We'll see how the winter goes this year. We typically drive up the Cottonwood canyons 3-4 times a week because both my kids ski race. Last year, the Cottonwoods got 600" (Utah, greatest snow on earth). Most of the driving will be in a Toyota Sienna AWD with Blizzaks, but there will be the odd occasion when I will drive the Fit. I've always liked how small Hondas handle in the snow, and that's why we decided on FWD instead of AWD for the second car. I honestly don't think the benefits of AWD outweigh the drawbacks (weight, mileage, complexity), at least for my purposes. Besides, the scariest part of driving in snow is driving DOWN the canyon, and AWD won't help you at all going downhill. Although if they sold that AWD Fit that they offer in Japan here in the US.....

I think the point about being able to spin the tires a little bit to get out of deep snow is a very good point. To be able to "rock" out of a slippery spot is partially dependent on spinning the tires a bit. Now, I'm assuming that VSA and traction control go hand in hand, since they're both built on the ABS system, correct? So if VSA is on, then traction control HAS to be on. Am I correct?

 

clicq, thank you so much for the info. I'm still not sure what the solution is...the reprogramming tool gets mixed reviews on its own site...I'll need to do some more checking. Talk about making an easy thing hard.
Moon

 

185 65 R15 is perfect and Michelin X ice 2 makes them so I would stick with that size

your oem wheel is 185 55 R16

 

The key is the overall diameter of the tires.
As long as the wheel fits the size of the tire controls. 185/65x14 tires are about the same diameter as 176/65x15 tires. 23.4" vs 24" if my quick math is right. The 23.4 is same as stock so speedo and odo aren't affected.
A change of a half inch won't affect them that much, say 2%, or 61.2 mph at true 60 mph for the larger tires.
However, narrower tread tires work better than wide tread for snow travel as they have less width to 'cut' thru the snow. Ditto for larger diameter as the 'ramp' is lower for larger diameters to roll up over oncoming snow. A little extra ground clearance doesn't hurt either.
.
My guess is 175/65x15 tires weren't handy so they recommended what they had but I have experience with 175/65x15's in snow and they are excellent.

 

I currently have 15's on my car and they look a little tiny but not too bad(I'm also 2inches from the ground). but 14's are going to look really small especially the higher your car is.

 

any chance that these would work with my 2009?

195-60-R14 blizzak snow tires mounted on honda wheels - $250

The tires have < 3000 miles on them, but i'll have to pass if they are the wrong size.

 

Are the GE brakes any larger than the GD? I didn't think so, but can't remember for sure . . . For what it's worth, I run cheap 14" alloys w/ winter tires on my '07. Got 'em from Tire Rack, they fit/look great, and are well worth the extra $40 over what steelies would have cost. Like others have already said, just pick a tire size that match the original diameter, and ideally also have a narrower section width to help with snow traction.

 

As a followup, it still appears that Hondas are a problem in this regard, tho' a local tire shop swears on a Bible factory that he can reprogram for the different rims for $25. We were Acura shopping as well, and the Acura garage sez that all you do is swap the wheels; the car will figure it out from there. Why it would be a problem for Hondas but NOT Acuras, well, go figure.
We looked at Audis, too, and they aren't to be a problem, either.
C'mon, Honda, lots of us live in the snow belt...winter's tough enough without your cars making it tougher!
M

 

I know it's late in the season to bring this thread back up, but it may help others next season as well.

I was planning on going my first winter on the Fit with the factory Bridgestones, but I've had a few too many close calls on icy hills, the last of which was this morning - that's it, I'm not putting off getting snow tires any longer - so my goal was to find the best bang for the buck in set of winter wheels/tires.

As most of you know, finding used snow tires for the Fit is tough, because it runs a pretty unconventional diameter tire - anything else that's 4x100 typically has a smaller overall diameter, so buying used wheel/tire combos is hard.

Cheapest 15" combo on Discounttire would have been $512 shipped after $100 of discounts (cheapest alloy wheel, Yokohama Iceguard IG20 in 195/60R15), and would have required the purchase of tuner lugs for the aftermarket 15" alloy wheels. Cheapest 15" combo on Tirerack would have been $600+ (similar combo, but with General Altimax Arctic).

Craigslist yielded a set of 14" OEM Del Sol alloys w/ centercaps for $100 (14x5.5 ET45), and a seller who didn't mind me test-fitting one of them to ensure brake clearance. They fit perfectly - plenty of caliper clearance. Proper tire size to get as close to factory diameter is 185/70R14 (0.8% taller than factory - negligible difference) - ordered a set of the Yokohama Ice Guard IG20's from Discounttire - $68 per tire, free UPS ground shipping, $50 instant savings, and a $40 mail-in rebate - total, shipped, of $222 before the mail-in rebate. Mounting and balancing will cost me <$50 locally.

Total spent:
Del Sol 14" alloys - $100
Yokohama Ice Guard IG20 in 185/70R14 - $222 - $40 MIR = $182
Mounting and balancing - ~$50

= $332

They'll look tiny, but I could care less - should look better than steel wheels would have, and were hundreds less than my other options. I'll have pics up shortly - still waiting on the tires.

Tiny picture of tiny wheels:



On the car:

 

Check for steel honda wheels in local junkyards. When I lived in HB there were several good ones. If you were close enough I'd give you 4 steel wheels , 14" or 15" in 5" rim width, they are so common. They just take up room in the warehouse.
As for price benefit, check DiscountTireDirect for best prices and performance on TireRack comparisons. The hankook IceBears were pretty
inexpensive and in the one snow weekend we got along very well and better than others though they might not have been on winter tires.

 

Thanks for the heads-up - I'm happy with what I picked up, and didn't have to spend time hunting through you-pull-it yards to save $50-60 to MAYBE find some cheap steelies. I also have a *ton* of 4x100 wheels, but they're all VW wheels and I'd rather start with something hubcentric that's made to use my stock lugs (not the VW ball seat lug bolts). The tires I picked up are the cheapest shipped option by far after the $50 instant discount, free shipping, and $40 MIR from Discounttire - $182 total after the rebate. Even the cheapest Firestone Winterforces from Tirerack would have been $231 shipped, and aren't as good of a tire as the Yokohamas.

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Due respect, but that wasn't especially useful.
Moon

 

When we got winters for my bride's previous panzer, we went the take-off steelies route thru' the Tire Rack. We kept that car 9 years, and replaced the hubcaps once and the tires twice. I wish I could break my love of her habit of bending rims; she tends to really think her rides ARE tanks and crashes thru' potholes like the Wehrmacht thru' Belgium.
In any case, I don't mind spending the money for nice (well, bargain-nice) alloys, since I have to look at them about 50% of the time here in our snowy mountains. There's no percentage in putting off buying winters/rims rather than mounting and dismounting IF you're going to keep the car for some time.
The ongoing problem is what do you do if you bodge one? I had a hard enough time matching a bent steelie; ran into offset problems on replacements and had to match rims on an axle or replace them ALL. With some luck, the distributors may continue to stock a certain style, but otherwise you're SOL. I've toyed with the notion of buying OEM so that spares are available (how many wheel changes has Honda made lately? that's no sure thing either), and expensive going in.
Moon

 

We actually do not have a 14" wheels that will clear the brakes. We do have alloy wheels starting at 77.00 each. Much nicer looking than the steel wheels and they will not rust.
If I can help let me know.

 

What do a set of 15" steelies with snows cost for the GE

 

I do not have any steel wheels for the car at this time. The best price that I have is 77.00 on an aluminum wheel. Steel wheels will be in around September at 49.00 each.
If I can help let me know.

 

Figure $45 to 50 for new(try DiscountTireDirect) and $25 to 30 at junkyards (best place anyway, as you can eveluate before buying).
And by the way, there are many cars that use 15" steel wheels with 4x100mm BC and clear the calipers, like Toyotas, other Hondas, and Mazdas, Just don't confuse 4x 4 inches with 4x 100 mm.
PS i've bought them at junkyards for as little as $5 and the wheels were straight and undamaged.

 

I'm also running a set of E30 rims (mine are the bottlecaps) with General Tire Altimax Arctic 185/65-14 I was happy with the setup until I noticed that If I have passengers in the back the driver-side tire contacts the inner fender.

Do you have this problem? I have 95,000 miles...maybe the springs/shocks aren't supporting weight as well anymore?

I had 205/45-16's before with performance "no-season" tires. These grip amazingly! I was driving through 4 inches of snow today with no problems. (stopping too!)

 

I've tried on two sets of Honda OEM 14" alloy wheels (from the 90's) and both work fine on the 09+ Fit. Scour junkyards and run a 175/70/14 winter tire and be done with it.

I actually have an extra set mounted with new tires that I'm going to post up in the FS section soon. But to the point...a 14" wheel works fine and is light enough that you'll probably notice a slight bit of acceleration gain.