I am looking to buy a set 205-55-17 for summer. Comfort and noise levels are the top priority as I run seperate wheels and tires for track events. Tire rack only has three options on that size.

What brand would you recommend and which vendor?

thanks

 

Howdy,

If you look for 205-45-17 or 215-45-17 you'll get a ton of choices and your speedo will still read accurately........Good luck!

 

thank you for the suggestion. i am running 205-45-17 yoko evs currently. They are great tires however just not comfortable enough for Denver streets. I would like to increase the shoulder of the tire to get a little more comfort during the week.

 

Are you sure you really want to increase overall diameter that much? It's not just your speedometer that will be off; your odometer will be increasing at a (fairly significantly) reduced rate.

Why not consider dropping down to 16" wheels if you're concerned about comfort? At least in that situation running a 55 series sidewall would be appropriate. Hell, I've got a set of 16" bridge spokes if you're interested.

 

Oops...double post.

 

Not to mention the gearing and slowing down your acceleration a good bit.

 

Thanks for all the input. Your points make sense.

I have a set of 17" TDR wheels that I want to use thus stay in 17" range. Based on your input now I am thinking about 215/50/17.

205/45 (my current size) has a radius of 308mm
215/50 has a radius of 323mm
205/55 has a radius of 328.5

Speedometer difference should be around 5%.

I am not terribly concerned about gearing and accelaration decrease since that is why I run 16" wheels with 40 shoulder on the track.

This set is for commuting only.


Now if anyone has a 16" set of white TDR wheels to swap for 17"s that is a different story.

 

Wow that's Thin and Tall.