re: Maruti Suzuki Swift : Tyre & wheel upgrade thread Quote:
Originally Posted by akula.sreekanth I was thinking of upgrading to 195/65 R15. In most of the posts in this thread it has been mentioned that 195/60 R15 is the correct upgrade and 195/65 is not. Can anybody please explain me with the technical reasons?
As per this comparison chart 185/65 R15 (stock in ZDi) is 0.3% larger in size compared to 165/80R14 (stock in VDi). 195/60R15 is 0.74% smaller than the VDi Stock. 195/65R15 is 2.4% larger than the stock in VDi. Most of the websites where I have seen the tire comparison calculations it is mentioned that the difference should be kept within 2.5% - 3%. As per this recommendation 195/65 R15 is not a bad upgrade for Swift. |
in your attached image, you can see that the tyre wall height is more with the 195/65 R15. It is larger by only 1cm, yes. But it will have an effect on the handling. Shorter the profile, better the handling will be. If you compare the ride height of the 185/65 R15 and the 195/60 R15, they are almost the same, with the 195/60R15 being better for handling. It is the more logical upgrade. The ZDi size (185/65R15) is the most awkward I have ever seen on OEM sizes. Not many tyres are even made in that size.
I have booked a swift ZDi myself and I will be heading straight from the showroom to Madhu's enterprises for an upgrade to 195/60R15 michelins. This size (195/60 R15) offers the best balance in ride height, handling improvement and road grip for the Swift, without any sidewall scraping dangers. I think some members here have even gone as far as 205/55R16 for the Swift. They might have some opinions to share too. Quote:
I went to JC Road (lots of tire shops in B'lore) and enquired and most of the shopkeepers told me that 195/60R15 is the correct upgrade and 195/65R15 will touch the body during a bumpy ride.
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One of my friends has a 195/65R15 on his swift. It doesn't touch the body during a bumpy ride, but it might during full load. I have driven it, and did not like the feel of those tyres with increased height. Quote:
But the same shopkeepers told that 195/65R15 is correct upgrade for Swift ZDi (Which has 185/65 R15 stock) but for VDi 195/60R15 is the correct upgrade. And they also told that ZDi has more clearance than VDi and thus the tire won't touch the body. How true is this?? I thought ZDi and VDi had same kind of clearance and manufactured the same way (On the same assembly line) except it has other features like ABS/airbags etc. According to the comparison table above the difference in sidewall height of the tire is 9.9mm (~1 cm) and would it matter so much for a 1 cm difference that it would go and touch the body??
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Swift VDi = 165 / 80 R14 tyres = the profile (side wall width) will be 80% of 165mm = 132mm
Swift ZDi = 185/65 R15 tyres = profile will be 65% of 185mm = 120.25mm
There is no other difference between the VDi and ZDi related to ride height. The ZDi has a smaller profile as you can see, but will be marginally taller due to an inch bigger alloy diameter. Why does 1 cm matter so much, you may ask. Remember, the 1 cm increase is on both sides of the alloy wheel circumference, since it is the sidewall size itself. That means effectively 2cm increased (bottom 1cm and top 1cm), now with 4-5 people on board, the suspension itself may have gone down a little, say by a few cm, there is a high likelihood of tyres touching the wheel well arches when going on speedbreakers/potholes. Quote:
Another doubt is regarding the alloy wheel. From the previous posts in this thread I figured out that the stock alloy wheel of Swift ZDi is "5.5Jx15 ET 45". Can we fit a 195/** tire on this?? would it look like a balloon on this rim as the recommended rim size by most tire manufacturers is 6J.
Most of the alloy wheels I enquired in Bangalore are 6.5Jx15 ET40. would the 5mm offset difference between the stock wheel and the aftermarket wheel cause it to touch the suspension and inner body etc?
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195s on 5.5J alloy rims are very much a proper and snug fit in my opinion. Perhaps 205s will be overkill for 5.5J, but 195s shouldn't be a problem. There will be no balloon effect or anything. Manufacturers allow for this much variation. Perhaps tyre guru Nikhil might be able to explain better on the tolerance values of these dimensions
I was just checking this and 195s are very much within limits for 5.5J rims MICHELIN
Last edited by KarthikK : 9th July 2012 at 23:45.
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