17inch tires - what affects winter driving the most?

Question

I have 205/50-17. High performance tires. What affects winter driving the most? is it the width? aspect ratio or the size?

This question is not limited to the tire that I have, but rather a general question about tire dimensions and how it affects winter driving. thx

Answer 1

the wider, the better. the narrower, the slipperier.

Answer 2

If you are referring to winter meaning snow and ice, Size is important but not as important as tread pattern. A 205/50-17 is 205 cm across the tread, and 102.5 (50% of 205) from rim to tread--the height, and 17 for a 17 inch rim. A narrower tire--like a 185, will do better in snow because it "digs" through the snow and doesn't ride on top like a wider tire.
A 205/50 17 isn't that wide to cause any problems. A 205/ 50 and a 205/70 are the same width by the way. The first number is the width, second is the height, third is the rim size.
x/y-z x=width, y% of x=height, z=rim size. With that size you have, go for a more aggressive tread pattern such as a ContiExtremeContact or a Dunlop vs a Michelin MXM4.

Answer 3

it has a lot to do with the tired with some say if you have a wider tired it's harder to drive cause unlike sand they wider the print the better off you are as for ice when wider print the harder to drive cause you have that much more tire heating it up making it more slick where as the smaller the print the easier it is to burn through the ice helping you get to the good stuff we have that problem also we have 12 in wide tired on twenty's on our daytona truck 4 wheel drive helps or all wheel drive

Answer 4

Tread depth, shape and composition of the rubber.

High performance tires are not good winter driving tires.

Answer 5

My experience has been the wider the tire, the worse it goes in snow and slush. You're pushing a lot of snow with wide tires.

Answer 6

tread depth and shape