Between two tire sizes; 195/50/15 and 195/60/15. The tire with a higher sidewall height like 60, I assume that will make the whole tire much taller? And If so, how much taller is it? I'm running 195/60/50, and it seems to be taller than what I usually run, which is a 195/50/15. Thanks for the help

 

I'm guessing 10% more than the 50 series.

 

Overall size of the tire, is it affected by how high or low the sidewall number is?

 

If you're going to keep the same width of tire (the first number) and only change the sidewall height, then yes it will change the overall tire diameter.

 

I ran it on the tire calculator and the 195/50's sidewall height is 4.61 inches and the 195/50's is 3.84 inches. Overall diameter is 24.21 inches and 22.68 inches.

 

Is this for your '96 Civic? If so, 195/60-15 is MUCH too big - that's a size you usually find on Accords!

The '96 Civic used different tire sizes on different versions. If yours is a hatchback or DX model, the best 15" size is 195/50-15; otherwise, get 195/55-15 or 205/50-15.

As supersteven notes, you can look up tire diameters using website tire calculators; you can find links in the FAQ topic stickied at the top of this forum. Or, you can calculate sidewall height yourself! For example, on a 195/50-15 tire, the tread is 195 mm wide and the sidewall is .50 times the tread width, or 97.5 mm.