Using the calculator they are only a few cm difference 209.8 vs 206.c cm/revolution. This would make the legacy a little softer in ride. Good or bad idea? priority is snow traction/wet handling. then treadwear. Want all season not winter tires Thanks
https://goo.gl/images/bWxWVL This shows the 17" tire is almost two inches taller. I think that's a big difference.
EDIT. I meant 225-50 17 vs 215-55 17. The calculators show very little difference, and I would be buying 4 tires.
Should be fine. Changing all 4 together doesn't really have any effect as long as there's physically room for it. If it get's fairly extreme, it can effect the speedometer, but you have to make a pretty major change for that to even be noticeable. I assume you're going from the 225/50 to the 215/55, right? The sidewall will be about the same height, so it probably won't make the ride any softer. Although the narrower tread will be a bit better for the snow. I run 215/65r16s snow tires on our 04 Outbackin place of the factory 225/60r16s, it's a very small difference. I wanted a touch taller, and that size was actually cheaper than the OE size. I don't think 10mm is enough to make much of a difference in winter traction. The Hakkapeliitta R2s would probably outperform any all season even if they were over 300mm wide.
That size change makes a lot more sense, lol. Wider tires tend to ride or float on top of the snow more (like snow shoes) and a narrower tire is better for cutting through the snow and gripping the surface below. Narrower tires are also less likely to make you wander/swerve when there are drifts or snow ridges in the road for the same reason.
Yep, narrower tires cut through snow to harder ground, and are less prone to hydroplaning. Also, on ice, reducing the contact patch increases the psi between the tire and the ground, which can help traction even on ice.
Interesting. I was always under the impression that reducing tire pressure to allow the tread to flatten out more and conform to the snow/ice would improve grip. At least, it works that way with bicycles.
When I mention the psi, I'm not talking about air pressure in the tire, I'm talking about the force applied between the tire and the ground (weight of the vehicle in pounds/square inches of the contact patch). There's some personal preference regarding pressures and ice. You certainly want low pressures if you need flotation (deep snow/mud where you won't be able to dig to the bottom of it. But then you want really big tires. Think icelandic offroad...). Tread conformity is certainly a good thing, which is why snow tires are made of much softer rubber. IMHO, lowering tire pressures makes for a relatively small difference in traction, but sacrifices tire wear for it. That's an acceptable trade-off in rally, but for street use, I run OE pressures.
