I put Goodyear tires, size 205/60/15 on my 1999 Honda Accord, 4 cyl., LX sedan. Will these hurt my gas mileage? I can still change back to 195/65/15, should I? The tires are Goodyear Assurance T rated.

 

general rule: wider tire = more contact patch = more rolling friction

yes, it will eat more gas. but you wont notice any difference. keep them properly inflated and you wont have any problems. welcome to h-t

 

like suptimwong said, there is a slight difference, but it really isn't noticable at all. I run 205/60/15's on my accord as well, and I like the bigger footprints they have compared to the 195s. Granted 205s aren't much wider, but still, it's better. I haven't noticed any difference in my gas consumption The 6th gen accord is a big car... I feel that it should have come with 205s (or possibly even wider) in stock form

 

Thanks for the reply. My other concern is about the tire being shorter than a 195/65. What's advantage of that? Anyway, you think the 205/60 is superior to 195/65? My tire also is T rated, which is below the H rating suggested by manufacturer. The tire store will still let me change back to 195/65 if I want, so that's why I'm debating this with myself.

 

205/60 is barely shorter than a 195/65

Let's do the math

195 x 0.65 = 126.75 mm
205 x 0.60 = 123 mm

So we're talking about a difference of 3.75 mm or so. "What's advantage of that?" you ask. Well, tires with lower profiles tend to be more performance orientated (not that the tires sizes we're talking about have much at all to do with racing/performance). However, as you may notice, performance tires usually have short/stiff sidewalls, which is a whole other topic.

The T rating of the tire means that it is rated up to 118 mph. So unless you regularly travel faster than that, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Here's a simple website that breaks down tire rating basics. http://www.buying-tires.com/tire-ratings.html

 

/\ not only that but the biggest tire performance rule is the compound of the tire. A sticky 195/55/15 versus an all season 205/55/15, the sticky tire will walk all over that all season tire.

Here is a visual comparison of said tires: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html