Hi everyone,

 

I'm considering to buy spiked winter tyres for next winter season. I'm going for some second-hand tyres - there's quite a few of them going around. My question is about the size: my current winter tyres are 185/60 R 15 88Q. I found out that this means 185 mm wide, 60% of 185 mm high, radial type, 15" rim, max. 560 kg, max. 160 km/h - correct? Then: which of these sizes will determine if other tyres will fit? I'm thinking the tyre width and the rim size are critical, the others not so much. Is this correct?

 

Thanks a bunch

P.

Winter tyres are generally as narrow as possible since this reduces the contact patch which forces the tread into the ground harder, use the narrowest tyres which will fit your rim width, use narrower rims to make it even better, that way you can have a full set of spare wheels to make swapping over easy.

 

Fat tyres are for dummies who drive only on bone-dry, billiard table smooth tarmac, you'll notice wet weather tyres are always narrower than dry tyres so even racing drivers can appreciate the difference.

@eilert10 - You've decoded the standard tyre size correctly.

 

You're also correct that you need a 15" tyre to fit the wheels on the car. You can, within limits, fit a wider or narrower tyre, but that will depend partly on the wheel width, which is probably stamped or cast into the wheel, and will be something like 6.0x15 ET42 5x100.

 

You also need to more or less match the actual sidewall height, in this case 185 * 0.6 = 111mm. for example you could use 165/70 tyres with their 115.5mm wall height, but not 165/60 with their 99mm walls. I'd be entirely happy using either of the sizes I've mentioned with a 5.5" or 6.0" width wheel.

OK, thanks guys!