Rob, I know it's a little early but I'm shopping for winter tires. In a previous blog you mentioned that winter tires should be bought in sets of four, and have them mounted on their own rims, which is OK with me because the winters in Barrie... At least the cold kills off some of the mosquitoes.
Here's the thing, I just bought a 2010 Toyota Venza V6 AWD. It came with standard 20-inch wheels and I'm having a hell of a time finding a set of winter wheels and tires to fit. By that, I mean reasonably priced wheels and tires.
I have a perfectly good set of Blizzack winters but they are 16-inchers. If I can find a set of Camry wheels, can I mount these tires on them? The Camry has 16-inch wheels. I measured the diameter of the Blizzacks and they are the same diameter of the 20's that are on the Venza.
Gord
Whoa Gord!
A couple of things!
1. If you have an accident after this swap, given the attention that Toyota has received recently, can you imagine the support you'd get from the manufacturer? You would have a better chance of rolling up a snowball in hell before you would get any satisfaction from them, never mind your insurance company.
2. There are more issues at play than simply comparing diameters. This does not account for weighted rolling diameter, rolling resistance, brake calliper clearance, inner fender clearance - I could go on but the list would kill the Globe's bandwidth.
No Gord, as painful as it may be, you'll have to forego the new set of golf clubs and hit up your local tire shop or online tire store to find a set that will fit your Venza properly.
The challenge will be to find any set because right now, OEM 20 inch wheels are a new thing and won't be easy to find, and my experience has been that the harder it is to find, the more money it will cost. I can tell you this with confidence because I also own a Venza. I love the car, but wheel/tire combos are tough to come by.
As an aside, once I find a set, I'll let everyone know how these big tires with small sidewalls react in the snow and on ice.
The thing for everyone to remember, especially at this time of year, is that tire and wheel combinations are all part of an integrated package that will affect things like:
- Traction Control
- Fuel Economy
- Handling
- Speedometer accuracy
- Transmission shift quality
- Vehicle Stability Control
- Anti-lock Braking
You have the right idea and it certainly is not too early to by purchasing winter tire and wheel sets, because it won't be long before there will be dead mosquitoes all over the place.