Need help minus sizing for winter tres

[CarNewb]

I have a 2003 malibu base that needs winter tires, and i heard down sizing the tire can help but im not sure if it will be safe load and speed wise. The OEM size is 215/60/15 but i used the tire size calculator and it works best with 195/65/15 and 205/65/15. What do you guys recommend?

Thanks

 

[HTSS_TR]

The diameter of stock size 215/60/15 is 25.2", 195/65/15 is 25" and 205/65/15 is 25.5", they are close one to another. When you change from stock size to either one above you will loose some load capacity but not a lot. I would go with 205/65/15.

 

[CarNewb]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The diameter of stock size 215/60/15 is 25.2", 195/65/15 is 25" and 205/65/15 is 25.5", they are close one to another. When you change from stock size to either one above you will loose some load capacity but not a lot. I would go with 205/65/15.


Ok thank you very much, just one thing when i punch those size in the miata tire size calculator the 195/65/15 give me 0.7% too fast speedo reading. While the 205/65/15 give me 1.3% to slow

So would be better to go with the 195's because of more accurate speedo?

 

[CapriRacer]

In addition to diameter, you need to consider load carrying capacity and rim width.

According to Tire Guides, your car came with P215/60R15 93T or 93H's on 6" rims. Notice the numbers after the tire size. That is a way of expressing the load carrying capacity called Load Index.

The higher the load index, the better.

A P195/65R15 has a Load Index of 89 - wrong direction - while a P205/65R15 has a Load Index of 92 - better but still the wrong direction.

A P205/70R15 has a Load Index of 95 - that's good but the diameter changes 4.3%.

And just for reference - at 60 mph a 3% difference is only 1.8 mph. That's barely enough to worry about.

Rim width? A P205/65R15 has an allowable rim width of 5½" to 7½". P195/65R15 = 5" to 7", P205/70R15 = 5" to 7".

Tire Rack recommends P205/65R15 - so I would take that as a solid answer.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: CarNewb
I have a 2003 malibu base that needs winter tires, and i heard down sizing the tire can help but im not sure if it will be safe load and speed wise. The OEM size is 215/60/15 but i used the tire size calculator and it works best with 195/65/15 and 205/65/15. What do you guys recommend?

Out of those two sizes, I'd go with 205/65/15. Your car weighs 3100+ lbs. It may feel unstable/squirrly at hwy speeds with tires as narrow as 195.

I have 235 tires for summer and 215 for winter, and even at that, I can easily notice worse stability. I can't imagine what 195 would feel like...

 

[Audi Junkie]

205/65 is a nice beefy size. It adds a little height and keeps width acceptable for good performance and treadwear. Size/price they should be good.

I don't like downsizing to the point it compramises the overall driveability.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Speedo change would be the last thing I'd worry about. It's so small a difference anyway.

 

[ddean]

205/65R15 is the proper minus size for winter tires. Note that many other final N Bodies such as the Grand AM SE V-6 and Alero GL V-6 cars had this as the stock size on the same steel rims.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Yep, that's what you look for, alternative sizes for other similar or base models.

Common sense still needs to carry the day though, although Passat and A4 are the same chassis, I would not use the Passat 195/65-15 in place of the Audi 205/60-15, even for snows, on either car.


Going oversize, off the charts, is preferable to smaller sizes, but keep in mind prices of actual tires, there are usually some good deals to be found if you consider a few sizes.


fwiw, I used 205/65-15 on Audi A4. A Wagon w/o sport suspension, it rode great on bad winter roads. Some guys use 195/65 on the same car...if you compare them SIDE BY SIDE, there is a big advantage to the larger tire.

 

[CarNewb]

Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
In addition to diameter, you need to consider load carrying capacity and rim width.

According to Tire Guides, your car came with P215/60R15 93T or 93H's on 6" rims. Notice the numbers after the tire size. That is a way of expressing the load carrying capacity called Load Index.

The higher the load index, the better.

A P195/65R15 has a Load Index of 89 - wrong direction - while a P205/65R15 has a Load Index of 92 - better but still the wrong direction.

A P205/70R15 has a Load Index of 95 - that's good but the diameter changes 4.3%.

And just for reference - at 60 mph a 3% difference is only 1.8 mph. That's barely enough to worry about.

Rim width? A P205/65R15 has an allowable rim width of 5½" to 7½". P195/65R15 = 5" to 7", P205/70R15 = 5" to 7".

Tire Rack recommends P205/65R15 - so I would take that as a solid answer.









Thanks i guess the replacement tire is good then because its rated as 94T. And since everyone agrees this is best suited i will definitely give it a go.

Thanks Everyone

 

[onion]

What's the advantage to downsizing for a winter tire?

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: onion
What's the advantage to downsizing for a winter tire?

Cutting through slush and snow is better with a narrower tread. Also I think the narrow tire atleast functions as a better "rudder" as well if the tread isn't quite reaching something solid.
Even better down sizing, is to go down a rim size as well, as almost all snow tires have single ply sidewalls so the contact patch is loaded more evenly and to have some give, so you have to turn a bit harder to get the tires to slide. Going down a rim size allows you to have more sidewall height giving even more compliance to the contact patch.
Also tires are cheaper in smaller rim sizes, $40 vs. $90 for my Neon(13" rims) and Tracker(15" rims) for the same Goodyear Nordics...

 

[Audi Junkie]

Yep, but some people get carried away and put undersize tires on.

Smaller is fine when replacing big 18" or 17" tires, but on heavy cars, you don't want to go too small. 205/65-15 is a pretty fat tire.

 

[Ken2]

The easy way to downsize is to look into your owner's manual for the skinniest original equipment tire listed vs. the wider optional equipment many cars are sold with.

The skinny tire puts more pressure on the contact patch--the tread against the road surface. Let's pick some numbers out of the air...if you have 500 pounds of the car's weight on each rear tire, and the contact patch measures 10 square inches, you have 50 pounds of car weight against each square inch the road surface. If you can use a skinnier tire safely and reduce that contact patch to, say, 8 square inches, you now have 62.5 pounds per square inch pressing on the surface, 25% more pressure against the road surface for better traction.

If you are driving in snow deeper than 110% of the car's clearance, you'd be better off with very wide flotation tires, but that isn't often the case, and those tires are terrible on ice and hard packed snow.