[RXtacy]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

It's strange that the setups on tire rack use gigantic wheels and for the most part, do not down-size. It seems their "winter tire and wheel packages" leave a lot to be desired. There are some other good threads on this. One guy is running 19" 8.5s with 15mm offset. I'm jumping on his bandwagon, I'll put 245 or 255s on it. I made a spreadsheet that showed me what tire and rim combos would fit, from there you choose what size tires and rims you want to run, which depends largely on what's available. While there have been a few that have gone to 285 winter tires, that's just ridiculous in my book, on the other hand, there are lots of choices in the 245-255 range, so if you want max availability, that'll do you nice, it's also a decent intermediate size. I run 245 winter tires on my bmw and they handle amazing in the snow. Contrary to popular thought, you don't really need or want overly skinny tires. If you are really pushing through that much snow, you'll be a snow-plow with the air-damn and front bumper. That logic only really applies when you are having to drive through significant deep snow, vs. when it snows and packs down.

I'm running a 19x8.5 +20 square setup with 245/40/19 Pirelli Sottozero 3's. The fronts are a little tucked in, but the backs fit pretty well. No clearance issues whatsoever.