Minimum wheel size?
 

Ok, my plan for this winter is to buy four steel wheels and snow tires, then switch wheel sets back and forth instead of a) sliding around on all-seasons or b) mounting snow tires on the alloy wheels.

Pretty common thing I would think.

Now I have heard it is better in snow to have narrower tires rather than wider, to cut through the snow rather than ride on top.

I talked to my local Mazda dealer about whether or not I could get 13" steel wheels, and they said that the 1999 Proteges came with either 13" or 14" wheels, but they could not get the 13" ones. They directed me to a salvage place who then claimed that 1999 models only came with 14" or 15" wheels, and that 1998 was the last of the 13".

Does anyone know if 13" wheels will fit on a 1999 Protege?
Does the narrow tire argument make any sense?

As an aside, if I were to use 13", any idea what profile tire I would use? (I have played with the Miata tire calcuator, but it allows you to specify tire profiles that don't seem to exist :))

yes the argument you make about tire WIDTH is sound.....but the reference to the wheels are their DIAMETER.....14 or 15's would be fine.

Hmmm. I though I would need to have a smaller diameter wheel in order to have a narrower tire. I have no idea why I thought that though. :rolleyes:

well remember....the wheels not only come in different diameters...but also in different WIDTHS.....if you get a 14 inch diameter wheel that is 6 inches wide...you will be able to find plenty of REAL snow tires that will fit.

Stock Mazda 13's will not fit. My 94 had 13's stock. I tried putting them on my brothers 2000 and they were not the proper offset. You can get 13's with the proper offset, but it'd be much easier to buy 1999 14's. Tire rack sells steel wheels cheap.