My snow tire experience - not bad but interesting

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nikalex

Active member
Joined
Apr 20, 2015
Messages
32
Location
Vancouver, BC, Canada
So I have a set of good used snow tires that I found on Craigslist.
They are 145/65R15 fronts and 175/55R15 rears. Mounted and balanced.
They are Bridgestone Blizzak WS60 snow tires with over 9/32" tread depth remaining.

I grabbed them because it is so rare to find any I-MiEV parts in Vancouver BC other than new at the dealer.
My local dealer quoted me $750 for a pair of mounted and balanced rear snow tires with TPMS. Just for the 2 little wheels.
$400 got me a set of 4 good used ones with near new tread depth.
They have no TPMS but I can handle that in exchange for great snow tires and great cold weather traction.

Now I know the rear tires are a bit smaller than my stock 2014 tire size. About 16mm smaller in diameter.
These wheels were from a city of Vancouver fleet vehicle (maybe a 2012 I-MiEV but I'm not sure).

So to my observations:

1) No TPMS so after a few minutes at highway speeds the TPMS idiot light flashes and then stays on. I can handle that.
2) The ASC (Active Stability Control) and the TCL (Traction Control Logic) don't appear to be affected.
3) The brake regenerative system when in B mode is basically unpredictable and non-functioning. (almost to the point of being dangerous if you are already used to driving with max. regen)
The brake regen changes are the only thing I wish were not lost. I assume this is due to the smaller size rear tires.
What are other people's opinions?
Cheers,
Roman
 
Yep, sounds familiar.

When my original tires wore out, I put on a set of Continental tires, same sizes as your winter tires. I also lost regen. It would only come in when cornering, and drop out as soon as I straightened out. I also noticed a near 5 MPH difference on my speedometer.

I tried running a severely offset tire pressure to counter the difference in size, which made some improvement, but I still had no regen most of the time.

The i-MiEV's ASC won't allow you to change the tire circumference. If your rear tires were 185/55R15, then you would probably be fine, but 175/55R15 is too small. There is a monster-sized thread (which is now locked) on here that has a ton of info on tire sizes. It can be found here:

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=1656
 
Thanks for the reply.
I still think the benefit of decent snow tires in our sometimes cold weather is worth it though.
When I do buy new tire I will get the right size.

I am committed to driving electric.
I had a NEV / LSV Dynasty IT made locally for 5 years before the i-MiEV.
Cheers, Roman
 
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