19" RDX Wheels Traction Problems?

[cyclemat]

Thinking about installing the sparkling sivler 19" RDX wheel on my 2006 Honda Pilot and was wondering if anyone that has this had any issues with MPG's or traction. We live in Louisville, KY so some winters we may get zero snow and the next winter we could get 12". I don't want to have to have 2 different wheels for summer and winter driving. As you can tell I am more concerned with traction than MPG's but would like the forums opinion on both. Thanks in advance for any advice.

[carguy07]

The tire that you put on has a lot more to do with winter traction than the size of the wheel. What tires are you going to use?

[humanoid]

Please explain to me how rims/wheels would affect traction rather than the tires themselves. Are you expecting the wheels to contact the driving surface and not the tires?

[cyclemat]

Maybe the question should have read what 19" tire would be good for traction? I was shopping at discount tire direct and tirerack and it didn't have anything that had a good winter traction rating

[rocky]

Any of the tires including the magic words "All Season' will do fine. Eg highway all season, Grand Touring all season. But after trying various brands over the years would stick with Tireracks, OE tire the Michelin

Michelin Pilot HX MXM4

[jcantanixon]

Originally Posted by humanoid

Please explain to me how rims/wheels would affect traction rather than the tires themselves.

From my experience, generally speaking, if you increase the size of the wheels, the tire sidewall size goes down, so there's less sidewall flex and less of a contact patch between the tire and road. This is made worse when the tire manufacturers recommend running the lower profile tires at a higher PSI to avoid damaging the shorter sidewalls. It's not a huge difference, but it's a difference. In most cases, the contact patch area that is lost front to rear is made up in width by running slightly wider wheels and/or tires.

[xGS]

Originally Posted by cyclemat

Maybe the question should have read what 19" tire would be good for traction?

Continental ExtremeContact DWS in size 255/50R19.

[drballard33]

Originally Posted by xGS

Continental ExtremeContact DWS in size 255/50R19.

I agree with this tire selection, I run these on my Mercedes and they are awesome in every weather condition.