[Divisadero]

Hello all. Having read/watched about a million posts, threads, and JonDZ youtubes about rim and tire sizes, offset, rub, and a variety of other issues about which I have never previously given thought, I feel a little overwhelmed with information. (Seriously though, this place is great and I really appreciate all the info.)

My situation: I live in a high-elevation neighborhood in Tahoe (~7,600'), and I just bought a Passport on Monday. It'll be my wife's car (replacing her Forester), and 98% of the time she'll use it for normal daily driving with plenty of snow-driving in the winter. But I'll also borrow it for adventures locally and in rural Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (where I spend a lot of time), and in southern Utah. I'm no offroader, but backcountry skiing, climbing, and backpacking take me on a number of rough-ish trails that qualify as light offroading. I have pushed my 2017 CR-V and my wife's Forester to the edge of their off-road limits in sometimes terrifying/sometimes hilarious fashion. Ideally, the PP could be a little better.

What I want: It's the wife's car, so the Passport needs to maintain its status as a road-friendly daily driver. At the same time, I'd love to give it a little extra clearance so that (a) I can more easily get off my street when there's 18" of snow and the plow is late and (b) I can soft/offroad with a tad more comfort than in the CR-V. For purposes of marital harmony, I'm not going to lift the PP. Also, we'll use one set of wheels/tires yearround.* Ideally, I'd like a wheel/tire combo that equates to about 30.5" in diameter so that the PP has at least a Subaru-amount of ground clearance. Also, I like the look of the 30.5" tires on a non-lifted PP too.

Wheels:

1. 17" or 18"? I've seen a lot of comparisons to the OEM 20" wheels, but not a lot of discussion comparing 17" or 18". The former look a little cheaper.
2. 8" or 8.5" wide? Does it matter?
3. Offset? I understand what it is, but I don't know what works with what.

Tires:

1. Tire rub? Opinion seems to vary between it being a big deal and it being no deal at all. FWIW, we're not doing daily u-turns where we live (maybe one u-turn a month?).
2. Snow shedding? Tire-to-wheel-well fit has never been a problem for me before, and I've driven through a lot of snow. There's often snow caked between the wheel well and my tire when I reach my destination, but I've never noticed any effect on the driving.
3. 265/60/18, 245/70/17, and 265/65/17 seem to be around a 30.5" diameter, although tire rub is a concern. (Or maybe it isn't?) 255/65/17 has options around 30.1" and 30.2", which might fine.
4. The kind of tires I'm inclined toward are Cooper Discover AT3 4Ss, General Grabber AT/Xs, Michelin CrossClimates . . . basically good snow-rated tires that can be worn yearlong and won't explode on a dirt road or suck on the highway.

Recommendations? Any wheel/tire recommendations or advice is appreciated. As is your tolerance of yet another such post. We're in no immediate hurry but will likely get a new set of wheels and tires by December.


*I tried Blizzaks on my old Tundra, but they wore out very quickly and felt "loose" on dry, curvy mountain roads. I've found that for winter driving in the Sierra, good all-season tires with AWD/4WD work well and are about 85% as good as dedicated snow tires. If I lived somewhere colder with more ice, I'd reconsider.

 

[Powdertrax]

I’ve ran BFG’s All-Terrain T/A’s for over 30 years on three different vehicles and would recommend them to anyone. I had a set on a older Pathfinder, Element AWD and now the PP, they perform great in snow and heavy rain (no hydroplaning).

I take it “off road” but nothing serious and they did there job, the first set I had on my Element had 86k miles on them before needing replacement and that was only because I board and wanted fresh rubber for the upcoming winter.

On my PP in have them wrapped on a set of 17” KMC Nomads with NO rubbing and as I’ve mentioned on here before I noticed a 2-3 mpg better.

 

[Divisadero]

I’ve ran BFG’s All-Terrain T/A’s for over 30 years on three different vehicles and would recommend them to anyone. I had a set on a older Pathfinder, Element AWD and now the PP, they perform great in snow and heavy rain (no hydroplaning).

I take it “off road” but nothing serious and they did there job, the first set I had on my Element had 86k miles on them before needing replacement and that was only because I board and wanted fresh rubber for the upcoming winter.

On my PP in have them wrapped on a set of 17” KMC Nomads with NO rubbing and as I’ve mentioned on here before I noticed a 2-3 mpg better.

Thanks! Can I ask what size BFG All-Terrain T/A's?

 

[Powdertrax]

245/65-17”

Some people don’t like them because they think they’re loud, in my Element yes definitely loud but the PP is insulated better, I barely notice.

 

[Powdertrax]

I’ve driven in 1 to 2’ of fresh snow without a single worry, even at 50-60mph.

That size is almost the exact same size as the stock tires, check out Tiresize.com to compare great site. Some people like to increase width/height, but I like stock size

 

[Pass/Denv]

Thanks! Can I ask what size BFG All-Terrain T/A's?

The two sets I had did not wear well and were noisey. They look good though. They are also rather expensive.

 

[Divisadero]

Thanks, Powdertrax. As mentioned above, I wouldn't mind bumping my ground clearance up a notch. 17" wheels with 255/65/17 seems like a good way to get a minor bump in clearance and a better selection of slightly cheaper tires without radically changing the dynamic or risking tire rub. I'm curious about folks' experience with 245/70/17 as well.

 

[kslu_wa]

Thanks, Powdertrax. As mentioned above, I wouldn't mind bumping my ground clearance up a notch. 17" wheels with 255/65/17 seems like a good way to get a minor bump in clearance and a better selection of slightly cheaper tires without radically changing the dynamic or risking tire rub. I'm curious about folks' experience with 245/70/17 as well.

You don't have to go +1 size with 245/70R17. You cans tick to stock size, which I believe is 245/65R17 which will be 29.5 inch. You still will have lots of side wall to cushion the ride.

I have had several sets of Blizzaks and I did not have major concerns with wear. Keep in mind that these tires should not be used much when the temperatures rise over 40F. I am not sure how practical it is where you live though. If wear a concern, you can go with mud and snow rated tires. Not as good as dedicated winter tire, but better than a standard all season tire on the snow.

 

[Divisadero]

You don't have to go +1 size with 245/70R17. You cans tick to stock size, which I believe is 245/65R17 which will be 29.5 inch. You still will have lots of side wall to cushion the ride.

I have had several sets of Blizzaks and I did not have major concerns with wear. Keep in mind that these tires should not be used much when the temperatures rise over 40F. I am not sure how practical it is where you live though. If wear a concern, you can go with mud and snow rated tires. Not as good as dedicated winter tire, but better than a standard all season tire on the snow.

Thanks. I'd actually like a tire diameter between 30" and 30.6" if possible.

Blizzaks are great at what they do (snow and ice). But they aren't a great fit for where we live and what we do.

 

[billz]

I’ve driven in 1 to 2’ of fresh snow without a single worry, even at 50-60mph.

Really? Wow.

 

[Passporter]

I’ve driven in 1 to 2’ of fresh snow without a single worry, even at 50-60mph.

Really? Wow.

Well he did say drive without worry. It's stopping that can hurt
Just kidding Powdertrax!

 

[G2_ITM]

I was planning on picking up a set of Sparco Dakar 18" wheels and Yokohama Geolander A/T G015 tires for my wife's Passport but I found a decent deal on 2021 Ridgeline 18" take off wheels and tires with just 100 miles on them. When the OEM Firestones wear out, I will replace them with Yokohamas. I am a big fan of the Yokohamas. I have had the previous version of that tire on my vehicles before and will be buying a new set for my truck this fall. The Ridgeline wheels are a 45 mm offset which pushes the tires out 10 mm further than the OEM Passport 20" wheels that are 55 mm offset. The Sparco wheels are 38 mm offset, so that would be 17 mm further out than the OEM. I can't really comment on how that would effect rubbing but clearance seems fine with the 245/60R18 Firestones.

 

[Powdertrax]

Really? Wow.

When the hwy I learned to drive in the snow on was the Mt Baker hwy, I’m pretty confident in my snow driving now ice is the equalize. When we first started boarding at Baker (1980’s) the snow removal crew only plowed to road one time in the mornin, but if it continued to dump you’d better know how to drive in 10”+ of fresh snow, back then I couldnt afford a 4x4 so I had a very aggressive set of snow tires put on my Civic wagon feeling the snow under your feet on the floorboard.

Just last winter we had a storm dump 24” over night and while were up at the pass it dumped another 14” and I couldn’t believe how easily the PP went through it with a single spin.

 

[billz]

I’ve driven through deep snow plenty of times having lived in New Hampshire for many years and going onto back roads that never got plowed. Also growing up in N/E PA we had quite a few 12”+ snowfalls and my friends and I would purposely go out and drive around in it before the snowplows got a chance to do their thing. It’s great fun. But driving at 50 or 60 in snow deeper than your ground clearance is “interesting” to say the least.

 

[SF Biotech]

Hello all. Having read/watched about a million posts, threads, and JonDZ youtubes about rim and tire sizes, offset, rub, and a variety of other issues about which I have never previously given thought, I feel a little overwhelmed with information. (Seriously though, this place is great and I really appreciate all the info.)

My situation: I live in a high-elevation neighborhood in Tahoe (~7,600'), and I just bought a Passport on Monday. It'll be my wife's car (replacing her Forester), and 98% of the time she'll use it for normal daily driving with plenty of snow-driving in the winter. But I'll also borrow it for adventures locally and in rural Nevada, the Eastern Sierra (where I spend a lot of time), and in southern Utah. I'm no offroader, but backcountry skiing, climbing, and backpacking take me on a number of rough-ish trails that qualify as light offroading. I have pushed my 2017 CR-V and my wife's Forester to the edge of their off-road limits in sometimes terrifying/sometimes hilarious fashion. Ideally, the PP could be a little better.

What I want: It's the wife's car, so the Passport needs to maintain its status as a road-friendly daily driver. At the same time, I'd love to give it a little extra clearance so that (a) I can more easily get off my street when there's 18" of snow and the plow is late and (b) I can soft/offroad with a tad more comfort than in the CR-V. For purposes of marital harmony, I'm not going to lift the PP. Also, we'll use one set of wheels/tires yearround.* Ideally, I'd like a wheel/tire combo that equates to about 30.5" in diameter so that the PP has at least a Subaru-amount of ground clearance. Also, I like the look of the 30.5" tires on a non-lifted PP too.

Wheels:

1. 17" or 18"? I've seen a lot of comparisons to the OEM 20" wheels, but not a lot of discussion comparing 17" or 18". The former look a little cheaper.
2. 8" or 8.5" wide? Does it matter?
3. Offset? I understand what it is, but I don't know what works with what.

Tires:

1. Tire rub? Opinion seems to vary between it being a big deal and it being no deal at all. FWIW, we're not doing daily u-turns where we live (maybe one u-turn a month?).
2. Snow shedding? Tire-to-wheel-well fit has never been a problem for me before, and I've driven through a lot of snow. There's often snow caked between the wheel well and my tire when I reach my destination, but I've never noticed any effect on the driving.
3. 265/60/18, 245/70/17, and 265/65/17 seem to be around a 30.5" diameter, although tire rub is a concern. (Or maybe it isn't?) 255/65/17 has options around 30.1" and 30.2", which might fine.
4. The kind of tires I'm inclined toward are Cooper Discover AT3 4Ss, General Grabber AT/Xs, Michelin CrossClimates . . . basically good snow-rated tires that can be worn yearlong and won't explode on a dirt road or suck on the highway.

Recommendations? Any wheel/tire recommendations or advice is appreciated. As is your tolerance of yet another such post. We're in no immediate hurry but will likely get a new set of wheels and tires by December.


*I tried Blizzaks on my old Tundra, but they wore out very quickly and felt "loose" on dry, curvy mountain roads. I've found that for winter driving in the Sierra, good all-season tires with AWD/4WD work well and are about 85% as good as dedicated snow tires. If I lived somewhere colder with more ice, I'd reconsider.

I would recommend a 18 inch A/T Michelin or Pirelli versions. Yokohama as another option. Try doing this: Try to see what tires some of the best Mountain A/T SUVs like Toyota 4Runner, Subaru Outback, Jeep Cherokee etc use in their OEM config. Then get those examples. Try using Tire Size Calculator for your A/T calculations and ask respective technical questions to America Tires or ur local tire shop. I am asure that will lead to an accurate, well informed and best decision for your A/T needs!! I would love to hear back more on that from you once you become expert from your learning

 

[Lildragnzzz]

I highly suggest the Nokian WR G4 SUV all weather (not all season) tires for your purposes. I’ve had blizzaks in Tahoe and these Nokian are about 80-85% as capable in snow and also 3 peak snow rated. Additionally I’ve driven them in 100+ weather and they stand up to that abuse too without premature wear.
Personally I’m running the wr G4’s on gunmetal 18” pilot/ridgeline wheels on my white ‘21 passport ex-l

 

[Lildragnzzz]

I highly suggest the Nokian WR G4 SUV all weather (not all season) tires for your purposes. I’ve had blizzaks in Tahoe and these Nokian are about 80-85% as capable in snow and also 3 peak snow rated. Additionally I’ve driven them in 100+ weather and they stand up to that abuse too without premature wear.
Personally I’m running the wr G4’s on gunmetal 18” pilot/ridgeline wheels on my white ‘21 passport ex-l

we got about 12-16” of snow up in Seattle this past feb and this tire setup on my passport was a champ up and down anything steep in this area, similar to tahoe

 

[Powdertrax]

we got about 12-16” of snow up in Seattle this past feb and this tire setup on my passport was a champ up and down anything steep in this area, similar to tahoe

My buddy and I headed up to Stevens during those storms for a day of boarding, as on every trip up we stop at the Sultan bakery to pick up some coffee, a fresh doughnuts and a sandwich for breakfast, but on that day they were closed due to the 18-20” in their parking lot but I didn’t notice until I had already pulled into their lot. As I pulled in I noticed another vehicle had done the same thing but they stopped getting stuck, I knew I couldn’t lose my momentum so I kept my foot in it and we barely made it back onto the hwy.

 

[Divisadero]

Does anybody have any experience with 17" wheels and 255/65R17 or 245/70R17 tires?

 

[kslu_wa]

Does anybody have any experience with 17" wheels and 255/65R17 or 245/70R17 tires?

I have 245/70R17 on my Pilot. I have Blizzaks and Cooper Discoverer AT3. There was a super light rub (barely noticeable as it rubs plastic over a bolt 1/2 in diameter) on Blizzaks and Discoverers at full lock before the lift and I did not notice anything different after 2 inch lift. A friend had 245/70R17 Wildpeaks AT3W on his Passport and he had a little rub at full lock (these tires have a more square profile) with 2 inch lift.

So the rub will depend on what brand of tire you will get. AT tires are more square, so expect to have more chances of light rub with those compared to regular all season M+S.

Before lift photo with Blizzaks (photo at Costco parking lot) and after lift (Discoverer AT3 in the mountains)