pl8ster
September 25th, 2015, 03:05 PM
Tried to brute-force my way through last winter with FWD and all-seasons and life is just too short to do that again, especially since I live on a hill. Searching for a CL-based solution and the most-popular option is the old "black steelies" route, which is definitely my second choice after some winter-suitable alloys, but whatever.
I understand about minus sizing for winter tires, bolt patterns and center bores, where hub-centric spacers may come into play, and why I want to stay away from wheels that have a smaller center bore than the 64.1 I've got now. What I don't understand is how the concept of center bore applies to black steel wheels. It seems that there are both OEM-type steel wheels and non-OEM, but I have no idea how to tell the difference and I'm pretty sure most sellers don't either. Are black steelies designed to adapt to different-sized hubs, or are they simply lug-centric? I've been poring over the entire Internet and I don't have to tell you that it's hard to tell the good information from the stuff that comes out of people's asses.
For instance, I see a few black steelies/snow tire combos that have come off 2007-2012 Camries (I hear they're popular), which my research tells me have a center bore of 60.1. If those were alloys, there's no way they would fit without spacers, and I'm not doing that. But if they are OEM Toyota steelies, won't I have the same problem? If they came from a tire store, won't they be universal? Or is this type of wheel lug-centric so as long as the bolt pattern works, they will be fine?
And where does offset come into play with black steel wheels? Do I need to be concerned with that? Forgive my ignorance, but the last time I had a FWD vehicle, I had a set of barely-worn snow tires given to me by one of the owners of the company I worked for, and I just bought steel wheels from the Honda dealership to go with them, kind of a no-brainer. This time I'm buying everything at once and don't have $600 to spend, so...CL.
I'll tell you what I do know - I'm staying the hell away from studded tires. I'll be spending too much time on clear roads to put up with that noise for five months.
I understand about minus sizing for winter tires, bolt patterns and center bores, where hub-centric spacers may come into play, and why I want to stay away from wheels that have a smaller center bore than the 64.1 I've got now. What I don't understand is how the concept of center bore applies to black steel wheels. It seems that there are both OEM-type steel wheels and non-OEM, but I have no idea how to tell the difference and I'm pretty sure most sellers don't either. Are black steelies designed to adapt to different-sized hubs, or are they simply lug-centric? I've been poring over the entire Internet and I don't have to tell you that it's hard to tell the good information from the stuff that comes out of people's asses.
For instance, I see a few black steelies/snow tire combos that have come off 2007-2012 Camries (I hear they're popular), which my research tells me have a center bore of 60.1. If those were alloys, there's no way they would fit without spacers, and I'm not doing that. But if they are OEM Toyota steelies, won't I have the same problem? If they came from a tire store, won't they be universal? Or is this type of wheel lug-centric so as long as the bolt pattern works, they will be fine?
And where does offset come into play with black steel wheels? Do I need to be concerned with that? Forgive my ignorance, but the last time I had a FWD vehicle, I had a set of barely-worn snow tires given to me by one of the owners of the company I worked for, and I just bought steel wheels from the Honda dealership to go with them, kind of a no-brainer. This time I'm buying everything at once and don't have $600 to spend, so...CL.
I'll tell you what I do know - I'm staying the hell away from studded tires. I'll be spending too much time on clear roads to put up with that noise for five months.