195 tyres instead of 205's ????

[hammonds]

had 205's on my 8v with standard rims when I had it. Got 195's on my VR6 currently with the standard highline rims. Both sets were 15inch I believe.

[neil1780]

Does anyone run 195/40/17?

[Wayne]

Does anyone run 195/40/17?

I did not, but have seen them used all ok

[Len]

195's should be 45 profile.

205 and 215 can be 40 profile.

[whit]

i'm wanting to change to 195's purely because they're cheaper!!

what about upping the profile too?? could you go up to a 55 or 60 without a problem?

would they be any cheaper?

[tweed]

I had 195/55/15 but recommend 50mm wall

[thai-wronghorse]

The '50' isn't a measurement in milimetres, it's a percentage of the tyre width. And no I wouldn't put larger profile tyres on there as it'll affect the gearing and make the handling even wobblier.

[Khare]

The '50' isn't a measurement in milimetres, it's a percentage of the tyre width. And no I wouldn't put larger profile tyres on there as it'll affect the gearing and make the handling even wobblier.

+1

[Ninj]

i'm wanting to change to 195's purely because they're cheaper!!

what about upping the profile too?? could you go up to a 55 or 60 without a problem?

would they be any cheaper?

You couldn't fit a larger profile tyre without throwing the speedo out.  For instance your speedo would read 1.6% slow with a 55 and with a 60 = almost 5% - doesn't sound much but enough to get you points 

Also, by fitting larger profile tyres you are increasing the flex in the sidewall which may affect handling (impossible to quantify but it's the reason performance cars don't use them).

By going to a 195/50 vs a 205/50 your speedo will very slightly over read - Id prefer that and the cash in my pocket every day.

As a rough ballpark, (only compared one brand) price wise the cheapest (so you could therefore assume most popular sizes) are the 195/50/15

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html (cos it didnt work on my first link)

[vr6lew]

I always find 205's better suited to the wheel size