are 205's narrow? how do they grip compare to 215's?

thanks

P.S I have 17" wheels

 

I run the 215 45 17 for the Summer and they have alot of grip, not sure of the 205 in the 17s, I ran 205 in 16 once and they were pretty good

 

205/45-17 is the stock size for 17" wheels. 205/40-17 is a full inch smaller in dia. You would have an extra 1/2" of wheel gap, and your speedo would be even more optimistic.

215 cm is only a 5% increase in thread width over 205 cm. I have no personal experience with what that feels like. I have 205/45-17 Michelin Pilot Exhalto PE2 on one set of wheels. They handle well. Never tried 215s.

 

Any and all of my replacement tires have been on 215/40-17 from Falken RT615, Nitto NeoGens, Continental ContiSportContact 2s, Hankook R-S2 and crappy K104s, and next probably Dunlop Star Spec. I don't run winter tires either. If there was a good quality tire in 225/40-17 I would run it, no hesitation at all whatsoever.