I just bought a set of 15" GSR Fat 5's for my 2000 civic EX. Right now there are 3 195/50/15s and 1 205/50/15 on the wheels.

I have done quite a bit of searching, and I have come up with several different optimum sizes. I would like to know what is the optimum tire size for a stock ride height ej on 15 inch fat 5s.

I am buying at least 2 tires for these wheels, and I am not sure what size tire I need to run. Ideally, I can keep 2 of the 195/50s, because I am not made of money! The ride height is stock, I don't want it to look retarded (too much/too little tire height). Please help me figure out what size tires to get!

 

195/50-15 is too small. You can use either 195/55-15 or 205/50-15. 195/55-15 has the same outer diameter as your stock tire size of 185/65-14, so it will maintain the stock ride height and the accuracy of the speedometer and odometer. Alternatively, you can also use 205/50-15, which is smaller by 1.7 percent, so it will throw off the gauges by that percentage, and will lower the car by 0.2 inch.

If you want to keep using two of the 195/50-15 tires until they wear out, go ahead. I would suggest putting both of them on the rear so they don't throw off your speedometer/odometer. When they wear out, buy whatever size you have for the other tires (NOT 195/50-15 though).

 

would the mismatched tires look super obviously stupid?

also, my car is running 185/70/14 right now instead of 65. that is only like a 2% diff from the true odo/speedo readings, right? It's hard to get a straight answer on this tire stuff, there is a lot of misinfo out there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maireeka &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">would the mismatched tires look super obviously stupid?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You probably wouldn't notice any difference in appearance.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maireeka &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">also, my car is running 185/70/14 right now instead of 65. that is only like a 2% diff from the true odo/speedo readings, right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No, it's off by more than 3 percent, which is a large difference.

Here is how all these sizes compare in outer diameter with your stock size:

185/65-14: 23.47 inches (stock)
195/55-15: 23.44 inches (-0.1 percent)
205/50-15: 23.07 inches (-1.7 percent)
195/50-15: 22.68 inches (-3.4 percent)
185/70-14: 24.20 inches (+3.1 percent)

You can use a tire calculator like this one to do these calculations.

 

thanks for the informative posts.

Patrick