Corolla XRS and Winter Steel Rims

[rolla-XRS]

I just went to pickup my new Michelin X-Ice tires (must be an X-trend around here ) on 15" steeli's...and low and behold the stock nuts from the XRS aluminium rims don't fit. Seems they're specially made for the XRS - and they didn't have enough nuts in stock.

Anyone else have this same problem with their steel rims?

[djwolford]

That's craziness, combine that with thier strange tire size selection and I give the people that were in charge of nuts/tires two thumbs down. Although I do like the 16's.

[HiTzXRS]

well when I went to get my steelies put on I had my Motegi nuts put on(i think)...cause they said they needed my special key to get the ones off....and they used those ones to put with my 16" steelies.

the 195's are freakin expensive. I went up to 205's and saved myself some money.


i hope this helps..but it probably doesnt.



~HiTz~

[silver04rollas]

I got the BF Goodrich winter slaloms and the Toyota dealership asked if I wanted the steel rims and I said no way and that I will keep my alloy rims because the black steel rims look too plain and ruin the look of the car. The alloy rims work great with the winter tires and I think I will be able to keep them without a scratch.

[djwolford]

It's a good thing that I got in on the free tires for life deal. From what I've seen 195's are high, I guess because nobody uses them, if for whatever reason they screw me out of the free tires deal (I'm counting on it.) I'll probably go for some 205 azenis.

[silver04rollas]

My BF Goodrich are 205s they make the handling even better ( yet, the Michellins grip the road like a pro upon hard acceleration).

Originally posted by djwolford
It's a good thing that I got in on the free tires for life deal. From what I've seen 195's are high, I guess because nobody uses them, if for whatever reason they screw me out of the free tires deal (I'm counting on it.) I'll probably go for some 205 azenis.

[rolla-XRS]

Originally posted by HiTzXRS
well when I went to get my steelies put on I had my Motegi nuts put on(i think)...cause they said they needed my special key to get the ones off....and they used those ones to put with my 16" steelies.

the 195's are freakin expensive. I went up to 205's and saved myself some money.

Did you have to get new nuts when you put your Motegi rims on?

And I didn't notice the price diff although everyone of these X-Ice tires are expensive - but alas I too belong to the "free tires for life club" so I wasn't paying close attention.

[rolla-XRS]

Well I almost pulled a boo-boo today. Noob experience.

After finding out that the stock XRS nuts won't work with steel rims...and after picking up a bag of new nuts which required a new tire wrench (because nuts were different) and then getting the tires installed - I did a double take and groaned.

There was so little clearance between the tire and the front spoiler that I was certain that I'd rip my fender off this winter if any snow accumulated in the wheel well (which it always does in Slush-land, Ontario). Turning the wheel I could see at one point that there was only about 1" clearance.

Somehow I was convinced that if I wanted to go from my stock P195/55R16 to 15" rims for winter, the closest matching winter tire would be 195/65R15. That turned out to add at least 0.5" to the tire diameter. With these X-Ice tires, it actually looks more like 1" additional in diameter.

Thankfully I was able to swap them up quickly for P195/60R15's but not before having the tech give me the evil eye.

Gotta love that ghetto black steel rim look!!

[Newfie]

Hey rolla-xrs, so are u saying that it is better to go to a 15 inch winter tire. I just picked up my car today, i have to wait till next week to get my winter tire package put on..I am not sure what size they are going to put on. I ordered the package from toyota so hopefull they will know what size tire fits. If u have any suggestions let me know i will pass it on to my mech.

Thanks

Newfie

[rolla-XRS]

With a 15" tire you're going to have a higher sidewall which apparantly is good in winter. So I decided to drop back from stock 16" to steel 15" rims for winter. It looke ugly as hell though and the set of hub caps I picked up can be easily installed and "removed" by hand. So the caps are going back to the store since they're likely to become high speed projectiles. (Wonder if that's where all the UFO signtings come from??)

But it drives like crap with winter tires. I'm not sure if it's the X-Ice tires in +10 degree celcius weather...or the 15" rim....but more likely it's because I'm still expecting performance tire feel from winter tires.

15" or 16" you should be fine.

[REN69]

Don't worry dude.. when the 20feet of snow comes to Ontario, you'll be impressed then. Specially on the 401.

[rolla-XRS]

LOL! 20-feet of snow. Time to buy the Toyota ski-rack for my hitch and watch everyone slipp'n and sliding on the 400.