Hello,
I'm trying to decide on set of wheels specifically for winter tires. I'm going to downsize to 18inches from the OEM 19, but I'd like your thoughts on buying a wheel made by a respectable brand, like Enkei, that's made in Malaysia, Thailand, or China vs their Japanese higher end alternatives. There is a significant price difference between the different levels, and places like Tire Rack stand behind all of their options, but I don't want to take a cheap route to have issues later on either.
You can absolutely downsize the wheels. This is a quite common thing to do, especially for winter tires. You just need to make sure that the tires you get for the new wheels are the same diameter as your original wheels (within +/- 3% is the general rule).
Personally I would not go to your dealer, but rather a tire specialist (Tire Rack is certainly good option as well).
You do need to make sure the smaller rims have sufficient clearance for your brakes, but again Tire Rack or any good tire specialist will be able to help you with this.
NO. ALL YOUR WHEELS MUST BE CORRECT SIZE, NOT SMALLER NOT BIGGER. ONLY USE THE RECCOMENDED TIRE SIZE. ask your dealer for a good tire brand for winter, they have hundreds of options.
Getting a smaller wheel is effectively lowering the car. Why would anyone be foolish enough to do that ? Don't lower it for ice/snow conditions, if anything, raise it up ? Whatever happened to common sense ?
