i'm confused about the tire thing

[Lillydot]

i want to upgrade to performance tires. do i need to get rims to have ,say, like 16" perfomance tires? i'm kinda confused about the whole tire/rims thing.

[SailDesign]

Lillydot, if you have 15" rims you have to have 15" tires. No way around it.
The width of the rim (5", 6" , 7" whatever) will determine how wide a tire you can have. 7" rims are fine up to about 215 tires, 5.5" are fine for 185, etc.
So, if you want 205/50-16s, you will NEED 16"x7" wheels, preferably with an offset of 38 to 42, and also definitely with a 4x100mm bolt pattern.
Anything else will not fit the car.
HTH

[Lillydot]

i don't understand any of those numbers, but basically you're saying, yes, i do need to buy new rims if i want bigger tires. but do i have to get the fancy $100 plus rims, or is there a cheaper way?

[brickhardmeat]

if you want 16 inch tires you need 16 inch wheels, something like 205/50/16 would be an example of what would fit a 16 inch tire, and it would look nice, it would also ride fine

i am not sure why you think you need a bigger tire? i'm not sure what you mean? there are lots of threads on tire size, try the search box



you may want to just go to a local tire shop, it would be an excellent learning experience, then you can shop around knowing what you are looking for, no you don't have to spend 100. on a good tire

[mgthompson]

Naw you just have to get some type of wheels, they can be steel, alloy, or chrome, you can get some for prop about 60 a wheel.

[Lillydot]

Originally Posted by brickhardmeat

i am not sure why you think you need a bigger tire? i'm not sure what you mean? there are lots of threads on tire size, try the search box

i'm tired of getting blown all over the place when i drive on the highway. one of the suggestions was to get better tires. with my last car i had 16"
performance tires and i didn't get blown around nearly as much. so i need to upgrade. but now my boyfriend it telling me i might have to get the supension adjusted too if i get bigger tires, but they would only be an inch bigger, so i'm hoping it won't come to that...

[brickhardmeat]

you should lower the car and get better tires, that would help ,but remember what you drive, it aint a cadillac

i don't see how having 16's would help but whatever

[Lillydot]

Originally Posted by brickhardmeat

i don't see how having 16's would help but whatever

so you think i should keep the 15" and just get a performance tire?

[BailOut]

Lilly,

Before you spend a penny on anything I encourage you to pump your tires up to their maximum sidewall rating. It will be listed on the side of your tire (for example, my Bridgestone Potenza RE92s have a max sidewall rating of 44 PSI).

Drive around like that for a few days and see if it helps enough to be your solution while bearing in mind you have a light vehicle with a tall profile and will never completely eliminate body roll.

[jamal1984]

yaris will swing around in strong wind, lower it down will help a little bit, or don't drive too fast, it's very sensitive to the wind, i think you should low it down first too see how it goes. Search for Tires, Wheels, Lowering....read all the topics, it's will help you out a little bit.

[brickhardmeat]

i am going with 15's when I replace the stock steel, what I choose will just be a bit wider than the steelies, I am going with 205/50/15 tires, probably falken because this is a good ,very, affordable tire

there are lots of wheels and tires and lots to think about when you are going to purchase ,but it aint rocket science

i say think about what you want and read some threads and talk with a local tire and wheel distributer for starters

[eTiMaGo]

I hate the rims and tires measurement system, it's messed up, you gotta match a rim width in inches to a tire width in millimeters, and your sidewall height is a percentage of the width of the tire, etc etc. Make sense!

What you should do is spend some time playing around in http://www.eunos.com/tirecalc/ it is a calculator to help you figure out tire sizes. Basically when you change your tire and rim size you need to make sure the overall diameter of the wheel is as close as possible to the original, that way you speedometer will remain accurate, and there won't be a chance of the ABS (if available) getting confused.

Then you can shop around a site like tirerack.com, they can give you suggestions based on your car, so see what they recommend and try to understand why they recommend those

[brickhardmeat]

what he said ^

there you have it

[Lillydot]

Originally Posted by Lillydot

I hate the rims and tires measurement system, it's messed up, you gotta match a rim width in inches to a tire width in millimeters, and your sidewall height is a percentage of the width of the tire, etc etc. Make sense!

EXACTLY!!! thats part of the reason why i'm having such a hard time figuring out what i need! i really can't mess around with lowering the car. i live in Boston, pothole city. it is IMPOSSIBLE to lower your car around here and still expect to be able to drive it. my only option is the tire thing right now. thanks for all the advise, everyone. i'll probably hit up a tire shop this weekend

[supaquack rs]

while reading your chats,i must add that if you are getting blown all over the place, its not necessary to put on bigger or wider tyres on your yaris. You could find it is a problem with your suspencion or shock abbsorbers, I suggest you get these checked before you spend money on tires.

I at moment am running on 195/50R15 goodyears, living on a island in the meditarrean where the wind howls from the sea I have yet not been blown off the highway.

best of luck thread let us know what happens

[Black Yaris]

Lilly dot Click on my signature... maybe that will clear things up for you sorry I did not get to this tread earlier