I think my low speed vibration is caused by a broken belt in the tire, so I will most likely be replacing them. The goodyear dealer is telling me that I should change the size from the stock 175/65/15 to 195/60/15. Can I do that? How will that affect the car? Is there any interference with any other components? Would you recommend that, or should I stick with the OEM size? Don't tell me to change rims because that is not an option for me ($$$)Thanks. Rob.

 

visit http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp and run the numbers.

 

The Goodyear dealer is telling you to change tire size because Goodyear doesn't make a tire in the correct size. There aren't many tires available in 175/65/15. Continental, Dunlop, Pirelli and...

I'm currently running Yokohama Avid H4s in 185/65/15. They are 0.1" greater in diameter than the OEM Continentals, according to the tire manufacturer's websites. That results in a speedometer reading error of <1mph. Besides, the difference is less than the tread depth of a tire.

So it's been done.

 

I saw a cooper at the Dragon wearing 205 Falkens on the same 15" stock rims I have. I was thinking about trying them for my next set.

 

I run 195/60 x 15 snows on steelies in the winter.

 

I run 195/60/15 snows on 7-holies in the winter.

 

You will loose some of the car's nippiness going to a wider tire, but you gain traction, lateral grip, and rolling resistance.

 

jabell--how's the handling?

 

I have 185/65 now on the 15" holey rims. No noticable difference in handling with these tires. When they are done I would like to get new rims something in 17" for daily driving, and keep the 15" for track and autocross. The 205 is the widest tire I have yet seen on the stock 15" rims.

 

Umm, any sane person would do it othe way around
with 17"s you gain a lot of performance that you would benefit from at the track and AutoX while you're sacrificing comfort a bit.
I'd use 15"s for the daily comfortable drive and get 17"s with nice sticky tire for atuoX and track.