07 prius tire question

Only that it will make your Odometer, speedometer and MPG meters read lower due to fewer revolutions per mile.

JeffD

 

Just for reference: what's the stock size?

 

185/65/15

 

About 2% difference (say for revs per mile), not too much.

 

I just got some 195-65R15s on my prius. No rubbing at all. Plus, my speedometer was showing 75mph when GPS showed 72. So, with the bigger sized tires, I'm close to perfect.

 

Do you feel that the change made any difference? Such as in handling, ride comfort, etc?

 

205/60r15 is even better

 

For breaking and cornering on dry road - yes. For fuel economy, snow, aquaplaning - no.

- Alex

 

if you get quality tires none of those are a problem

 

I was able to get handling and good gas mileage (50 MPG+) out of my General Altimax 205/60r15, and my spedo was finely accurate! I switched back to the OEM size because at the time I desperately needed 4 new tires, and didn't have a lot of money to spend, the OEM size were about $53 per tire! so that's what I bought, and my spedo is back to being incorrect -- when the car says I'm driving 65, I'm really driving 62. The larger 205/60/15 was $78 per tire, and my budget couldn't handle that at the time...

 

With the innacurate speedometer, any MPG calculations you do will also be innacurate. Therefore, with the bigger tires resulting in a more accurate speedometer, yes you will notice the number is lower by what ever the percentage difference the new, bigger diameter tires are. Knowing the innacuracy before the tire change, I always calculated the miles by .98 and there has been very little to no change on MPG's. I have noticed that my ride is more smooth due to more rubber between the wheel and the road. I did not get them to benefit performance. Also, they fill the fender well better. I personally would not go up to a 205/60R15. Mostly for how skinny our wheels are for a 205. I imagine there is enough bead flex around the rim of the wheel to warrant the note for many 205 size tires to not go on wheels with less than 6-6.5" width. The prius has 6" width wheels, so pay attention to the minimum wheel width spec. If it says min 6" width, you are good.

 

I had 205/60r15's on my '04 for years, they look much better, ride better, way better handling and braking, and make the speedo more accurate. I didn't notice any loss of mileage, but I didn't really worry about that with the oem floppy integritys that came on it. now I got those same crappy integritys on my '06 and they're terrible.