Winter Tires, wrong size.. perhaps?

So I was looking at winter tires & rims for my 2016 Civic LX. For some odd reason I thought the size on the vehicle was 205/55/16.. Well turns out its 215/55/16.

So I purchased a used set of tires & rims that came off a 09 Civic however the size is 205/55/16.. My question is there issues in running this tire combination on the 16' Civic?

My mistake for not double checking the doors but instead just buying the tires; it was a really good deal so not too upset just I'll have to resell them.

Nah you'll be fine. I actually prefer a skinny tire as opposed to a wide tire in winter because it almost "cuts" through the snow better than a wider tire. 215mm wide vs 205mm wide, although not a big difference, you're 100% ok IMO.

your mph will read 1mph slower starting around 50mph

Wicked! That was easy enough then, gotta pretty solid deal on this package. Just rims need to be painted!

You'll be fine. Safe driving!

dc2turbo said:

your mph will read 1mph slower starting around 50mph

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Why is that, they're both same diameter, no?

your width ,height and wheel size determines the diameter

VarmintCong said:

Why is that, they're both same diameter, no?

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They're not the same diameter.

215/55/16 and 205/55/16 are different, except that they both fit over a 16" wheel.

The first two numbers are ratios, not set measurements, and together they determine the diameter.

How to read tire numbers:

For a 215/55R16 tire, the tire width is 215mm, the height of the tire is 55% of the width (118.25mm) and it is designed for a 16" wheel.

A 205/55/16 tire would have a height of 112.75mm, or 5.5mm shorter than it should be. Total diameter will therefore be 11mm smaller, or about a 1/4" difference.

I have seen many tire shops trying to sell me 195/65/15 tires which will fit without issues. However, the new civic has a low ground clearance. If you add smaller tires, the car will scrap the street even more and you might get stuck easily if you live in a region with a lot of snow. So if you are shopping for winter tires, try to go as big as possible without going over 3% in overall diameter.

Rikee said:

I have seen many tire shops trying to sell me 195/65/15 tires which will fit without issues. However, the new civic has a low ground clearance. If you add smaller tires, the car will scrap the street even more and you might get stuck easily if you live in a region with a lot of snow. So if you are shopping for winter tires, try to go as big as possible without going over 3% in overall diameter.

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Maybe that's why when I plug my car into Tirerack it recommends 215/55 instead of (the stock size) 215/50 tires for winter. I'll go with the slighter larger diameter, hanks!

dc2turbo said:

your width ,height and wheel size determines the diameter

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Width determines diameter?

That's a new one for me.

Yes it does. You'll notice he said width, height (aspect),and wheel size. The second number, the sidewall aspect ratio is a percentage of the width. If the tire is wider with the same sidewall ratio then the tire will be taller all the way around.

A 200/50/xx vs a 250/50/xx. The 200/50 is shorter and narrower than the 250/50.

The 200/50 is 200mm wide and 100mm sidewall height.

The 250/50 is 250mm wide and 125mm sidewall height.

Wider tire is taller. Diameter is larger.

Bjorn 1349 said:

Yes it does. You'll notice he said width, height (aspect),and wheel size. The second number, the sidewall aspect ratio is a percentage of the width. If the tire is wider with the same sidewall ratio then the tire will be taller all the way around.

A 200/50/xx vs a 250/50/xx. The 200/50 is shorter and narrower than the 250/50.

The 200/50 is 200mm wide and 100mm sidewall height.

The 250/50 is 250mm wide and 125mm sidewall height.

Wider tire is taller. Diameter is larger.

Click to expand...

Never knew that...but I'll admit that I've never really known much about tire sizing.

It doesn't seem to make sense but apparently it does ;-)