[Wvwop]

I have an 09 smart brabus with the 17" rims in the back 15" in the front and am looking for winter tires, if I can't find the 17" 15" combo can I use the OEM 15" passion rims on my brabus with no problems ?

 

[Big453]

If you want winter tires, then my advice would be to use standard rims ie. 4.5J x 15 ET23.5 front, and 5.5J x 15 ET22 rear.

This will give you a lot of choice in tire sizes, including the standard 155/60R15 front and 175/55R15 rear tire sizes.

Other options include:

145/65R15 front and 175/55R15 rear
165/60R15 front and 185/55R15 rear
165/60R15 front and 195/50R15 rear
155/65R15 front and 175/60R15 rear
155/65R15 front and 185/55R15 rear
145/65R15 front and 165/60R15 rear
165/65R15 front and 185/60R15 rear

The choice partly depends on what matching tires you can get. You will probably find the available choices of matching tires in most of the above sizes severely limited in the US market.

Try good online tire places as most tire shops will be even more limited in choice.

Two other choices are:

175/55R15 front and 195/50R15 rear
175/60R15 front and 195/55R15 rear

but with these two choices a tire dealer could refuse to fit a 175/55 or 175/60 to a 4.5" rim. The tire fitter's guide for these size tires is a rim width from 5" to 6.5". All the other sizes that I mention are compliant with the tire fitter's guide.

All the tire sizes that I have mentioned are fairly close to the outside diameter of the standard 175/55R15 rear tires , except for these options:

165/65R15 front and 185/60R15 rear
175/60R15 front and 195/55R15 rear

195/55R15 rear tires raise the gearing by 3.8% compared to the standard 175/55R15 rear tires, and 185/60R15 rear tires raise the gearing by 5.1% compared to the standard 175/55R15 rear tires. These are big increases and could affect driveability, particularly 1st gear when pulling away from a standstill and top gear when cruising particularly going uphill. However, compared to Brabus rear tires such as 225/35R17 and 205/45R16 the outside diameter of 195/55R15 rear tires is about the same.

Here's an option in the 165/60R15 front and 185/55R15 rear sizes:

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 185/55R15 86R

https://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/tiresearch.cgi?p1=185&p2=/55&p3=R15

Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 165/60R15 81R

https://www.vulcantire.com/cgi-bin/tiresearch.cgi?p1=165&p2=/60&p3=R15

Vulcantire also list Vredestein Quatrac 5 in these sizes which are all-season tires with the 3PMSF Three-Peak Mountain Snow Flake symbol so have reasonable traction in snow. The Hakkapelittas have an R speed rating so are limited to a 106mph top speed. I have never used Vulcantire so this is not a recommendation for this company.

 

[jimvw57]

Wider tires don't work well in deep snow on a smart. I have 195/55 on the rear (snows) and all season 195/55 on the front. it works, but not like my standard size Blizaaks did. This year has been exceptionally tough on driving, and mostly in the last 3 weeks. I have been driving my Land Rover because of the high winds, icy streets and large snow drifts. You gots to know your limitations....

 

[Big453]

Wider tires don't work well in deep snow on a smart. I have 195/55 on the rear (snows) and all season 195/55 on the front. it works, but not like my standard size Blizaaks did. This year has been exceptionally tough on driving, and mostly in the last 3 weeks. I have been driving my Land Rover because of the high winds, icy streets and large snow drifts. You gots to know your limitations....

I agree about the need for narrower tires in deep snow.

I'm current running Vredestein Quatrac 145/65R15 front tires and Vredestein Quatrac 155/60R15 rear tires on my Smart 450. I managed to get some narrow rims from the Japanese Kei Car (available in Japan from 2001 to 2004). These rims are 3.5J x 15 ET20.5 front and 4J x 15 ET14 rear. They would be a perfect fit on the Smart 451, although not everyone likes the look of such narrow rear tires. On my 450, I have fitted Japanese Kei Car rear wheel arches. These are about 1" narrower each side than the standard car. If I hadn't done that, the Kei car rear wheels wouldn't have filled out the rear wheel arches so well.

The Kei car originally used 135/70R15 front tires and 145/65R15 rear tires.

Here's some information that I found on Wikipedia about the Japanese only Smart ForTwo Kei Car

K: launched in October 2001, exclusively for the Japanese market. It was designed to fit the Japanese kei car regulations by adopting specially developed rear fenders and narrowing the track width and tire dimensions and the width reduced to 1.47 m. The engine displacement remains unchanged at 598 cc, as specified in the standard. Safety features include ESP (Electronic Stability Program) and BAS (Brake Assist System) as standard. The Smart K also facilitates the starting procedure with the Hill Start Assist that makes a starts on slopes easier. The Smart K was discontinued in November 2004.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_Fortwo

 

[NW453]

Skinny always 'Mo Betta'!

 

[penzy]

I have Vredestein Quatrac also, and they're great in the Minnesota winter.