Tire size: 205-->195 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Life2 · 11-17-2011, 04:18 PM

I have a V6 XLE gen 3.5 and I was wondering if I could safely use two different sized tires on my car. I wanted to put 195/65/15 blizzaks in the front with my 205/65/15 kumho's in the back. I figured I run into two problems here, one being that its a narrower tire and the other being that I have two different width tires on. In my head this is a

moment that I'm even asking this question. Worse case scenario I'll just go pick up four new blizzaks.

liensalebuyer · 11-17-2011, 04:20 PM

you'd be running off for a short bit if you get a flat and use the spare. If you were on a long trip and needed the spare, that wouldn't be good.

Life2 · 11-17-2011, 04:38 PM

So if my longest possible commute is 30 miles (every few weeks) I'd probably be safe? I live in the city and don't drive too much but when I do, snow tires are usually necessary since it hardly gets plowed.

***Silent Runner*** · 11-17-2011, 04:56 PM

You forgot to mention if they are both snow tires.. The Blizzacks obviously are but are the Kumhos? Tire size difference is no big deal (may look funny), but winter to summer might be an issue. The Blizz's will give you great traction on the front in cold, snow, ice, but a set of summers on the back will skate around, making the car tail happy in braking and corners. Front wheel drive cars are already this way, to some degree with more balanced traction and matched tires. Think about any hard braking manouver on slippery conditions, and haveing the back end of the car want to walk out to one side or the other and spin you around backwards. probably not a good idea. IMHO.

***Zembonez*** · 11-17-2011, 04:59 PM

The only real issue I see is possibly some oddball handling in the wet or snow/ice due to the differences in grip provided by the dissimilar tries.

JungleSuperlord · 11-17-2011, 07:48 PM

RE: the different sizes issue.
Camrys of this generation came with 195/70R15 tires and the official option to +1 the size up to a 205/65R15 tire so the width shouldn't be an issue. The issue I see is that both tires have the same sidewall height, which gives them a different rolling diameter. If you have ABS this will cause a problem as one set of wheels will be spinning faster than the other - you don't want the ABS getting confused especially in the winter. If you put the 195/65r15s in the front your speedo and odometer will also be a little off since the correct size would be 195/70r15 in order to match the 205/65r15s.

RE: 2 snows/2 ??
It would be safest to either do 4 snows or 4 all seasons during the winter due to the difference in grip that a 2/2 setup would cause.

If you plan on doing 2 snow tires/2 non-snow tires please put the snow tires in the back since you have a FWD vehicle. With FWD you can use the gas, brakes, and steering wheel to control the front but the rears are just along for the ride. If you put snows up front and have more grip up there the back will be more prone to sliding out and without a way to control that (i.e. using the gas in a RWD car) it can become very dangerous.

Pvt-Public · 11-18-2011, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Camrys of this generation came with 195/70R15 tires and the official option to +1 the size up to a 205/65R15 tire

Actually the sizes offered were 195/70R14 on the LE and 205/65R15 on the V6 and XLE. The 195/70R15 was never an option.

Although the rolling diameter is almost the same why go to a narrower tire?

hardtopte72 · 11-18-2011, 10:40 AM

One problem usually faced with overall smaller tires is that they have a smaller load index. Meaning they are not designed to Carry the weight of the car.

Also the 195/65/15 Tire usually comes on compact cars like Corollas and Jettas. Not midsize cars like the Camry.

While you may not experience any issues as it is a relatively small difference there is a possibility you could experience premature wear and speedometer issues as the tires are around a 2 % difference in overall diameter.

Just keep that in mind.

Hajoca · 11-18-2011, 12:16 PM

Please check that your car does not have traction control or ABS, the different diameters and grip will affect the braking effectiveness to the tire / tires with least traction to prevent the skidding.

ghettosled · 11-18-2011, 12:16 PM

im planning on running off-set tires on my camry this year, though just slightly smaller since that is what came on my 4-cylinder camry. i use to run 185 75 14 snow tires all the way around, but i blew one last year so im planning on running 2 snow tires on the front and my all-season tires 195 70 14 in the rear. i did this for the tail end of last winter and it worked quite well. not as good as having 4 snow tires, but better than have 4 all-season tires.