OK, got my tires mounted today. No rubbing, no interference - so far. I haven't driven them very far or done any hard cornering with passengers, but the clearances look very good.



Side view to show 50-series profiles.



Rear shot to show extra width and pattern.



Close up on front. Tire sticks out an extra 0.4" from the rim, gives a bit more rim protection, especially with the rim protection bead on these Goodyears.

If I have any issues later, I'll post about it. No obvious difference in ride quality or noise, and the speedo checked out against a radar sign to to the same MPH. I'll do a GPS check on it later.

Worked for me, YMMV!

 

Please let us know what happens to your fuel economy.

 

I'm expecting to lose 1-2 MPG, which may be hard to notice. If it's much more than that, I'll let people know.

 

Thanks for the pics! I've been waiting to see this size.

It DOES make the sidewalls SEEM slightly taller, because there's not only more tire width, but more of a square shoulder and more vertical sidewall.

What tire did you get again? If it's a summer tire, I'm surprised that there's no perceived ride degradation.

+1 rep

 

Oh, and there shouldn't be any perceptible speedo/odometer variance - it's only 1.5mm taller diameter than stock.

When tire treads wear, you lose more than that.

 

These are the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's. I think Tirerack lists these as a "max performance summer" tire. Ride seemed AOK to me, I'm running them at the factory pressure spec of 33 psig. I might notice it more as I get some miles on them, but it's not a night and day thing, like when you go from a 40 to a 30 series sidewall, for example.

 

i couldn't tell by the picture there, but was there a "trapezoid effect" going on with the wheels and tires?

 

wow, that looks so much better than the factory 185's. Cant wait till I get mine!

 

Not exactly sure what you mean. To my eye, they look fine. IMO, the ideal rim size with these would be 6.5", but with the stock 6", the sidewall bulge is minimal. The tires are spec'ed down to 5.5" rim width.

 

A bit more info. Did a freeway drive on the way home, up to 85 mph, no problems. If anything, the car seemed less twitchy and nervous at speed, something I and others had noted with the stock tires. Seemed like a bit more "thwack" noise over tar strips and irregularities.

Took it out a few minutes ago and did as much hard cornering as is possible on the extremely boring roads around my house. I knew of one good "test" corner, a LH off of a fairly fast road onto a feeder street, where you have to go over a dip in the middle of the turn. No rubbing I could hear or see on the tires later after inspection.

Definitely better grip, but now, the softness of the stock springs and dampers is more obvious. Did one hard braking from about 50 up to the ABS limit. IMO, felt a LOT better than stock, it would be interesting to do an instrumented test, as braking distances with the stock tires have not generated very impressive figures.

 

Yep, I guarantee you will see improved stopping distance over the crappy stock tires.

Trying to decide if I want these or the new Falken ZE-912's

Edit: guess i just made up my mind, the Goodyears are $49 a piece now on Tire Rack, so I went ahead and ordered those.

 

BTW, when they had the rear wheels off, I've never seen anything as pathetic as that microscopic rear drum brake, skinny little spring (looks like it was from a ball-point pen), and toy suspension arm. This is definitely not your father's Oldsmobile.

 

Be careful about pushing the tires hard before you've put a few hundred miles on them. New tires can have some leftover mold-releasing agent still on them that needs to wear off before you get the full amount of grip.

 

I see it too. It's the result of putting a wider tire on a slightly narrower rim. Kind of the opposite of the "tire stretching" that seems popular with the VW crew (putting a narrower tire on a wider rim, resulting in a thinner looking sidewall). Essentially in this case you're pulling the bead in a bit from the sidewall, resulting in a the appearance of a slight bulge at the edge of the tire.

I'm not sure if this will cause any problems.

 

Agree it bulges more than a stock setup, but remember, the stock rim is a 16x6, and 205/50-16's are spec'ed to a rim width as low as 5.5". A 6.5" rim would be better, but the 6" is fine, and offers more rim protection, anyway.

 

Actually, come to think of it, I might have had the same slight bulge on the Subaru (had the same tires, but in a lower profile 17" size)... Hmmm... I can't remember and don't have any large enough photos handy... I'm sure it's fine.

 

Now that you've had the 205/50s for a while, what do you notice about handling, mileage, comfort, noise, etc?

 

Mighty thx for this useful info. I was wondering which tire size to get, but judging from this, I will go for same size but I will have to get all season.

+1 Rep from me also

 

Interesting, I was told that going 205 on the standard rims would give side ways roll under reasonable cornering, and would comprmise the handling.

The goodyear eagle F1 are a good tyre for a light car like the Jazz/Fit ran them on my second jazz for 4 years.

 

Depends on the air pressure you use in the tire.

I have a 205/45/16 on my 08 on a 6.5" rim and at first used 33psi all around but found the performance tires didn't like this low pressure at all. Felt like I was driving in sand and it was clear I was going to have uneven wear issues. I adjusted my pressure to 46 psi up front and 35 psi rear which is giving me better mileage, grip and wear. Your psi settings will vary depending on tire but will almost certainly need to be higher than the stock tires if upgrading to sticky rubber.