Snow Tires & Rims

rickyrsx said:
My personal philosophy about winter tires is that if they prevent you from getting in even one accident, they have paid for themselves.
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The snow tires are going our 2010 Insight tomorrow, but it snowed today. Driving in the light snow was really scary, with the anti-lock brake vibration felt way too often for comfort. Even if you drive so carefully on the OEM tires that you never get into an accident, snow tires greatly reduce the chance of getting stuck in the snow. To me, the confidence provided by snow tires is worth the expense and seasonal hassle.
 
We had our first snow yesterday too, and of course my snow tires are going on today. o_O The OEM tires were not great on the slippery roads. I'm glad I'm getting snows on.
 
rickyrsx said:
I bought mine from Quattro Tires. Offset was not an issue.

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Thanks rickyrsx. To try to answer my own question above about offset, I have gathered the following:

1) Offset determines how far in or out the midline of the wheel sits relative to the hub. As Vezz66 says, it is to the midline of the tire/wheel so is not automatically forced to change by changes in wheel radius or width (though see below).
2) A positive offset (like the OEM, 50mm) moves the wheel in ("tuck"). Smaller numbers means the midline of the wheel is that many mm further away from the car (less "tuck".) Most wheels I see are in the 38-45 range, meaning their midlines sit a few mm further out than the OEM wheels.
3) Assuming same size outer diameter of tire+wheel, then offset determines the "scrub radius" which turn affects various characteristics of the handling: (see this pic): does wheel rotate forward when turning wheel (think parallel parking); what happens to handling when one brake is out (mu); whether there is a pull, or maybe a toe, or not to one side or another when accelerating or braking; some kinds of bearing wear; whether there is something called squirm, which sounds bad.

4) Therefore, to be formal about it, one should have the same offset as the OEM if possible, to avoid changing the handling characteristics of the car. Some say within 5mm of the original offset.

5) HOWEVER, if you go to a narrower width wheel, the tighter wheel on the same centerline might rub the calipers (again, see pic ) ...so as you go to narrower wheels, the offset usually needs to decrease (less "tuck") to move the wheel out away from the calipers. This is why the typical offset is less for narrower wheels.
6) Also, most of the comments re. this are on racing websites. Not tire websites, suggesting it may be mostly an issue for high-performance users.
7) And, none of the online tire places seem to care about this: discounttiredirect, including discussing with a person there, paid no attention to offset (out of the wheels considered compatible).

My take: this is probably a real, but minor, thing, as long as you pick a wheel deemed "compatible" by a vendor (so it won't rub the calipers or car body). I already bought a set of wheels with offset 40 (10 mm different from the OEM offset 50). Other people have done the same. So I am not going to worry about this at all. However, if I buy a set for my wife's car, all else being equal I will probably find a wheel that has an offset within 5mm of her OEM wheels (which may push me towards full 18" size snow tires, for reason (5) above, instead of the 17", if cost is not too different).

P.S. re. hub centric rings, also a question of mine above: per "dana", Discount tire direct uses (if you have them install), but per my own order experience does not automatically sell you if you buy online, Gorilla hub centric rings to adapt the hub size to the OEM. So I ordered them separately.

Sorry to, in essence, use bandwidth to answer my own questions but I'm trying to assemble information in one place for people like me new to this.
 
I can now report that there is a pretty significant difference in the drive with the snow tires on. It definitely grips the road much better and feels very confident on icy roads. I like the Michelin X Ice 3 tires, not a huge difference in the tire noise level. I had winter tires on a previous car and they were definitely noisier than these... I think they were Blizzaks.

Now, onto the wheels and centre caps... the glossy black in these wheels with the glossy black centre caps, they totally look like actual Honda wheels! And I think I might prefer the look of them over the stock Clarity wheels. I'll try to get some decent pictures to post tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone for the help, you made this a whole lot easier!!! :)
 
I went with Blizzak WS80 215/55R17s on 17x7 wheels (45mm offset) from TireRack. No problems so far and I'm impressed at how quiet they are.Clarity_Snow_Tires.webp
 
I'm curious if all current snow tires are also low rolling resistance tires. Do your Blizzaks say anything like this (from Nokian Hakkapeliitta snow tires)?

upload_2018-11-17_21-39-34.webp
 
JCEV said:
Returned my rims to Costco and snapped a picture of my centre caps
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I think those look a little more nicely finished than the ones I received. Sorry to hear about returning the rims.. :( Did Costco give any hard time about the return? Were you able to return the tires too?
 
I ultimately decided on the Michelin X-Ice 3's (loved them on the old car) and some reasonably cheap alloy rims from Kal-Tire. I got them on a couple weeks ago, but I had to wait until the car was reasonably clean enough that I wasn't too embarrassed to post a photo! :D

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amy2421 said:
I think those look a little more nicely finished than the ones I received. Sorry to hear about returning the rims.. :( Did Costco give any hard time about the return? Were you able to return the tires too?
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Yeah they were great , gave me full refund on tires , rims and installation! As long as the centre caps fit I doubt there's much difference.
 
Can anyone recommend a wheel from discounttiredirect.com that will fit on the Clarity and an accompanying size of Michelin X-Ice that will fit the rim? A couple of weeks ago it seemed like they had several options for 235/45-R18" winter tires including X-Ice and others based on the Clarity specs, but now there are no longer any such options. So I guess 17" may be the only option, but would want to be sure the wheels will fit.

If you know of a decent one that can work with a 235 17" X-Ice, can you add a link? I'm not sure what width of wheel will work.

I could also go for Tirerack.com if the wheels are sure to fit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
dana said:
Post #64: Discount Tire just installed Blizzak WS80 215/55R17 on Vision 426 Cross Gunmetal 17X7.5 wheels.
Same setup as megreyhair.
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\
Got MICHELIN X-ICE XI3 235/45 R18 on sale in the spring and

alloy wheels
RTX MULTI SKU: W52250
CAR: 2018 Honda Clarity 4 Dr Sedan Plug-In Hybrid Touring
RTX MULTI Gunmetal size-18x7.5 boltpattern-5-114.3 offset-42 hubbore-73.1loadrating-690 kg / 1521 lb
with
Hub Rings
SKU: H00006
total $667 plus tax (Cnd) about $460 USD

webpage: https://www.canadawheels.ca/rtx-wheels/multi-gunmetal-w52250

Not much noisier than summer; the rims are less than 1/2 the weight of steel and open enough to avoid have the dreaded snow half filled wheel...
 
Ray B said:
Can anyone recommend a wheel from discounttiredirect.com that will fit on the Clarity and an accompanying size of Michelin X-Ice that will fit the rim? A couple of weeks ago it seemed like they had several options for 235/45-R18" winter tires including X-Ice and others based on the Clarity specs, but now there are no longer any such options. So I guess 17" may be the only option, but would want to be sure the wheels will fit.

If you know of a decent one that can work with a 235 17" X-Ice, can you add a link? I'm not sure what width of wheel will work.

I could also go for Tirerack.com if the wheels are sure to fit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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If you want the 18” wheel, discount tire sells the X-Ice in the Clarity OEM size and they have a selection of wheels. Their web site selection tool doesn’t show that, but they are available.
 
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