[kjayant]

Wow ... I am so glad we started this thread. I am into endurance sports, especially long-distance running, ultra..infinity kinds.

I realized sometime back that the soles of running shoes and the tires of the cars, well they share the same attributes/outcomes.

It's essentially a trade-off among Speed, Comfort, and Control. Did a fair bit of research and ended up writing a blog about it.

Here it is, https://tyroj.wordpress.com/2017/10/...l-well-almost/

Look forward.

[Xaos636]

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

At the same time, my friend who was running on 215/45R16 for his Baleno finally gave in and went with the 205/55R16 recently and he appreciates the ride much more. So experiences do vary.
Cheers
Krishna

Assuming your friend is me, I went from 215/45/17 to 205/55/16 last week to get that extra comfort. After using the low profile tires for 2 years and 30k kms on South Indian roads, especially the non existent Bangalore roads, I can safely say that I do not feel the potholes inside the cabin as much as I did with the low profile tires and bigger wheels.
Yes, I could have kept the same wheels and gone for 50 side profile instead of 45, but that was throwing my handling and meter readings way out of normality.

Explaining further, the road patch works on Bangalore roads are worse than some of the potholes, with the over application of tar and stones which feels like you went through a speed breaker and to make things worse, these look perfectly patched to naked eyes until you go over them. I have felt some patches real bad, worse than potholes as I went over some without noticing at night. There were a couple of instances where I had to stop the car and check if my tires or wheel had cracked because the effect I felt inside was terrifying.
After all these experiences and the need for better comfort on our non existent roads, I went for 205/55/16 and its a much better feel now. I can take potholes at a higher speed now without the fear of cracking wheels or tires and the peace of mind is unmatched.

Now, this might differ from car to car as well. Premium cars with better insulation may not feel the strong thud compared to lower segment cars. The highway drive quality and feel(on good roads) including handling felt much on the 17's, but as we are talking about India, roads are still a concern.
Speaking about people with hatchbacks, sedans, including the Psuedo-SUV's (i20, Jazz, Baleno, Figo, City, Verna, Ecosport etc), bigger wheels and lower profile tires are a big NO for the present Indian roads. My next purchase would definitely be a car with one for those 60 profile tires. Just love to see those Endeavour's and Fortuner's gliding through potholed roads without worrying about wheels.

[krishnaprasadgg]

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Assuming your friend is me, I went from 215/45/17 to 205/55/16 last week to get that extra comfort.

Yes yes, definitely you. I small typo from my side regarding the previous wheel size.

Originally Posted by Xaos636

After using the low profile tires for 2 years and 30k kms on South Indian roads, especially the non existent Bangalore roads, I can safely say that I do not feel the potholes inside the cabin as much as I did with the low profile tires and bigger wheels.
Yes, I could have kept the same wheels and gone for 50 side profile instead of 45, but that was throwing my handling and meter readings way out of normality.

Yikes, I am not going to comment on Bangalore roads, some of the humps in the HSR area is a mini trek.
Meter reading going for a toss was because of the upgraded wheel size I think.

Cheers
Krishna

[ds.raikkonen]

For our roads, taller tyre wall is definitely suitable especially if your daily commute is long.

I've felt this while driving the 185/65 R15s on my Swift ZXi+, which is my daily drive. Though never driven low profile tyres, they're definitely more 'crashy' than tall side wall tyres!

[haldar_siliguri]

When you upsize, not only can you go for larger (by 1" lets say) and better (than OEM) wheels, but also better tyres (than OEM), for most of the cases.

Doing so can put you in a better spot with ride than what you were when the car left the showroom, if you do it correctly.

Sadly when people upsize, not only do they lack the taste, but in most cases they overdo it on wheel upsizing front. Like a T-bhpian previously said, there is always a middle ground to upsizing.

With the best tyres on the market you can actually look at better rides even if 1" wheel upsizing is done. For the most part.

[PrasannaDhana]

My choice will be the perfect balance between ride quality and handling.

For an example, my ciaz (a shabby handler inherently) came with 185/65 R15 stock goodyears.

I replaced the stock tyres (after it got worn out) with 195/60 R15 continental MC5 and it was phenomenal when it came to handling (meaning it improved the lukewarm handling substantially).

I then got greedy with the tyre replacement, wishing to upsize to 205/60, but the 5.5j alloys won't allow anything wider than 195 sections. So I went ahead with 195/65 R15 Michelin 4ST instead of the outgoing size 195/60. This increased the sidewall height by an inch, and I wanted that in order to improve the GC of the ciaz as the rural roads are getting bigger speed breakers offlate. The tyres exactly did that and the car never scraped even the biggest of the speed breakers even under load.

Another great improvement was ride quality, it was clearly noticeable that the car rode a lot plusher than before. And the tyres were very silent too. But then came the harsh reality, the car handled worse than the first set of stock 185/65 tyres. I mean, I felt the crisp feedback that the 195/60 provided missed in the 195/65.

Finally I had to convince myself that it is a compromise to make in exchange of nicer and quieter ride.

Tall tyres definitely help with ride quality, but in my experience, doesn't do much to improve the handling.

[Durango Dude]

When I downgraded from the Elantra to the Honda City, first thing I noticed was the firm ride quality and on delivery the tyres were inflated to some 40 psi that made matters worse, so reduced it to 33 psi which is comfortable. I'm still running on stock tyres and after some 18300 kms and 3 years, I've gotten used to the firmer ride and am starting to like it. But I wouldn't trade in for any up size and thinner side walls.

[Simhi]

I voted for Traditional Taller profile tyres. Yaris comes with 15-inch alloy wheels shod with 185/60.

Recently I did Pune - Shirdi round-trip. Many stretches in the Ahmednagar - Shirdi (NH160) are in such a pathetic state that I cannot even think of using low profile tyres.

Even in city, random potholes appear from nowhere even when you use the same route every day. I really doubt if low profile tyres and their alloys can withstand such potholes on a daily basis.

[THE_DRIFTER]

Taller profile anytime! ( Not for real performance cars though )

In my case, the Manza I bought pre-owned came with 175/60 R15's and just on the day I upsized them to 195/65 R15's the handling improved a lot and the comfort also increased a lot.
Pothole management is even better now and I can easily go at 40 kmph on medium'ish Potholes.

[Tassem]

I think there is a place for both.

One of my old lancers had beautifully low profile tyres at 205/50 R15. It just looked so beautiful to me. As for my Isuzu, it just looks incomplete without the chunky 265/65 R17 tyres. If I can get the gearing modded, I'd go for even higher profile tyres.

What do you think?

[self_driven]

Originally Posted by THE_DRIFTER

..came with 175/60 R15's and just on the day I upsized them to 195/65 R15..

Slightly OT but 195/65R15 is a very wrong upsize. The difference in circumference (7.3%) is much higher than the acceptable limit of 2 or 3%.

[qaqa]

Voted for higher profile tyres.

I'm a victim of Ford's senseless decision to go with low profile tyres in the EcoSport. Have had three tyres replaced in less than two years of ownership due to sidewall failures. Not to forget the bumpy ride quality.

I'm now seriously thinking of downgrading to 15 or 16 inch wheels even if it's going to cost me a pretty penny.

[manickaraj]

I was always in the impression that the fatter tyres gives scary moments particularly on the slightly curving road (highways) with higher speed like 90+ kmph. Particularly when the roads has uneven surface results in drag. I had previously 195/65 then changed to 195/55 in my i20 asta

[GTB]

Thank you for this thread GTO. Perfect timing as this thread could help me to decide the right size for my summer wheels.

According to the manufacturer, I can go for 17 or 18 or 19 inches. Currently, I am on 18 inches 225/40/R18 front 245/25/R18 rear. I wanted to have the same setup for summer as well. But every modified car out there is running on 19 inches with lowered stance.

I started wondering does increase in size betters handling? I started reading about wheels sizes and how this affects in the real world. Following is what I found on Pirelli.

- If you choose bigger wheels, you will improve the stability of your car and the range of braking distance will be shortened;
- A larger diameter means that the wheel will be heavier and consequently speed will be slightly compromised during acceleration (depending also on the torque of the car);
- Comfort too, will be compromised because tyres will be harder and suspension risk faster corrosion since rims have a major impact on the surface of the road;
- Bigger wheels will also affect fuel consumption: since driving will be a little bit slower, car mileage will increase but, depending on the power of the car, you won’t perceive it easily;
- Smaller wheels allow for tighter turns;
- Depending on the type of vehicle the tyres are mounted on, a wider diameter rather than a standard measure will improve stiffness and, consequently, safety while driving;
- Bigger wheels will also increase the maximum load of the car.

source: https://www.pirelli.com/global/en-ww...ce-of-your-car

What I understand is, an increase in wheel size doesn't improve the handling or performance of the car. was I wrong?

I am a fan of smaller wheels with good rubber as in Picture below. By the way, voted for High profile tyres.

source: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/B83AyM_p03_/

[F150]

The market is always evolving. When I was driving my swift , it had 14 inch alloy wheels. I always wanted to go a size higher like 15".
Later on when I purchased my Rapid , it came with 15" alloy wheels and I was happy with them. Now the new Rapid and new Vento are coming with 16" wheels.

This makes me want to shift from my 195/60/R15 to 195/55/R16.

However , I later realised that higher the size of the rim, the higher the price one has to pay for the tyres.

I am pretty happy with 195/60/R15 and they provide good cushioning.
I don't remember how many times , I missed a pothole or speed breakers. I never had a tyre cut or bulge.

I would prefer reasonable side wall height anyday. Voted for the same.