I put my stock wheels back on from about late october to the end of april. There is no way I would not have wrecked my car if my summer rims were on. We got over 100 inches worth of snow in the winter. My stockers have winter rubber on them which get very good traction. I've never gotten stuck. 215/40/17 is the tire size I run, it looks good, the ride is very nice, and its about the closet size to the stock wheel/tire you can get in a 17.