok cool, I’ll try that calculator out.

Do you guys have trouble driving Speeds in the winter? Winter is 8 months long here, and I may have to use the Speed as a daily so I’m kind of worried with how it handles deep snowfall
Click to expand...
Where in Canada are you? When I was in eastern Ontario speed was great in the winter with a good set of snows now I'm in Manitoba same applies sometimes they don't clear the road of snow drifts Enough so I do hear the undertray on the ruts so I'm considering a small SUV for the winter only for that reason.

Edit: I'm running 225/45/17 myself and plenty of clearance and tires have served me well in the snow it's nice to have some tire well clearance I'm usually not getting buildups in the wells
 
Easter Bunny said:
Stock dunlops sucked in the winter

All season Continentals I have never given it a second thought in Maryland

Based on my experience if you buy snows it will be unstoppable
Click to expand...

haha yeah I’m not even going to attempt to drive it on summers, pure insanity

I was just wondering mainly with the lsd how much it actually helps

Awafrican said:
Where in Canada are you? When I was in eastern Ontario speed was great in the winter with a good set of snows now I'm in Manitoba same applies sometimes they don't clear the road of snow drifts Enough so I do hear the undertray on the ruts so I'm considering a small SUV for the winter only for that reason.

Edit: I'm running 225/45/17 myself and plenty of clearance and tires have served me well in the snow it's nice to have some tire well clearance I'm usually not getting buildups in the wells
Click to expand...

I’m in Canmore, Alberta in the mountains. So lots of snowfall to deal with ahah, lots of travelling to and from ski resorts. Do you have a Gen 1 or Gen 2?

ahhh true, I never thought of well clearance with higher profile tires. That’s a good point. Maybe I’ll just stick with the 205/50/17’s then.
Have you caused any damage to your car by wintering it?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
got a gen 2, my buddy has a gen1 and he used to winter it you could do 225/50/17 if that's available, wouldn't go too narrow (guess it depends on what wheels you have).

Car's been fine in the winter I crown coat it every year so my rust is very minimal surface rust on the undercarriage, I've had to replace the undertray thanks to ice chunks thats really the end of it.
 
Awafrican said:
got a gen 2, my buddy has a gen1 and he used to winter it you could do 225/50/17 if that's available, wouldn't go too narrow (guess it depends on what wheels you have).

Car's been fine in the winter I crown coat it every year so my rust is very minimal surface rust on the undercarriage, I've had to replace the undertray thanks to ice chunks thats really the end of it.
Click to expand...

Why would you not recommend going too narrow? Is that the tire he was using? I’ve got 205/50/17 already on Steelies that I got when I bought the car. (I haven’t seen a winter with it yet)

Is the crown coat just an under body anti rust spray?
 
Narrower tires are better in snow.

On a 16 inch crown vic steely on my ms3 I ran 205/50/16 snow tires. Car was a beast in the snow. Never got stuck. We get a ton of Lake effect snlw where I live. And even lowered, I never had issues getting stuck
 
Sho said:
Narrower tires are better in snow.

On a 16 inch crown vic steely on my ms3 I ran 205/50/16 snow tires. Car was a beast in the snow. Never got stuck. We get a ton of Lake effect snlw where I live. And even lowered, I never had issues getting stuck
Click to expand...

Gen 1?

Did the ground clearance hurt you in +6”snowfall?
 
Sho said:
Yes gen 1

Only thing I ever worried about was smacking a block of ice on the road with the oil pan.

Beast mode
View attachment 15984 View attachment 15985 View attachment 15986
Click to expand...
Shit man that’s f****ing awesome. Looks sweet smashing through it like that. Did you ever do any damage to the car throughout the winter? How about corrosion? How did it go climbing steeper hills? Thought the weight would fall a bit to the rear wheels on an incline
 
No damage other than rust. Because Ohio loves overusing road salt. Especially in temperatures where salt doesnt do anything anyways lol.

Hills are no issue. Just turn off traction control completely (when starting the car, hold finger on dsc off button while cranking...when you let go you should see dsc off light as well as the squiggly traction light remain on once the engine is running) . Its more of a hinderance and safety hazard leaving it on. Any time the wheels slip at all with traction control on it cuts throttle completely.

But with traction off, no issues keeping momentum
 
Sho said:
No damage other than rust. Because Ohio loves overusing road salt. Especially in temperatures where salt doesnt do anything anyways lol.

Hills are no issue. Just turn off traction control completely (when starting the car, hold finger on dsc off button while cranking...when you let go you should see dsc off light as well as the squiggly traction light remain on once the engine is running) . Its more of a hinderance and safety hazard leaving it on. Any time the wheels slip at all with traction control on it cuts throttle completely.

But with traction off, no issues keeping momentum
Click to expand...

I’m in Alberta so hopefully the cold temps keep the need for salt pretty low then

oh okay, thanks for the tip man. Do you believe the LSD has helped you through the deeper stuff too?
 
lenniejames said:
I’m in Alberta so hopefully the cold temps keep the need for salt pretty low then

oh okay, thanks for the tip man. Do you believe the LSD has helped you through the deeper stuff too?
Click to expand...
I turn off traction control in the deeper stuff, if im spinning that is then i pull through no prob
 
So I’m looking at 215/55/17 or 205/55/17. Does anyone know what the offset of the steel 17” is?
I want to run the highest profile I can to soften ruts and the overall ride in the winter

Also 215/55/17 is considerably cheaper than 205/55/17
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top