[Muscle Boyy]

Hi BHPians
This thread is all about the dilemma in choosing the right set of tyres for my cousin's Honda City which he's yet to receive by the end of this month.As you all know,none of the generations have got the right tyre size in the interest of efficiency and weight reduction. The 5th gen City gets 16inch rims but the tyres are too skinny for a car that has got 121 horses and is more than 4.5 metres in length,due to which the stance of the car is lost from certain angles.Since my cousin travels frequently from Bangalore to Cochin,which is around 550kms,Highway drives would be more than city commuting.Grip levels should be at it's best and therefore,a tyre upgrade is mandatory.
The stock size of the tyres is 185/55 R16. A 195mm rubber would do the job well but I feel 205/55 R16 tyres would give better stance for the car. This is where the confusion starts.In terms of pricing, both are closely matched.
Would 205 be too much for the city? Will it affect the outright acceleration and add more weight to the steering wheel?
It would be really great if anyone can suggest the ideal tyre size and the reasons for choosing the same. Each and every suggestion would be appreciated!!!

[Rshrey22]

205 55 R16 will cause speedo error. Go with 205 50 R16. 20mm upsize is acceptable and may help with better handling and highway performance. Steering will become slightly tight and acceleration might be marginally reduced but won't really be noticeable.

[Shreyans_Jain]

I’ve been running 205/60R15 on my Gen4 City as well as my Gen1 Jazz for over 2L km cumulative. It’s the ideal size for this car. Stance and grip improve drastically and there isn’t any significant drop in performance or fuel economy. Ground clearance also improves. It just works. So, 205/55R16 should be the size of choice for the Gen5 City in my book.

[GTO]

205/50 R16 is just perfect as the diameter difference is a negligible 0.25%. Second choice would be 195/55 R16 (<2% difference), but again, 205/50 R16 is just the perfect upgrade for the power on tap . Will make the car handle better & improve its stance / aesthetics. The stock car is grossly under-tyred.

[Cephalix]

Hi Muscle Boyy

I am in the same situation. My City will be delivered next week. Which tyres did you finally settle on?

[lamborghini]

Originally Posted by Muscle Boyy

The 5th gen City gets 16inch rims but the tyres are too skinny for a car that has got 121 horses and is more than 4.5 metres in length,due to which the stance of the car is lost from certain angles.Since my cousin travels frequently from Bangalore to Cochin,which is around 550kms,Highway drives would be more than city commuting.Grip levels should be at it's best and therefore,a tyre upgrade is mandatory.
The stock size of the tyres is 185/55 R16. A 195mm rubber would do the job well but I feel 205/55 R16 tyres would give better stance for the car.

If you're sticking to stock rims, it would be advisable to go up to 195/55R16, and not more keeping in mind the alloy width. 205 should fit but will be on the outer limit in terms of size.
If you get wider alloys, then 205 would look sweet but you may need to consider slightly lower profile 205/50R16 keeping in mind speedo error.

[Vikram Arya]

Originally Posted by Muscle Boyy

Hi BHPians
This thread is all about the dilemma in choosing the right set of tyres for my cousin's Honda City which he's yet to receive by the end of this month.As you all know,none of the generations have got the right tyre size in the interest of efficiency and weight reduction. The 5th gen City gets 16inch rims but the tyres are too skinny for a car that has got 121 horses and is more than 4.5 metres in length,due to which the stance of the car is lost from certain angles.
The stock size of the tyres is 185/55 R16. A 195mm rubber would do the job well but I feel 205/55 R16 tyres would give better stance for the car. This is where the confusion starts.In terms of pricing, both are closely matched.
Would 205 be too much for the city? Will it affect the outright acceleration and add more weight to the steering wheel?
It would be really great if anyone can suggest the ideal tyre size and the reasons for choosing the same. Each and every suggestion would be appreciated!!!

A 185/55R16 tire has a rolling diameter of 24”. It will give you a section width of 7.6”. A good quality tire in this size would weigh approx. 18 lbs.

A 195/55R16 tire has a rolling diameter of 24.4” (which is 1.7% more than that of the stock tire but still within 2% which is the generally accepted range). It will have a section width of 8” and will weigh approx. 20 lbs.

A 205/50R16 tire has a rolling diameter of 24.1” (which is just 0.4% more than that of the stock tire). It will have a section width of 8” to 8.2” & will weigh 19 to 20 lbs (depending upon the brand).

Therefore the best bet for your car is 205/50R16 which keeps the rolling diameter well within the range while also not increasing the unsprung weight substantially. You will also end up improving the stance of your car which was the original objective. It will hardly have any impact on your acceleration or steering effort. The required rim width for this tire size is 5.5J to 7.5J so please check the width of your stock rim to ensure that it falls within this range.

[src]

Originally Posted by Muscle Boyy

Hi BHPians
The stock size of the tyres is 185/55 R16. A 195mm rubber would do the job well but I feel 205/55 R16 tyres would give better stance for the car. This is where the confusion starts.In terms of pricing, both are closely matched.
Would 205 be too much for the city? Will it affect the outright acceleration and add more weight to the steering wheel?

Another challenge is finding the right tire after the tire import ban.
Lucky I got 4 of them initially in first week of March and later got the spare also last week from Delhi. Advantage of 195/55 section is it is very common and widely available while 205/50 or 205/55 is little rare.

[lsjey]

Will this upgrade void the warranty? Depending on this I may decide to upgrade.
Also, the 205/50/16 will have even smaller tyre height(section??) than the stock tyres, isn't it? With the stock tyres I'm finding that if I go over a pothole at speed, the tyre is flexed out fully, and rims hit the road. Will this not become worse with 205/60/16?

Also what should the tyre pressure be set at? Same as with the stock?

Regards,
lsjey

[Vikram Arya]

Originally Posted by lsjey

Will this upgrade void the warranty? Depending on this I may decide to upgrade.
Also, the 205/50/16 will have even smaller tyre height(section??) than the stock tyres, isn't it? With the stock tyres I'm finding that if I go over a pothole at speed, the tyre is flexed out fully, and rims hit the road. Will this not become worse with 205/60/16?

Also what should the tyre pressure be set at? Same as with the stock?

Regards,
lsjey

The stock tire size as mentioned in the first post is 185/55R16 which translates into a sidewall height of 10.17 cms (Sidewall height = 55% of 185mm = 10.17 cm).

The upgraded tire at 205/50R16 will give you a sidewall height of 10.25 cms (Sidewall height = 50% of 205mm = 10.25cms).

Therefore as can be seen the 205/50R16 tire will give you slightly better sidewall height as compared to that of the stock tire.

You should maintain the same tire pressure as recommended for stock tire which is also mentioned on your door jamb or mentioned in your owner’s manual because the weight of your car did not change change. A larger tire needs more air volume, but it doesn’t need higher pressure. Weight of the vehicle and handling characteristics designed into the suspension are the factors that predominantly dictate air pressure recommended by the OEM, not tire size.

As for the warranty; please see you owner manual or the warranty document that came with the car; if it explicitly does not mention this particular aspect then you should be good.

[src]

Originally Posted by lsjey

Will this upgrade void the warranty? Depending on this I may decide to upgrade.

Regards,
lsjey

Regarding Warranty please check with the Service Center where you will be going regularly since this mainly depends on them and the relationship you maintain with the Service Advisor.
As per my experience in both two wheeler & four wheeler servicing everything depends on the above.
In this case Brigade Honda Bangalore said that it will not affect my Warranty and I changed it within two days of getting the car and got a decent price on the old tires.

[kaustubhp]

Hi. I am planning to buy Honda City VX CVT and want to understand the price difference between replacing stock tyres with 205/50R16. I am in discussion with my S.A. on whether it will void the warranty. His prima facie view was that it would not. Yet to confirm it.

[ags82]

V CVT variant has 15 inch alloys. Is it advisable to upgrade to 16 inch and upgrade tyre size to 205/50 or should I stick to 15 inch alloys? What is the right trye upgrade for 15 inch alloys? Does upgrading rim size in V variant void warranty? Request your thoughts here my fellow Team BHPians.

[mAndArk]

Originally Posted by src

In this case Brigade Honda Bangalore said that it will not affect my Warranty and I changed it within two days of getting the car and got a decent price on the old tires.

I'm getting the delivery from Brigade Honda Yelahanka in a couple of days, and my SA said it will void the warranty. I'm now confused

[src]

Originally Posted by mAndArk

I'm getting the delivery from Brigade Honda Yelahanka in a couple of days, and my SA said it will void the warranty. I'm now confused

Responded in the Honda City thread.
Should not be a challenge. Please send your details in my email satyajitrc@gmail.com as I cannot DM you.