Taller Tires

[Austin2.5i]

I've been on an mpg binge lately, and I wanted to know if anyone had switched out the stock tires for taller tires to help the car rev a bit lower at freeway speeds? Any idea how much bigger I can go with the diameter without causing trouble. I have a 2.5i with the 205/55/16 tires.

 

By the way, I got about 30 miles per gallon (calcualted of the tripometer, not using the "computer" - computer read 32.4) by inflating my tires up to 40 psi (Max tire pressure on my Goodyears is 44 psi). This was in 85% highway/15% city driving. Not bad for a 2.5i with AWD!

 

Any thoughts? Thanks.

[NSFW]

Interesting. I wonder how much impact 40psi has on the car's braking ability.

 

XenonK's wheel-and-tire-size thread will give you an idea of what tire sizes fit. You'll need to do some extra work to figure out what the equivalent 16" tire sizes are, but there are simple tire size calculators all over the web.

[pillboy]

...

[Austin2.5i]

NSFW,

 

Thanks for the info on XenonK's post. I went to an online calculator, and I typed in 205/60/16, and that size would be 3.2% off on the speedometer. The site said not to increase/decrease by more than 3% due to "brake failure", but I'm sure that this extra 0.2% wouldn't be too significant.

 

As far as braking goes, I haven't noticed any ill effects, but I seldom have to do any hard braking. The tires certainly don't corner as well at this high psi.

 

Austin

[EL PAALO]

2 to 3% is generally fine and probably better than prematurely wearing out the centers of your tires running high psi.

 

You should lighten the car too, take out the spare and jack and tools. Remove all the seats and sound deadening material too and get a bean bag to replace your seat.