I'm looking at three options for winter tires next season. My current winter tires are:

Front: 225/45R19
Rear: 245/40R19

I found my current tires (Blizzak LM-60 I believe) subpar and am looking for something with better performance in the snow. These are the three options I am considering (based on what's available in the tire I want):

OPTION 1 (4 x 235/50R18)
I tried the tire size calculator referenced in another thread, and these tires are 1.0% too fast compared to the front stock tires and 2.0% too slow compared to the rear stock tires. Just wanted to confirm that this is within "acceptable" limits? Would an 18 inch tire provide better traction in snow than a 19 inch tire?

OPTION 2 (4 x 245/40R19)
I tried the tire size calculator referenced in another thread, and these tires are 0.9% too fast compared to the front stock tires. Not sure if there is another consideration, noone recommended this option to me. But this way I wouldn't need a new set of mags. I read somewhere that skinnier tires provide better traction, not sure where 245mm falls on that scale.

OPTION 3 (2 x 225/45R19 Blizzak + 2 x 245/40R19 Nokian Hakkapeliita R)
Basically here I would keep my R rated Blizzak LM-60's in the front and put the H rated Nokian's on the rear. The salesperson said never to mix makes of winter tires (the tires have different speed ratings and the treads will likely be different). I read that you should never mix tires on AWD cars (my car is RWD) nor should you mix tires on the same axle. I believe I also read that you shouldn't mix tires with different speed ratings. The only reason I mentioned this option is because I wasn't too keen on spending money for 4 x 18 inch mags on top of the tires, and I wasn't 100% sure that option 2 was viable. I realize that option 3 will likely be highly discouraged, just throwing it out there.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

 

Buy my Bridgestone Blizzak LM-25V that's for sale!!!

 

The problem is you're running a staggered setup for snow tires. You'll want the narrowest width you can get in all the same size. Blizzak LM-60s are a great tire. Don't ever mix winter tires, whether you car is staggered or non-staggered, AWD or RWD. You won't get the traction from your mixed set. I believe the narrowest we can go is 225.

Rim size (18 vs 19) makes little difference as far as snow traction is concerned.

 

Skinnier tires suppose to be better for driving through snow (less plowing through the snow). Just a quick question. Are you looking specifically for snow traction or ice traction?

I bought my set of winter tires from the dealership running your second options.
I got 4 Toyo observe Garit kx (245/40R19). These are great performance winter tires on ice and snow. RWD is a little hard to get going from stop on ice but stopping/braking is superb. Noise is an issue (little loud).

 

Thank you. I'm looking mainly for good traction in snow. Blizzak's are great on ice, but I find them to be not so good in snow. OK, so Option 2 is doable, great. Yeah, the Infiniti dealership recommended the Toyo Observe Garit while an independent tire place recommended the Nokian's. I'm sure both are excellent.

 

My service guy just called to tell me that on the G37 Coupe the tires are "normally" staggered:

Front: 225/45R19
Rear: 245/40R19

and that he doesn't think I can put 4 x 245/40R19 winter tires. The tire size is OK according to the tire size calculator, but he said the coupe was "designed" to have staggered tires. He said something about a light that might come on in the dashboard (among other things).

BTW, the problem is that Nokian doesn't make any 225/45R19, so that's why I was trying to put 4 x 245/40R19. Does anyone here know anything about the possibility of running non-staggered tired on a G37 coupe RWD? Or better yet, does anyone have a G37 coupe RWD and successfully run 4 x 245/40R19 tires?

***UPDATE: OK, my service guy just called me back and said it was OK for the 4 x 245/40R19 tires

 

i ran 245/40s on the stock 19s on my rwd coupe without a problem. the only time you shouldnt run a staggered setup is with awd (and even then, you can get away with small variance in rolling diameter)

 

Good to hear, thank you!

 

I love my Blizzaks .... my guess is you will find an overwhelming amount of users really like them. No winter tire will turn the RWD G into a AWD-4WD snow machine.

 

There is an article on P 58 of the November 2012 Consumer Reports that does a pretty good job of comparing and contrasting various types of tires. I usually take their articles with a huge grain of salt, but this was informative.

You might also want to talk to Tire Rack.