What tires to put on a Chevrolet Niva in winter

What tires can be installed instead of the factory ones?

The reasons for installing tires with other sizes may be different, for example, the driver wants to increase the speed of the car, or increase its maneuverability and weight load. It all depends on the conditions in which you will operate the car. An option to replace factory tires in the summer can be 215/75R15 tires, and for a wheel with a diameter of R16 in the winter, 215/65R16.

Usually, after indicating the size, the tire is marked with a load index and a speed index. The speed index is indicated by Latin letters, the load index is indicated by a number. For a Chevrolet Niva, you need to install a tire with the Q index, which means the maximum safe speed on such tires is no more than 160 kg. There is no point in installing a tire with a high speed index, since the car engine simply will not support it.

The load index characterizes how much weight the tire will bear when driving at maximum speed. Under normal conditions, you can install a tire with an index of 95-97, which means 690-730 kg. If the machine is used to transport cargo, then it can be supplied with index 100, this is a load of 800 kg. on rubber.

When selecting a tire, you must strictly adhere to the seat diameter. You cannot put an R16 tire on an R15 rim, or vice versa, an R15 tire on an R16 rim. In the first case, the rubber will simply dangle on the disk, and in the second case, it may burst during installation or while driving.

Alternative wheels for Chevrolet Niva

Niva has always been popular among those car owners who love hunting, fishing and off-road driving. Often it is precisely these car enthusiasts who think about what wheels to put on a Chevrolet Niva in order to increase its capabilities, especially off-road. To do this, there are several methods that can be combined - install larger diameter wheels, install larger diameter tires, install tires with a more aggressive tread pattern.

So what wheels can be installed on a Chevrolet Niva? And which of them will fit into the car without making changes to the design, and which ones will you have to lift your Niva using spacers and possibly cut the wheel arches?

Taking into account the correspondence between the bolt pattern parameters and the diameter of the hub hole, the Niva Chevrolet P15 wheels can be replaced with rims of 16 or even 17 diameter. Which wheels to choose - steel, cast or forged - you decide for yourself. There are no restrictions or recommendations here. The main thing is that they match the size.

As for tires, in the operating instructions for the Chevrolet Niva, without altering the design, most of the wheel sizes become as noted in the table.

Without altering the design, Chevrolet Niva owners install tires on their cars: 205/70 R15, 205/75 R15, 215/65 R16 and 215/75 R15. But with other models there may be nuances - the wheels may catch on the fender liners or other body parts. This is evidenced by reviews from car owners. And, by the way, the manufacturer recommends using 215/75 R15 tires only if you constantly drive off-road and prohibits accelerating on them above 90 km/h.

The maximum speed of the car according to the passport is 140 km/h. This means that when choosing tires, you can focus on the speed indices N (140 km/h), P (150 km/h) and Q (160 km/h). It is pointless to install higher-speed tires, and it is unsafe to install lower-speed tires. Although in the operating manual the manufacturer recommends tires up to T (190 km/h) and H (210 km/h) indexes. Apparently, with a reserve.

As for the load index, choose for yourself based on the range of tires and the operating conditions of the vehicle. Standard options are indexes from 95 to 100, which corresponds to 690-800 kilograms of load per tire.

Maximum Niva Chevrolet wheels

What are the maximum Niva Chevrolet wheels that can be installed on this car? Judging by reviews on popular sites and forums, Niv owners manage to install wheels up to a diameter of 35 inches. True, for this you need to use spacers to increase ground clearance and raise the car. And also trim the fender liners and wheel arches.

Seasonality

According to this criterion, car tires are divided into three types:

Summer

Tires are made of hard rubber that does not soften at high temperatures.
They wear out more slowly on hot asphalt. This guarantees a long service life and short braking distances. The tread pattern of summer tires removes water well from the contact patch and prevents aquaplaning.

However, at low temperatures, the rubber of summer tires loses its elasticity. At temperatures below 5 degrees Celsius, the adhesion coefficient of such tires decreases sharply. In winter, the braking distance of a car with summer tires increases significantly.

Important! Tires that have lost their elasticity glide easily even on clean, dry asphalt. Therefore, it is necessary to install winter tires for the winter.

Winter

The rubber of these tires remains elastic at low temperatures, which ensures reliable grip on asphalt. In order to hold the car on snow or ice, the tread of winter tires has many sipes, the edges of which “cling” to the road.

However, such tires soften greatly on hot asphalt and are not suitable for use in the heat. Separately, it is worth noting the winter studded tires.

They are made of harder rubber than winter non-studded ones. Spikes provide good traction in snow and mud. However, studded tires have a longer braking distance on asphalt and ice. Therefore, in urban conditions it is better to use tires without studs.

All-season

These tires are a cross between summer and winter. Accordingly, they wear out faster than summer tires on hot asphalt. And when used on snow, ice or even winter asphalt, all-season tires do not have a good grip coefficient. Its only advantage in summer is good cross-country ability in mud or sand. Therefore, such tires are not so rare on Niva.

Cordiant Polar SL

The cost of one tire is about 3,000 rubles, plus or minus 300 rubles. As they write in the reviews, it has good grip on the ice crust and also digs snow porridge well. Of the minuses, they note very poor performance at temperatures down to -5. That is, the tire is purely winter, if you prefer to change your shoes in advance, then it is better to refuse the purchase. Because in the late autumn period it will be uncomfortable to drive, but as soon as the cold hits a little harder, the tires begin to behave simply wonderful.

For those who save money, this choice is quite good. If you consider that branded tires of this size cost from 4500-5000 rubles, then you will save a lot from a set. And yes, the tires are not studded, but so-called Velcro.

Tire prices

The cost of tires depends on the manufacturer and tire size. At the same time, summer, winter and all-season tires of the same manufacturer and size are almost the same in price. Only studded tires are noticeably more expensive.

Approximate cost of 15-inch tires for Chevrolet Niva:

• Kama Flame - 3600 rub.
• Dunlop - 4300 rub.
• Hankook - 4350 rub.
• Barguzin - 3000 rub.

Tires for Shniva with a seat size of 16 inches are slightly more expensive.

To increase the ground clearance of the Chevrolet Niva, ready-made or home-made “lifting kits” are used. When lifting a car at a high altitude, even shock absorbers, springs and some other suspension parts have to be changed. Thanks to this, it will be possible to insert tires of increased height into the wheel arches. Typically, lifted Shnivy tires are fitted with tires up to 240/80 R15.

Among domestically produced SUVs, Chevrolet Niva has received a well-deserved leadership in sales. But a relatively small percentage of owners use it for its intended purpose - off-road. This car acts as an everyday vehicle. Most often it can be found in rural areas as an excellent option for dirt roads and highway driving. Not everyone decides to “knead the dirt” on a Chevrolet Niva.

Choosing tires: where to start?

Why change tires at all? An experienced VAZ 2121 driver does not have such questions. Nivovod begins to think about replacing tires not because of a good life, nor in search of extreme sports or unusual sensations. The thing is that all-season factory tires 185/70 R16, being the result of compromises, unification and budgetary frameworks, turn out to be a very mediocre assistant both on the city highway, and when driving off-road, and in winter.

Off-road variant of Cordiant

Here you already have to choose tires for yourself, based on a number of basic parameters:

in what operating conditions will the future wheels be used, whether the car will have to cut through asphalt road surfaces or more, after all, off-road; how far the driver is ready to go in the matter of tuning his iron horse, will the owner’s heart tremble to send his brand new VAZ 21214 under the knife (some tire sizes require widening the wheel arches or bending their sides outward, lifting the suspension, as well as lifting the body of the VAZ 21214 directly above the frame ); based on the budget (a lift kit costs about 3-4 thousand rubles, it can be easily installed even in your garage, a completely acceptable set of tires can cost 3.5-4.5 thousand rubles, and the most “juicy” offers reach up to amounts of 8-12 thousand

rubles); take a thorough look at the offers of various brands (it’s worth paying attention to already proven brands, since good tires are not just a beautiful tread pattern, but also the correct chemical composition. And you can be sure that you won’t get a “pig in a poke” only by trusting a manufacturer with a good reputation).

You can’t do without basic knowledge of tire labeling. Typically, the name of the tire indicates three main parameters (for example, 185/70 R16). Where 185 is the tire width in mm, 70 is the profile height expressed as a percentage of the width and R16 is the radial diameter of the rim in inches. There is also almost a dozen additional information, incl. regarding the type of tire (M+S - all-season, AT or MT, these abbreviations are discussed in more detail below), manufacturer, operational and technical characteristics, braking coefficient (A - good, B - acceptable, C - so-so) and much more.