GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi all - so a couple weeks in and I'm really liking the Vibe I picked up ('07 Base 84K mi). I'm considering throwing a set of CraigsList snow tires on the factory steel wheels this winter. I currently have 205/55/r16s on those rims and, while I prefer to stay with the same size tire, I've seen a couple of sets of 215/60/r16s. Any idea if these would fit on the stock steelies AND if shops would mount them? I've seen a couple of mentions of this tire size thought the forum, though there's no indication if the wheels were the stock steelies or not.

https://tiresize.com/calculator/ has a tab for comparing two sizes, you can put the two sizes in and see the differences, including how much your speedometer will be affected.
The 215/60s are wider and taller than the 2015/55s, which will make your speedometer read about 5% lower than actual (which may make you more likely to speed) and the bigger tires would change your overall gear ratio, and could have some negative impact on acceleration, although I don't know you'd notice it. I can't remember if wider or thinner tires are better in snow

My guess is that the tires would mount ok on the steelies, but I'd be lying if I said I had any real basis for that guess

joatmon wrote:I can't remember if wider or thinner tires are better in snow

I believe skinnier tires are better in snow...

Found a set of mounted 205 50 R16s supposedly mounted on Matrix/Vibe rims for a good price:

https://boston.craigslist.org/nos/wto/d ... 02225.html

This seems like an aspect ratio - I'm not excited about losing ~1" of clearance, but for the price and considering they're already mounted and were apparently used on a Matrix / Vibe, I'm thinking about it. Anyone have experience with tires of this size? I only found mention of Corolla's running this size, but no Vibes or Matrices.

I've also been looking into snows mounted on subaru wheels, but I'm leery of the 48mm offset - any info (pro or con) on this would be greatly helpful as well. I did note the stock 17" alloys have a 45mm offset - any reason why and additional 3mm would cause issues? Here's a set I was looking at:

https://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/wto/d ... 98267.html

Thanks.