I have a 2003 sedan with 215/55-17 stock tires. I also have four low mileage snows from my previous Maxima that are 215/55-16's. The tire calculator shows a 3.8% difference. Am I ok with this, or do I have to go out and get new snows?

 

it is up to you, it won't hurt anything. but you will have to calculate out the difference all the time and assuming you put 5000 miles on this winter you will be off your odometer reading by 200 miles

Better Life thru Chemistry
Black on Black 03.5 Sedan 6MT - Custom Catback, Custom Intake Tube, HyperGround Kit

 

Generally rule of thumb I've heard of is that +/- 3.0% is as far off as you want to go. However, you're obviously not going to have any rubbing issues by going smaller. The speedometer will read high and the odometer will rack up a few extra miles, but that's about the extent of the "problem" that a smaller tire will cause, as long as the tires are load rated for the weight of the vehicle. (There's a number after the size.. such as 215/55R17 93V, where the 93 indicates the load rating. Whatever your original tires are, you don't want to go smaller. I think -- somebody double check me on this.)

2003.5 G35 Sedan Desert Platinum/Graphite Premium/Sport/Aero/Nav/Winter

 

The other thing is that you'll have about 1/2" less ground clearance. This may or may not be really significant, but I usually would tend to try to do a winter tire that gives me slightly more clearance for the ruts in the road, etc.

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