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From: andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers)
Newsgroups: net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: welcome to net.auto.tech
Message-ID: <667@grkermi.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 07:55:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: grkermi.667
Posted: Thu Oct 10 07:55:48 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 07:46:10 EDT
References: <893@lll-crg.ARpA> <219@husky.uucp>
Reply-To: andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers)
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 61

In article <219@husky.uucp> mls@husky.uucp (Mark Stevans) writes:
>I have 225/60HR14 Dunlop radials on my Toyota Supra right now, but, since
>winter appears scant hours away here in northwestern New York State, I
>solicit advice on what to do about snow tires.

I own a '79 RX-7 which spent its first four winters in the Berkshires... let
me answer your questions based on my experiences:

>Should I get 70 series snow tires and buy narrower steel wheels to match, or
>go with the only 60 series snows I could find, namely Goodyear Eagle Mud and
>Snow 215/60R14 tires (at $113 each) and mount them on the existing mag wheels?

I have 185/70R13 street tires on 5-1/2" mag wheels.  I've used 175/78 snows on
5" steel wheels for 7 years now with no problems.  The tire store advised me
against mounting/demounting tires on/off mag wheels any more often than
necessary... indeed, when I went to buy new tires, I had to sign a waiver
indemnifying them for any damages to my mags caused by their mounting machines.
Good case for keeping your snows on rims of their own... also, if you are
surprised by a freak early (or late) season snowstorm, you can always put
your snows on yourself.

>Assuming I do the latter, will my aluminum alloy wheels corrode and pit
>because of salt during the winter?

Your front ones will anyway - unless you're planning on putting snows all
around (which may not be a bad idea for NW NYS).

>Will the lag bolts seize up?

A very definite possibility... I've had it happen.  A thin film of anti-seize
compound has prevented its recurrence.  Another place to watch out for is the
mating surface of the wheel, ie. where it touches the brake drum (or 
analogous component of disc brakes)... the dissimilar metals can corrode
and become very difficult to separate.  Again, a thin film of anti-seize
helped... don't use so much that it might squish out and contaminate your
brakes, though!

>Will silicone spray on the wheels help protect them?

No, it would wash off almost immediately.

>Will the smaller 215/60 tires affect my speedometer/odometer enough to make
>a difference?

Probably not a significant one.  You can always measure the diameter of the
mounted snows vs. that of the other tires to get a correction factor... in
my case, it turned out to be < 3%.

>Anything else I should know about?

Yeah... you say you use lug *bolts*, ie. they screw right into the brake drum
(as opposed to lug *nuts* which screw onto studs mounted in the drum)?  Well,
if you go the steel rim route, make sure you have the appropriate lug bolts...
the ones for mags are typically 1 cm longer or so to compensate for the
added thickness of the mag wheels.  I had to pay about $30 for eight steel-
wheel lug bolts for the RX-7... that's nearly what the rims cost!  If your
spare is mounted on a mag (as mine is - back in the days when you got all
five mags and a full-service spare), make sure you carry a set of the 
appropriate lug bolts so you can use it!

AWR