Winter tires and winter wheels

[ElectricTiger]

Well, I can definitively say the late 90's Maxima rim DOES NOT FIT.
The outer portion of the spokes rub the caliper.

Just to confirm, did you test the 16"x6.5", 5-spoke aluminum wheel?

Yes, these are the rims I tried.
16"x6."5 5-spoke I could not find the offset info stamped on the backside. I did see the 16x6.5

Perhaps the Maxima rim is a little higher offset, like 5mm, just enough to move the spoke closer to rub the caliper.

 

[garsh]

I just test-fitted a 6-spoke, 17"x7" 2002 Nissan Maxima wheel.
Again, not enough clearance for the calipers.

I'm going to try some Altima and 300zx wheels, but I'm not too hopeful with all the caliper clearance issues we're having.

 

[larrycookjr]

Hi ColumbiaRiverGorge,

Yesterday 12+ inches of snow, today 30 milles of hwy freezing rain with heavy ice and no gravel, salt, or rock laid down for me. Loving the tires i purchased, the General Altimax Artic studded. Tomorrow i am off to a Mt. Hood ski area.

I had General Altimax Artic (unstudded) on my previous two cars and loved them. I was excited to see they are available in the LEAF size. Could you give an update on how the rest of the winter went and how much you think they affected your range.

Thanks,
Larry

 

[ColumbiaRiverGorge]

Larry,

These are great tires for the LEAF. I had no problems all winter with traction or handling. I am not sure how much it affected my range, because my range always takes a hit the colder it gets outside. I am going to run this set up again this winter. I did notice I can't coast as fast or regen quite as much down the mountain vs. the Ecopia llr tires. I really wanted studs, because this is my car I take to the ski resorts.

 

[larrycookjr]

ColumbiaRiverGorge,

Thanks for the reply. I should have no problem in NH. I'm glad to hear how well the LEAF does in snow.

Larry

 

[bradbissell]

Anyone use Nokian Wrg2s on their LEAF? They are all season snow tires. I use these on my Prius and have had great success in the snow and better mileage than other tires. Would like to hear is anyone has used them and their impact on driving range/ efficiency.

 

[garsh]

I test-fitted a 2002 Altima 16x6.5 6-spoke wheel, and it fits! Same 40mm offset as the Leaf's wheels. There's not as much caliper clearance as there is with the original Leaf wheel, but it appears to be adequate. They weigh a bit under 21lbs each.

 

[wjm2222]

A cheaper alternative to getting a set of 4 new tires for the Leaf is to get only 2. For most FWD vehicles there is only a little bit of a benefit to having snow tires on all 4 wheels vs only your front wheels. Braking distances are only slightly longer and as long as you are not pushing your luck when cornering, you should be fine there as well.

Ok, I can tell you from personal experience that this is a bad idea. On glare ice, the front wheels are going to grip better than the rear, and that's going to cause the car to spin 180 degrees and go down the road backwards. I used to have this problem with a 1990 Ford Ranger, which was very light in the back. I'm a pretty good winter driver, have lived in the frozen north my whole life, and I could do nothing to recover from these skids. The fix that I found from being cheap, and pure dumb luck, was to put Blizzaks on just the rear wheels, which are the drive wheels on a Ranger. Since the Leaf drives the front wheels, I'm going to put snow tires on all four wheels.

 

[LeftieBiker]

A cheaper alternative to getting a set of 4 new tires for the Leaf is to get only 2. For most FWD vehicles there is only a little bit of a benefit to having snow tires on all 4 wheels vs only your front wheels. Braking distances are only slightly longer and as long as you are not pushing your luck when cornering, you should be fine there as well.

Ok, I can tell you from personal experience that this is a bad idea. On glare ice, the front wheels are going to grip better than the rear, and that's going to cause the car to spin 180 degrees and go down the road backwards. I used to have this problem with a 1990 Ford Ranger, which was very light in the back. I'm a pretty good winter driver, have lived in the frozen north my whole life, and I could do nothing to recover from these skids. The fix that I found from being cheap, and pure dumb luck, was to put Blizzaks on just the rear wheels, which are the drive wheels on a Ranger. Since the Leaf drives the front wheels, I'm going to put snow tires on all four wheels.

Absolutely. You can get away with two snows for a while (I did with my old Camry) but eventually you're going to find yourself looking at your own tail as it tries to pass you.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Anyone else using Pirelli Carving Edge snow tires? I picked up a used set of three for $80 (it was supposed to be four, but one was damaged). I had hoped to find a fourth used one, but ended up have to pay $144 for that last tire, mounted and balanced. Anyway, they are a bit loud, as snows tend to be, but amusingly the car handles much more crisply with them than with the Ecrapias. I put 41psi in them, intending to let them get down to the high thirties by the time it snows, and my energy consumption took a hit of less than 2%: it fell from 4.4 to 4.3. I find that pretending the noise they make is from a giant electric motor at each end of the car, and turning up the stereo, makes driving with them not unpleasant.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I found a set of 97-99 Maxima SE 40mm wheels. I want to verify that those specs go with those wheels, as they are on Craigslist. Did I luck out for $100?

 

[garsh]

LeftieBiker, from earlier in this thread:

Does anyone know for sure if late 90's Maxima rims (16x6.5 5 spoke) have fitment issues on the Leaf with respect to brake calipers?

Well, I can definitively say the late 90's Maxima rim DOES NOT FIT.
The outer portion of the spokes rub the caliper.

I drove to a local junkyard and test fitted one.

I also tried 2002 Maxima rims (17"), and they too wouldn't clear the front brake calipers.

 

[LeftieBiker]

LeftieBiker, from earlier in this thread:

Does anyone know for sure if late 90's Maxima rims (16x6.5 5 spoke) have fitment issues on the Leaf with respect to brake calipers?

Well, I can definitively say the late 90's Maxima rim DOES NOT FIT.
The outer portion of the spokes rub the caliper.

I drove to a local junkyard and test fitted one.

I also tried 2002 Maxima rims (17"), and they too wouldn't clear the front brake calipers.

Oh, F***. I didn't see that. Since the specs are the same I just bought a set of four for $100 tonight. They supposedly have the same 40mm offset, so how on earth are you supposed to tell if a wheel fits from the specs alone...?

Looks like I'll be selling them in the Spring...

 

[LeftieBiker]

Here is what the Pirelli Carving Edge looks like on my Leaf. I put the new one on the right rear, so this is one of the used ones.

 

[kmp647]

I installed a set of 4 General Altimax artic, severe reduction in range
dropped from 5.1 mpkwh to 3.7mpkwh

Have to trickle chg at work now to make my winter commute.

Pitched the old ecopias as they were at 3/32

In the spring I will likely go with another set of ecopias, or a set of michelin energay savers

Has your range taken a hit with the Pirellis?

 

[larrycookjr]

I installed a set of 4 General Altimax artic, severe reduction in range
dropped from 5.1 mpkwh to 3.7mpkwh

That seems like too much of a drop to be just the snow tires. I put 4 General Altimax Arctics on last year but at the same time the outside temps dropped and we had the time change which means my evening commute was now in the dark. This year I am waiting as long as possible to put the snow tires on so I can get a better idea of their impact.

 

[TomT]

http://www.ez-sensor.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They are TPMS sensors that can be trained to accept the serial number etc. of the original sensors. They are like universal sensors, or clones of the originals.

They can be used in place of the original sensors. If you have two sets of wheels, for example, you can put the EZ sensors on one set and train them to duplicate the sensor info from the original set. The vehicle can't tell one set of wheels from the other. So you never have tpms sensor training issues again. Great for winter tires...

The sensors are made by Schrader. The only downside is "cloning" the original sensor info into the ez sensor. This requires that someone such as the garage where this is done, has the programming or sensor tool to do this.

 

[LeftieBiker]

I installed a set of 4 General Altimax artic, severe reduction in range
dropped from 5.1 mpkwh to 3.7mpkwh

Have to trickle chg at work now to make my winter commute.

Pitched the old ecopias as they were at 3/32

In the spring I will likely go with another set of ecopias, or a set of michelin energay savers

Has your range taken a hit with the Pirellis?

I posted about the Pirellis - I thought here, but I guess not. My energy usage went from 4.4 to 4.3 with the snows on, so that's a 2% drop in range, I guess. The tires themselves are a disappointment, proving pretty slippery on packed snow and ice. They are predictable at least, but I'd much prefer soft compound tires like UltraGrips or Blizzacks...

 

[knightarmor]

I believe it's the weight of the tire themselves. I installed my winter tires on wheels that are 1/2Lb lighter than my summer wheels (G35 wheels) but the overall weight of the combo is about 2.5Lbs heavier than the LRR michelins on the 17X8 wheels. I'm still getting better range than with the factory 17X6.5 wheels though!! My search is on for superlite winter wheels...

 

[GREENEV]

Just got off the phone with Go Arapahoe Nissan in Centennial, CO.

I'm getting ready to purchase a set of winter tires for my 2012 LEAF SL- Continental ExtremeWinterContact.

I asked the parts specialist if he would match Discount Tire's online price and he couldn't because the tires he would order for me are a Nissan OEM product. He said this is not a joke or BS. He said the part number at Discount Tire for the SAME EXACT TIRE would be different than the part number at any Nissan dealer. Nissan specifies a lower rolling resistance. He said he has seen two exact tires next to each other, one Nissan OEM and one from another tire distributer and the tread pattern , etc was different. That is crazy to me, but I believe him.

Another thing I found out is if you're going to put only 2 winter tires on the car, put 'em on the REAR!!! Do you believe this? The reason is that the rear will slide out faster than the front of the car, so you want the better tires on the rear. Very interesting.

Thoughts?