[Jeroen]

I drive mainly in Western Europe these days, so road surface is not really a problem anymore. And I must admit I love my Michelin Sport 255/40R/18 on my Jaguar. Having said that over the years I have had more shredded tires and bend rims on the Jaguar than all my other cars put together! It only takes one pot hole!

Also, the cost is something else. I can get four little tires for our Ford Fiesta for the price of one tire for the Jag. Ok, not exactly comparable, but you get my drift.

By and large I prefer comfort and practicality over looks any day. Car do need to look good, but not at the expense of everything. I have never, not once, bought different size tires for any of my cars then whatever was originally factory fitted.
I see these aftermarket rims and ridiculous low profile tyres. Apart from the obvious comfort and practicality issues, I just don’t like the looks. Sorry to say, I must have seen to many American movies; I always associate these very low profile tyres with gangsta-rap.

Originally Posted by GTO

The fastest cars & drivers on the planet have used small wheels + tall tyres since decades (

I wonder what their main consideration is; not looks or comfort I dare say, probably aerodynamics and performance. I imagine on F1 cars the tyres are much more exposed than on regular cars, so their projected square area most be an important drag factor?

Jeroen

[tp_dominator]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

.

A question since we are on this - How often do you check cold tire pressure? and how many psi variance do you see?

Since the car is equipped with TPMS, I check the tire pressure regularly.

On the variance front, if the car is driven in the city or sedate highway runs, there usually is a variance of 3 or max 4 psi. If doing scorching highway runs, especially during the day, the variance is about 5 to 6 psi from cold tire pressure.

[shashi792]

Originally Posted by fiat_tarun

As an owner of a car with low profile 17" wheels, I can relate to this topic very well. I absolutely love the 17" rims on my Ecosport S and a big part of the decision to go for this variant was for these wheels.

....
After driving on these tyres for 1.5 years and 25k km, I feel a lot of the negatives are exaggerated. Yes, one has to be careful with low profile tyres and to me it comes down to the type of driver you are. If you are someone who doesn't like to slow down or isn't the extra attentive type then low profile is big NO !

Ride quality also is a factor, but I have honestly not found a noticeable difference between the 16" & 17" riding Ecosport. I am more than ok with the ride quality atleast in the front seats.

.

We have two Ecosport S at out house with 17". Both have done 15k and 25k kms on the odo currently. Speaking also for my brother here (we have discussed this issue earlier), we haven't found this to be too problematic. We are slightly careful while driving on an unpaved road. But, those unpaved road travel have be less than 5% of the kms covered. Also, may be the reason might be the number of passengers in the car. Very rarely we have more than 3 passengers in the car.

That said we have Renault Duster with the 16" and it looks like it eats potholes for breakfast . The ride quality is better on it for unpaved roads.

, The Duster feels is more stable at speeds around 130 than our Ecosport.

[reignofchaos]

Low profile looks nice but for Indian roads, we should ideally maintain a slightly higher profile. Again what these numbers are depends on the car. There is no magic one size fits all.

[BlackPearl]

Voted for higher profile tyres. I prefer peace of mind over improved looks. Even here in the UK, where roads are better, I would have voted for higher profile tyres. The reasons being -
1. One can go off the road without worrying too much
2. No tension of brushing the alloys against kerbs when parking in tight spots. High profile tyre walls are usually higher than the pavements

[psispace]

Voted regular wheels with taller profile.

As I grow older, and my spine becomes less forgiving, I have begun to prefer comfortable rides over performance. Our roads very rarely give us an opportunity to exploit the potentials of a low profile tyre. For that 1% of the time you need that potential, it doesn't make sense to suffer a bad ride 99% of the time. Low profile tyres also have lower life which increases the running cost.

If you live in a well paved city and your drive with that particular low profile tyred vehicle is restricted to those roads only, then it might makes sense.
Also if you are young with a healthy spine and you are willing to forego comfort for aesthetics and performance, then thats' your choice too.

Our roads however, in their present state, are not low profile friendly.

[blackbeast]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

I'm seriously contemplating going back to 15 inchers!

!

Please do it right away. we had a couple of palios, punto and presently a linea which gets chauffered my kid. I havn't driven it in many years but i purposely retained that car so that my kid gets driven around comfortably in it. And we live in tier 2 city. Recently, my wife travelled in it and told me how comfortable her journey was. She never talks about cars or journey.This is the only car we have with 15 inches and rest all are 16. Fiat suspension is masterclass which is another matter. What is worrying me is seltos being delivered this month with a 17 inch tyres with firm suspension

[Rocketscience]

It has been many years and i'am still on fence for this one, on one hand, most of my decisions in life are rational, logical and practical (atleast this is what i choose to believe) and with this thinking the tyres with bigger sidewalls and smaller rims make perfect sense.

The low profile tyres however look so tempting and sexy that i can't resist and they look way better for sure, i don't mean the extremely low profile ones with sidewalls as tall as a coin but the usual good looking ones which some oems provide.
I had installed 205 50 r16 on my Honda City for 5 years and i loved the way they looked, i had the option of installing 15 inchers at that time and with that size there were many better and more comfortable options from Michellin and others available but i went with the 16 inch and Yokohama combo which was as loud as an airplane landing, the grip was phenomenal though and they looked hot, both the rims and the tyres.
What i have learnt though and will recommend to everyone is to stick with OEM tyres (i mean the rims and the tyre size in general, you can ofcourse switch to a superior tyre brand for sure) no matter what, buy a car or variant with lower profile tyres but don't go aftermarket, i say this because first there are issues like quality control and fraud and there are horror stories of alloys breaking in the middle of the drive, i know this is rare and the good ones are less susceptible but my decent ones bent too, despite careful driving all the time.
Second reason is a lot of R&D and money goes into choosing the perfect tyre size for a car, something that local tyre shops and our own research can simply not replicate, now my calculation was spot on for the tyre height and it was hardly a 0.25% difference from the original ones (and i must add that i never encountered any real problems, i even got that bent fixed and they worked perfect) but because of my tyre size i never realised what i was missing, i have switched back to OEM size now and there is a mind blowing difference in driveability, the low end has got so much better and with that the mileage too that i curse myself for wasting 5 whole years with the combo i had, not to mention the new combo is much more comfortable and silent.
It looks crap though.

[dhanushs]

Well, with regard to the convenience and peace of mind higher-profile tyres offer, the choice is pretty much straight forward for any primary car owner. Especially considering the roads in India.

However, if I have that fast car, bought just to satisfy the enthusiast in me, I'd not be caught dead using a higher profile tyre fearing the pothole or for comfort!

[pugram]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Give me function over form any day!

Absolutely.

As an SCROSS owner with the 205/60/16 wheels and OE tyres & recommended pressures, it is one hell of a bone jarring ride.

I recently changed to Michelin P4ST's and the dealer recommended to maintain 32 or 33 psi max. That has made the ride a bit bearable, but am afraid this is ok for GQ type roads and tyre will suffer in normal village roads. But I don't ride that type of roads too much. So it is ok.

I am also contemplating of downsizing to 15 incher's during the next change.

Peugeot 309 GLD - 155/80/14 - Very comfortable drive
Logan DLE - 185/70/14 - Very comfortable drive
SCross Zeta 1.6 - 205/60/16 - Stiff and not very comfortable

[Stribog]

Can someone please explain what low profile + big tyres even means?

Also I have read this a lot in reviews but haven't really understood how bigger tyres = poor ride quality.

Like for instance I used to have a Verna with a wallowy ride (first gen fluidic) and now a Kia whose suspension is harder and I definitely prefer it. Yes it was uncomfortable when the PSI was at 41 when I took delivery but dropping it to 32 has made it pretty nice.

Also is ride comfort a function of merely the tyre size or does the brand of tyre also play a role. Like a TVS srichakra of xyz size, will it offer the same comfort as say a Michelin of same xyz size?

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by pugram

Absolutely.

As an SCROSS owner with the 205/60/16 wheels and OE tyres & recommended pressures, it is one hell of a bone jarring ride.

As an S-CROSS owner myself, I find 32-33 PSI a comfortable ride with 205/60/R16s. There was a point at which the ride was terrible and it boiled downed to bad shock absorbers at the rear. Replacing it (under warranty) made a big difference. Many of us here have replaced the shocks to superior ones (imported) and it's made one hell of a difference. So - Did you check the shocks if they are worn out? Maruti provides sub standard shocks even in their premium cars!

[sgm]

Voted for high profile tires.

I like the cushioning of higher profile tires on bad roads. For Mass market cars, comfort and practicality matters a lot. I feel terrible with my car while going over broken roads. I just admire the SUV guys and cars with high profile tires when they just glide over bad tarmacs. On broken roads, C-class has a patchy ride with 225/50R17 and stiff suspension but Altis with 205/55R16 feels better with a softer suspension even though they have same side wall of just 112mm. I always wonder if they were 1" less, they would have been much more comfortable. I wish the side walls were atleast 125mm
Another issue is the higher tire noise with low profile tires.
Yes, I agree performance cars need low profile tires for the kind of handling they have to do.

[locusjag]

With a TUV 300 as my daily ride, I can say that its 75% aspect ratioed tyre sidewall is what keeps the ride somewhat civilized. Its suspension is notorious for not working at all (the spring that encases it is so hard that the suspension rarely gets to do its work). And its wheel articulation (or the lack of it) is infamous.

I drive at high speeds over bad roads just so that the damned springs will finally yield and so that the suspension gets to do its work; the tall tyres really help all the while.

[self_driven]

Originally Posted by Stribog

Can someone please explain what low profile + big tyres even means?

Hi mate, it seems you are confused between wheels and tyres. Larger wheels on a particular vehicle means slimmer tyre sidewall (or tyre profile) to maintain the same diameter. This is not a larger wheel vs smaller wheel debate but for "larger wheel + slim tyre sidewall" vs "smaller wheel + tall tyre sidewall" combination.

Also I have read this a lot in reviews but haven't really understood how bigger tyres = poor ride quality.

Explained it above. To fit a wheel of larger diameter, one has to go for a low profile tyre with smaller sidewall so that the overall diameter remains under acceptable limits. Slimmer sidewalls are more rigid and offer less flex when you go over road undulations. So they do not absorb bumps as well as a tyre with taller (& more flexible) sidewall.

Like for instance I used to have a Verna with a wallowy ride (first gen fluidic) and now a Kia whose suspension is harder and I definitely prefer it.

Ride comfort is more dependant on suspension tune than tyre size. So it's not correct to compare comfort of two different cars based on their tyre sizes. If you change to 15" wheels on your Seltos with a larger profile tyre, you'll find the ride to be more absorbent as compared to your current 16/17" setup. But this comfort will come at the cost of handling and stability. Thus a balance is very important.

Also is ride comfort a function of merely the tyre size or does the brand of tyre also play a role.

From personal experience (or call it lack of experience), I haven't found much difference in ride comfort between different tyre brands if the size is same. There are other aspects which are immediately noticeable such as road noise and grip. So I'd say tyre size plays a more important role than tyre brand.