stock size is 195/65-14 but some people recomend going with a 205/60-14, how would that change the handling of the car? right now i have bfgoodrich traction t/a tires and i will probably get the same, but wasnt sure about changing tire size.

10/28/2006 12:53:35 PM

That's a drastic tire size change. Your motor and tranny will soon be dead.

10/28/2006 1:03:59 PM

i know its not much

10/28/2006 1:09:59 PM

its not a huge change in width but to a point, wider tires are better


the difference will come in switching from a 65 to a 60 profile tire as that will change your actual speed vs what your speedo reads due to a change in the number of rotations a minute.

so go with a 205/65/14 and youll be straight

10/28/2006 3:14:25 PM

^hahaha

10/28/2006 3:59:59 PM

if he goes with the 205-65-14, it'll make his car feel a bit more fat and sluggish b/c of the higher sidewall.

going with your original idea of 60 series tires is fine. it'll be slightly wider, and still feel somewhat the same handling wise.

[Edited on October 28, 2006 at 4:04 PM. Reason : i did that with my 15 series wheels.]

10/28/2006 4:04:03 PM

You can figure it out yourself, its pretty striaghtforward math.

XXX/XXRXX

XXX is width in mm's
/XX is aspect ratio, or the percentage of the XXX that tells you how tall the sidewall is
RXX is the diamter of the rim

So your orginal 195/65R14 is ~24" overall diameter. As long as you stay within 5-8% of that overall diameter you will be fine. For example:

205/60R14 is ~23.6"
215/60R14 is ~24.1"

10/28/2006 4:10:36 PM

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit

10/28/2006 9:18:43 PM

Quote :

"the difference will come in switching from a 65 to a 60 profile tire as that will change your actual speed vs what your speedo reads due to a change in the number of rotations a minute. so go with a 205/65/14 and youll be straight"

[NO]

195/65 and 205/60 are probably very close in overall diameter

the profile is the sidewall height expressed as a % of tread width

10/28/2006 9:30:12 PM

ok i know all of this so far
what i was wondering was if wrapping a slightly wider tire onto the rim will result in a less responsive sidewall and thus sloppy steering feel.

[Edited on October 29, 2006 at 1:55 AM. Reason : this is a plus 0 size]

10/29/2006 1:55:18 AM

^how does that even make sense?

and no.

10/29/2006 2:00:48 AM

i see where he is coming from. it would make a difference if you weren't dropping the profile down a size. it's not a drastic increase in tire size anyway. your sidewall will still be pretty much straight (not angled out like i think you're thinking).

10/29/2006 6:19:51 AM

slightly less responsive because the sidewall is being pulled in more from the tread to the bead. shouldn't be noticeable in this case, though.

10/29/2006 8:39:28 AM

Quote :

"what i was wondering was if wrapping a slightly wider tire onto the rim will result in a less responsive sidewall and thus sloppy steering feel."

yes it will

that's why:


mine are currently like this (plus for clearance purposes)

[Edited on October 29, 2006 at 9:58 AM. Reason : ]

10/29/2006 9:57:34 AM

i might still go with the 205. the tire i want in a 195 has 5 tread bands but the 205 has 6, so it looks better and ive read a little better in the rain.

^how narrow is that?

10/29/2006 10:07:30 AM

let me finish this for you.

step 1: click link http://www.edgeracing.com/tires/1956514/

step 2: order 4 Falken Ziex Ze 512 at $40/tire

step 3: ...

step 4: enjoy

10/29/2006 9:39:11 PM

those have pretty bad reviews, and ive loved these traction t/a's

10/29/2006 11:14:48 PM

here is my review: i like them, they are grippy and a great price. only down side is they are a little noisy during more spirited driving.

10/29/2006 11:28:29 PM