Snow tires for a 2026 XLE and 17" wheel size

That shouldn't be, if you've appropriately sized the tires. Basically if you reduce rim diameter, you increase the tire's profile number, to roughly match the stock tire's outside diameter. Or you should; otherwise, as you say, you're messing up ride height, the odometer, and so on.

For example, if the stock 17" tire's profile is 60 (percent, height divided by width), to achieve the same OD with a 16" tire you'd need to go to at least 65 or 70. You can adjust width as well, within limits.

 

Tire Height Calculator

 

I was this close to ordering some OEM wheels from a salvage yard. 1300 bucks w/tpms. Good shape, supposedly. I just couldn't do it. My history with wheels is that you can't get rid of them when you change cars. This was just too much $$$. I'll see if I can squeeze by on all seasons.

 

All well and good, but you should pick another size, something with a higher profile number, say 65 or even 75, with the aim to approximate the OEM OD.

appreciate gen 5 tire selection is “limited”, to put it mildly.

 

That's a 6.7% discrepancy - way out of the range of what's normally considered acceptable. 3% difference is the upper limit usually used, and you should aim to achieve more like 1%.

This can affect not only the obvious speed-related things like the speedometer, but also the suspension geometry - enough to increase the scrub radius.



205/65R16 would be the correct 205R16 choice, with less than 1% difference.