I feel like I should know the answer to this, but just thought I'd get a few more opinions.

Currently I have 15 inch holey wheels. The wheels are 15x5.5 with a 175/65/15 tire on it.

I am trying to decide whether to get a decent street tire( instead of the commuter/all season tire I have now ) in a 205/50 or 205/55 15 or whether to get the same size tire and konig rewinds in 15x7.

How does having a smaller rim width affect performance? Obviously the konig would support that tire size better, I'm just trying to figure out how much better.

thanks.

 

Your best choice would be to get the improved size tire AND wheel.

When you put wide tires on narrow rims, the shape of the tire can be distorted and your contact patch will not meet the road as intended. You'll still get improved performance with the wider tire, but you won't get as much as you would with a correctly sized rim for the tire.

It also make it look like you are driving around on chocolate donuts, but whether or not that is good depends on your opinion of donuts.

 

just be mindful of the weight of the rim you would buy. If I remember correctly, your holey's weigh 12lbs, thats very light.

 

do 16x7.5's and run 205/50/16's. imho, the best performance setup
for the MCS.