Best tire size for the stock rims.

[NASTY]

I got a quick question..with bigger rims, does that make your fuel economy worse?

If the overall weight of tires + rims are the same, then it shouldn't affect the milage at all.

not necessarily, distribution of the weight also has an effect, though less drastic

[Guest]

just a little FYI....When I bought my car from the dealer, my 99 5spd v6 came with 215/65/15 tires. For about 95 percent of the time I am a pure fuel economy driver since I have to drive 25 miles everyday to go to school. Neways, my gas mileage was s.hit. I shift out of first at 1800, and shift everytime after that at 2K, I probably average around 13-16 mpg. Thats why Ive opted to buy some new tires that are factory recommended.

my $0.02

[cdssolara]

Considering the rpm at which you shift, your gas mileage should be better. 13-16 is pretty bad. I don't think changing the tire size is going to make any improvement. Something else is wrong.

[20SoLaRa02]

changing the diameter of the tire...will that cause the car to accelerate any faster and would it be harder or easier on the engine to spin faster? also going from 205 to 215 will that increase the width and traction at all, even if its jus a little bit. this is jus info i want so when i change tires, if i don't have rims by then, i would like to get the best for traction and ease on engine. 205 is with and 60 is height right?...hehe i'm a newb when it comes to tires and rims.

thanx

[DavPak]

changing the diameter of the tire...will that cause the car to accelerate any faster and would it be harder or easier on the engine to spin faster? also going from 205 to 215 will that increase the width and traction at all, even if its jus a little bit. this is jus info i want so when i change tires, if i don't have rims by then, i would like to get the best for traction and ease on engine. 205 is with and 60 is height right?...hehe i'm a newb when it comes to tires and rims.

thanx

changing overall diameter of the wheel/tire combo to a smaller overall will help the car accelerate faster. its got less tire to move! however, you sacrifice handling. of course this also screws up the speedometer and the odometer, but not too much. you can also accomplish this by getting lightweight forged wheels without sacrificing handling or the spdeeo/odo thing.
decoding tire size: width/height (as a percentage of the width)/rim diameter.
so since the height is a percentage, a 215/50/15 and a 205/50/15 are 2 different heights.
i hope this helps.