Hi,

I have a 2012 Fit Sport with the stock Dunlop All Seasons on 16" wheels and I'm looking to buy a new set of wheels and winter tires for next winter. (I will be moving to Ohio)

I am looking on Tirerack but I am pretty inexperienced when it comes to tires and I would greatly appreciate your help before I purchase.

Tirereack is offering 16, 15, and 14 inch packages. What are the pros/cons of using 14 or 15 inch wheels/tires instead of 16? How will it affect my car's driving and handling?

Sorry for the newbie question, but I would greatly appreciate any help!

 

The two primary benefits of the smaller diameter wheels are lower overall cost and a taller tire sidewall, which helps prevent wheel damage from potholes or other hazards.

I opted for a 14" Tire Rack package with General Altimax Arctics and couldn't be happier.

 

Same here I got a set of 4 General snow tires on new 14" steel wheels from Tire Rack. They cost me just under $400 out the door including all taxes etc. Tire Rack mounted and balanced them for free and even included 16 new lug nuts to match the new steel wheels. They would have installed them on the car but I picked them up with my pick up.

One warning. It varies by state but I agreed that I was going to install my own TPMS senders. Obviously I was not and they knew it, but in some states they can not sell and install them without the senders. If you tell them they are going on a 2008 Fit, that model year did not have TPMS.

 

Thanks for your replies! Very helpful.

Another couple of questions:

1. Does having a smaller wheel reduce your ground clearance? The Fit is pretty low to the ground as it is.

2. Does the car look odd/funny with the smaller wheels? Would any of you mind sharing some pictures with your 14" wheels?

3. Pros/Cons of steel wheels vs. alloys.

4. Are you happy with the General Altimax Arctics? On Tirerack they are $55 per tire vs $102 per tire for the Michelin X-ice Xi3. My job requires me to be out pretty early in the morning (~5 am, likely before roads are cleared) Driving safely in the snowy/icy conditions would be my number 1 priority, if this means I need to spend more on tires, so be it.

Thanks again for your help. This is a great community and I have learned a lot from you all!

 

These tires are on my daughter's 2011 Fit Sport. She is extremely happy with them. She lives on the southern tip of Lake Michigan and drives nightly to Michigan for work. Her current shift is 10 PM to 6AM. If you are not familiar with this area, it is the lake effect snow belt. She had 130 inches of snow there last year. I do not know the totals so far this year. One day this winter she called in at 9PM and 4 of the 5 scheduled people on that shift had already called off because of the snow. She showed up on time and was the only one in her department there on the midnight shift. Last year she only missed one day and on that occasion the police stopped her and told her the roads were closed. The made her return home.

She loves those General Altimax tires on her Fit.

The diameter of those tires are about the same as the OEM 16" ones so the car rides at the same height. Check the tire diameters and revolutions per mile on the Tire Rack web site.

Cons:

Those wheels are steel painted Black.
There are no hub caps on those wheels.
There are no TPMS senders on her steel wheels.

I can not tell you how long they will wear as she will be pulling them off of her car in the next few weeks and she will be putting the original tires back on. She will not install them again until the next good snow. That will probably be in December 2015.

I do not see spending a lot of money on tires that you will only use 3 or 4 months per year.

I'll send her an email or text and ask her to snap some pictures of her car with them installed. We are in a spring thaw right now. I had 2.5 feet of snow around my hanger with 5 feet drifted and blown in at the walk in door. Yesterday I finally got into the hanger. So the snow is slowly disappearing here.