2.4L 2009 Vibe

[kowell]

I finally found steel wheels for my 2009 2.4L Vibe. I went to the Toyota dealer and talked with a mecanic. We took the car into the garage and tryed Camry wheels on the car and it fits perfectly. The only annoying part in that I can't use the same wheel nuts that are on my 17 inch alloys since they are not similar. Still, 4 x 54$ CDN for the steel wheels and 25$ for the 20 nuts is a lot less than the 100$ unit price my Pontiac dealer told me to expect if I bought my steel wheels from them.... IF AND WHEN they would receive some.

[Ol' Timer]

A fine choice of wheels (at the right price). What size wheel is it and what are you using (or going to use) for wheel covers?

[kowell]

I'm downsizing to 16 inches for the winter. I would have liked to downsize to 15 but even with the camry's 16 inches wheels, the wheel is pretty close to the brakes so a 15 inches wouldn't fit in there. The 2.4L models get oversized brakes. 16 inches winter tires will be a lot chreaper than 17 inches ones. I still need to validate the tires size. I'm currently running on factory 215/45R17 so I think 205/55R16 should do. The car should also be a lot smoother on the road with those tires. 17 inches alloys give it a killer look but anything below 50 thickness on Quebec's wonderful roads means you're sacraficing your ride confort....As for the covers, it will probably be wathever I can find at a good price at the local CanadianTires. Nothing flashy since they'll always be burried in snow and dirty.

[Sublimewind]

For winter tires, you want to go as thin as possible... A 195 or even a 185/ 60 16 would be a good choice.... A thinner tire puts more pressure on the contact patch.. more pressure more bite... not a huge concern though..

[kowell]

I thought about it. A 185/60R16 gives a .5% difference on the speedometer wich is better than the 1.1% the 205/55R16 has but 185/60 is a harder tire to find. I guess availability will be the decisive factor.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by kowell »I thought about it. A 185/60R16 gives a .5% difference on the speedometer wich is better than the 1.1% the 205/55R16 has but 185/60 is a harder tire to find. I guess availability will be the decisive factor.Yeah, for the avarage joe, it's a non-issue, go with what you can.... nice to see people getting winter tires while they are cheap...in the summer... lol.

[RIT]

Does a thinner tire really put more pressure on the contact patch ? I would think if they were both at 30 PSI, you would end up with the same area of tread touching the pavement. But, i do agree that a thinner tire is better in the snow than a wider one. i think it will cut through the snow better, and be able to turn better than slide like a toboggan. Just my guess !

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by RIT »Does a thinner tire really put more pressure on the contact patch ? I would think if they were both at 30 PSI, you would end up with the same area of tread touching the pavement. But, i do agree that a thinner tire is better in the snow than a wider one. i think it will cut through the snow better, and be able to turn better than slide like a toboggan. Just my guess !Yes Sir, a thinner tire has a smaller tread patch, so the same amount of vehical weight is put on less area.. the PSI of the tire itself has nothing to do with it, but the weight of the car on a smaller area, increases the PSI on the patch itself.. So take a number 3000lbs for ease of use, divide by 4.. 750lbs per corner of weight is being put down, say the contact patch "normally" is 10sq" that is 75 PSI on the normal tread patch, now make that tread patch 7sq" it equates to 107 PSI on the tread patch.. Look up winter rally on YouTube and have a look at what the rally guys use for tires...!!!! 4.5" wide...!!!!!

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by Sublimewind »So take a number 3000lbs for ease of use, divide by 4.. 750lbs per corner of weight is being put down, say the contact patch "normally" is 10sq" that is 75 PSI on the normal tread patch, now make that tread patch 7sq" it equates to 107 PSI on the tread patch..But there's no way that a car tire with internal pressure of 30 psi could exert a pressure of 75 psi (or 107 psi) on the road surface. That would mean that on every sq. in. of the contact patch area the road would be pushing in with 75 lbs. and the air would only be pushing out with 30 lbs. - the tire wouldn't support the load and would collapse.RIT is correct that the key difference is in the shape of the contact patch and not in the overall area. The narrower winter tire has a relatively long and skinny contact patch. The leading edge of the patch conpresses the snow and then it's further compressed as the rest of the contact patch rolls over it. The greater patch length also puts more of the aggressive lugs at the edge of the snow tire tread in contact with the snow at one time. OTOH, a wide tire, with a shorter contact patch, is more likely to float on top of the snow and won't grip as well.

[MountainMax]

are the new 09 vibes the same bolt pattern as the older ones???

[kevera]

All depends on which model you get.base models with the 1.8 are 5x100and the GT and AWD with the 2.4 are 5x114.3

[09_GT_dragracer]

I have the 09 GT w/ 18" wheels. Will those toyota wheels fit this car, looking to change over for the winter.09 GT and loving it!

[kowell]

Yes they should. Camry wheels are pretty much the only thing that can be fitted on a 2.4L 09 model. You'll probably need to buy a new set of lug nuts like me since the ones from my alloys were different from regular ones. I wasn't sure at first so I asked the mecanic if we could test one wheel and nuts in the garage before I bought a complete set.

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by prathman »But there's no way that a car tire with internal pressure of 30 psi could exert a pressure of 75 psi (or 107 psi) on the road surface. That would mean that on every sq. in. of the contact patch area the road would be pushing in with 75 lbs. and the air would only be pushing out with 30 lbs. - the tire wouldn't support the load and would collapse.RIT is correct that the key difference is in the shape of the contact patch and not in the overall area. The narrower winter tire has a relatively long and skinny contact patch. The leading edge of the patch conpresses the snow and then it's further compressed as the rest of the contact patch rolls over it. The greater patch length also puts more of the aggressive lugs at the edge of the snow tire tread in contact with the snow at one time. OTOH, a wide tire, with a shorter contact patch, is more likely to float on top of the snow and won't grip as well.I think that you are thinking about this all wrong... The 30psi inside of the tire is "constrained" which means it's got no place to go... So how is that 30psi holding up the weight of the car? Hmmm?The weight of the car is distrubuted between the 4 tires of the car, sitting directly on the contact patch of the tire, it's the only portion of the car that is making contact with the ground, correct? YES.. That contact patch is measured in sq/in, correct? YesSo, please go back and have a look at the simple math I did above and hopefully you will see what i'm saying, because it is in fact, true...

[peeps]

I would like to do the same thing getting the Toyota steel rims. Do you know any more of the specifics such as part # or year of Camry the rims were designed for?

[Sublimewind]

Quote, originally posted by peeps »I would like to do the same thing getting the Toyota steel rims. Do you know any more of the specifics such as part # or year of Camry the rims were designed for?I don't personally, but I used to live across the bridge from you in N. Tonawanda, just south of NF NY... Welcome to the site BTW.. come on in, take your coat off, stay a while..