I found a great Black Friday deal on a set of Pirelli 205 50 16's and I put a hold on them. It doesn't look like there'll be much difference in speedometer reading but the tires will be wider and a bit taller and I wondering if I'll have any clearance issues.

 

shouldnt be an issue on factory wheels. my GK's running snows in that size right now 16x7 wheels. i forget the offset, but its one of those tirerack brand tuner wheels hootie and tougemaster have.

 

https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/trmo...rts-wheels.jsp

 

No issue, I've been running them on my stock rims for several months now. My sig pic links to me build thread.

 

IMHO that is the perfect size for the fit.

 

many kinds of tuner wheels...! its the gray one

c1

 

Yeah what is it with the 185/55 anyway? Not a popular size with the tire people.

 

Update: Discount Tire had a killer Black Friday deal (33% off after rebate) so I got a set of Pirelli Cinturato Strada 205-50s (house brand, a P7 clone). I did massive research and they ticked all the boxes for me so I'm happy. I wasn't really ready to buy (my OEM Firestones still have a bit of tread up front at 30K) but tires are expensive and the deal was compelling so I'm going to store them for now. I'm a teensy uncomfortable with the buy now/install later part but I've dealt with DT before and they've always been standup so I took the leap ... here's hopin' I don't land on my face.

 

I'm a real novice here.
But my concern always when changing from the factory provided OEM size is messing up the speedometer and odometer.

I just don't want to mess with that.

So what do I look for in options that do NOT affect this reality?

I don't particularly like the thin...small vertical width of the EX tires. I know Honda chose them because they expect people will lower the vehicles, and/or they cosmetically look better to many people. BUT I would prefer a taller sidewall. Maybe it's wrong, but I feel it offers more protection.

So my question is....can I increase that sidewall difference?...and if so...how much? Without affecting either the speedometer or odometer.

 

well if you calculate and choose your wheels and tires correctly the circumference of the tire stays pretty much the same, so wont mess your speedo much.

do you know how to calculate tires?

185/55/16

185 = tire width in mm
55 = sidewall aspect ratio or 55% of width or 185 x 0.55
16 = inner diameter of your tire

 

Are you wanting to put larger tires on the stock wheels, or are you wanting to get a new wheel/tire combination in a completely different size? If it's the first one, a taller sidewall will directly affect the diameter of the tire and change the speedometer reading. If it's the second one, you'll be looking for a smaller aftermarket wheel with a tire size that gives you as close to the same diameter as possible, when compared to the OEM diameter on the stock wheel. For that, you can either crunch the numbers, or you can look the specs up on Tire Rack, they list the diameter of different sizes for each model of tire.

 

I really like the rims.
I would rather NOT change them.

To be honest. The OEM Firestones are still functionally OK...I expect about another year. And I'm not going to run out and do this tomorrow. But eventually...and I don't expect much more than a year more....I will change tires.

 

yah, i agree that the factory wheels on the GK EX look nice on the car.. the non-black ones, that is.

 

I'm going from 185/55-16 OEMs to 205/50s ... if the internet gods are telling the truth, the new tires are 0.1 inches taller and 0.8 inches wider. The speedo difference: maybe 60.3 true mph at the 60 mph reading (866 OEM tire revs per mile vs. 863 revs for the 205s). I can live with that.

 

This is my review from earlier this year when I went with the 205/50/16:

General Altimax RT43

I'm still getting similar MPG as I was when I had the stock Firestones.

 

I would have waited too. But I've been tracking EX-size tire prices since early summer and now I'm seeing higher prices -- OK only $5-$10 per tire, but still -- and less generous deals. So when I came across the sale I thought it just too good to pass up, even though I'm not quite ready. My tires have been slippy in the wet for some time now, esp. on launches unless I'm real careful but otherwise they're OK. However, another Chicago winter looms and if it's real bad now I've got an awesome fallback. If it's mild (crossing my fingers) I'll hold off on the tire change until road trip time.

 

Purchased a set of Falken Ziex 205/50r16 on black Friday for an insane deal, $273 shipped for the set of 4. Got about 3/32nds left on the factory Firestone FR710s at 46k and id really like to wait another month or first snow fall before I mount them which ever comes first.


Got them from Simpletire.com which I have now bought my 3rd set from and are drastically cheaper than tirerack. They are 65,000 mile tires as well, with a 600 tread wear rating which I thought was impressive and they do look very aggressive as well.
https://simpletire.com/falken-205-50r16-28952671-tires

 

hope not the 512's... those things are plastic in colder wet weather.

if all seasons go for the DWS06. i confirm they are very good tires.

 

I just hit that simpletire link and was kind of shocked; I never realized how many tire brands are out there ... holy moly

 

meh, they black and round they all the same.