Wider tires?

[BirdDogger]

My stock Dunlop tires wore too quickly. I had to replace them at 17,000 miles and less than a year of driving. Now that's a crummy tire! There was no way I was going to replace the tires with another set of Dumblops. I went with a set of Uniroyal Tiger Paw touring tires. I had really good luck with these tires on my wife's Mazda 626 and I'm hoping for the same on the Honda. The warranty on these tires is a limited 6 years/70,000 miles.

What do you folks think? How many MPG's do you guess I will lose by going to a 185/65R15?

FWIW- I've already noticed increased stability on the road and I like that a lot.

[Tinytimmy80]

My wheelsize is 185/55/R16. The MPG's are comparable to people who have the standard 15'' wheels (175/55/R15?). It's only 1 cm wider...so maybe 1 or 2 mpg difference? (just guessing)

I had Dunlops too. I replaced them with Bridgestone Turanza ER300's after just 24.000 kilometers (15.000 miles). So I know where you are coming from.
Dunlops are great for grip in the summer, but they just wear out too quickly. My drivingstyle is to blame for that partially, but the tirecenter couldn't believe it at first. They offered to put on the Bridgestones... great value for money and the grip is much better in wet conditions and on snow. The mechanic guarantees these will not wear as fast. I heard good things about Uniroyal too, but they don't have many tires in my size, only Bridgestone, Dunlop and Continental.

[Ehetleos]

Originally Posted by Tinytimmy80

My wheelsize is 185/55/R16.

Μine too

Originally Posted by Tinytimmy80

Bridgestone Turanza ER300's .

These are my stock tires. Nothing but a load of crap! They dropped all their potential and capabilities after 10k km. To make matters worse, at 15k km dry-cracks appeared all over the diametrer of the tire (on all 4 of them)
I strongly recomend against their buy! I am switching to Michelin Energy savers soon (albeit @ 195/55/R16) and get it over with

[BlueIMA]

I change my wheels to 17" and got me a set a of 17x7 Machined w/Black Accent MSW Type 20 IN STOCK and 205/45R17 Yokohama AVID ENVigor that I ordered from Tire Rack and I lost perhaps 2 miles per gallon in MPG. The car looks a lot better by the way...

[Tinytimmy80]

Originally Posted by Ehetleos

Μine too



These are my stock tires. Nothing but a load of crap! They dropped all their potential and capabilities after 10k km. To make matters worse, at 15k km dry-cracks appeared all over the diametrer of the tire (on all 4 of them)
I strongly recomend against their buy! I am switching to Michelin Energy savers soon (albeit @ 195/55/R16) and get it over with

Hi Ehetleos,

You probably have the ER370's. They are standard on most Insights and Fits (Jazz). Bridgestone makes them only for Honda. They are arguably just as bad as the Dunlop SP2030.

The ER300 ecopia for our wheelsize only came out this summer (2010). It's been tested and received many awards in NW Europe (UK, Holland and Germany).

Here's the link:
Bridgestone Ireland

[Ehetleos]

Originally Posted by Tinytimmy80

You probably have the ER370's. They are standard on most Insights and Fits (Jazz). Bridgestone makes them only for Honda. They are arguably just as bad as the Dunlop SP2030.

Quite right, dear friend, it is the Bridgestone Turanza's ER370.
Apologies for the incomplete info i provided with my earlier remarks.

[aussie]

Has anyone worked out how wide and tall you can go on the 15" rims and not have clearance problems? I test drove the new CRZ and was really impressed with the grip and ride compared to the insight. Guessing shocks and wheels and tires are the main differences?
'

[Tinytimmy80]

Originally Posted by aussie

Has anyone worked out how wide and tall you can go on the 15" rims and not have clearance problems? I test drove the new CRZ and was really impressed with the grip and ride compared to the insight. Guessing shocks and wheels and tires are the main differences?
'

The following table (from the firestone website) suggests the maximum tiresize for the standard 15'' rims (which are 5½J) is: 205/70 R15.

205/70 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J
185/65 R15 5½J, 6J, 5J, 6½J
195/65 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J
205/65 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J, 7½J
215/65 R15 6½J, 7J, 6J
195/60 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J
205/60 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J, 7½J
215/60 R15 6½J, 7J, 6J, 7½J
225/60 R15 6½J, 7J, 6J 7½J, 8J
185/55 R15 6J, 6½J, 5J, 5½J
195/55 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J
205/55 R15 6½J, 7J, 5½J, 6J, 7½J
195/50 R15 6J, 6½J, 5½J, 7J
205/50 R15 6½J, 7J, 5½J, 6J, 7½J
225/50 R15 7J, 7½J, 6J, 6½J, 8J

When I went to my dealer to ask if they could install some 205's, the mechanic remarked that he didn't know if there was enough clearance in the wheelhousing/guard (is that the correct English?). Meaning, steering all the way left or all the way right might not be possible without scraping. He recommended 195 as a maximum.

As far as the height of the tire, I don't see a restriction. But you have to take into account that because the circumference of the tire will increase, the speedometer (and therefore the odometer) will not be accurate anymore.