Tire Questions

[mjyuen]

My Impreza takes a tire size of 205/55R16. Do I have to buy tires of those exact dimensions? My understanding is if I buy tires of the different dimensions, it'll screw up my spedometer since I may be going faster / slower than what's on the spedometer.

I'm shopping for some Winter tires and have seen a couple of avg. deals but need to know if i'm limited to one size.

Thanks for your help.

[gpomp]

use this website, it will tell you how much your speedo will be off
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

i think you may be able to get away with 15" wheels. im not sure though.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by mjyuen
My Impreza takes a tire size of 205/55R16. Do I have to buy tires of those exact dimensions? My understanding is if I buy tires of the different dimensions, it'll screw up my spedometer since I may be going faster / slower than what's on the spedometer.

I'm shopping for some Winter tires and have seen a couple of avg. deals but need to know if i'm limited to one size.

Thanks for your help. Your thinking is sound and correct.

If you want to stick with the proper diameter, a lot of tire websites list "overall diameter" as well as the standard Pxxx-xx-Rxx specs. Try to find something with the same overall diameter as stock and you'll be fine.

This is fine for winter tires, but don't do this for summer tires because sidewall size and tire width matter a lot more during the summer.