winter tires

[88dippy]

hey all, i have a question regarding some snow tires for an 88 diplomat...i currently have 20575r15's on but im looking for snows and im wondering how big i can go w/ the snows, the book says the biggest is 21570r15, is that because of a clearance issue or b/c of the change it will cause the speedometer, the car is stock, just wondering what will fit and how big of a difference it will make

[Eric Strong]

The speedometer will be affected slightly as the diameter of the tire changes. Check your car for clearence (measure). Your 205/75 tires have a sidewall height of 153.75mm, 215/70 tires have a sidewall height of 150.5mm, 225/70 tires have a 157.5mm sidewall height. Thats a difference of only 3.75mm. Measure the width of your tires, then measure the clearence from the fender. Remember that only half of the new width (example 225/70) will be measured to clear the fender. 225-205=20mm requires only 10mm additional clearence. 10mm=approx. 3/8".

Quick Claims Adjuster!!!

[5thAve]

You can run wider tires then that on a Diplomat, but usually they say that wider isn't better with snow tires.

[deadhorse66]

Yeah, width doesn't help much in snow. A wider tire will put less pound per inch on the tread and will cause the car to "float" on top of the snow rather than dig down and bite. What you want is something with a good deep cleat in it, and you want the cleats to be separated, and rather large to allow the tire to clean its self and still grab well at the same time. My Dad has some tires on his Ford truck that I really like for the snow--I think they are made by Multi-Mile. I will post back if I can remember the model.