215/65/15 on stock 15" Rim

[RICO8458]

My neighbor's Camry sits on 15" stock wheels with 205/65/15 tires. he wants to go to sears and buy Kumho Ecsta 215/65/15 tires. in other words, he wants to put on 215 width tires on his stock 15" rims. i told him to just go and buy some 17's. anyway, i believe if he takes a hard turn at high speed he may have some issues. my question is: will he be in danger using this 215 width on stock rims?

[Tom 2000]

215 width tires will fit. However, he's better off installing 215/60R15 tires as the overall diameter of the tires will be closer to the original tires.

Try this out.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

You should get more grip with wider tires, but the extra width will equate to a little more rolling resistance and tire weight. If his fuel economy drops slightly, he shouldn't be surprised.

[touringcamry]

I don't know if he's asked yet, but it's high unlikely that Sears will put those size tires on his car. Tehy wouldn't even put 10W-30 oil in my Prelude when I brought it in for an oil change because the oil cap said 5W-30 on it.

If he's going to put wider tires, he should reduce the profile, maybe put 215/60/15 instead just to keep the speedometer accurate.

[skewe]

215 on 205 will work

[terrastrife]

i woudlnt reccomend a 215 section tyre on a 6" wheel, unless you want the big round rubber muscle car look. it will fit and you wont have problems, but sidewall flex will increase lots and lots (you turn the wheel and the car reacts a small amount of time after).

[drmotorhead]

I just put 215/60/15 on my 15*6 98 camry wheel, and it fits well. The tire does come out another 5mm than the stock tire, but I like it. I think some people tend to put too narrow of a tire on too wide of a rim. Easy road rash is the result. I got slighty better steering response and definitely a stickier tire. The pic below is an example of a wheel bigger than necessary. Those are HRE's, and they will be wasted at the first curb contact.

[terrastrife]

if you hit kerbs you shouldnt be driving.

those rim protectors etc are just a bandaid fix for bad drivers.

my wheels stick out way past the 'rim edge'

your increased response comes from a tyre with better contruction.

[chronoti]

i'm doing it, no problems here, and sears are fricking idiots they wount install it. you need to go to another shop thats not them to get it done, or to just buy them and take them somewhere else (support your local shop thats filled with old people).

[touringcamry]

^ I don't think they're idiots. I think they're just convering their ass so that there's a lesser chance that they will be sued for putting the wrong thing in/on someone's car. Ie if they put non-OE size tires on the car and the guy gets in an accident, he cannot sue Sears because the wrong size tires decreased traction or something. Similarly, if someone's engine blows up or seizes they cannot sue Sears for putting the wrong oil.

Given that everyone sues everyone for the smallest things here in America, it is probably a farily wise choice they have taken either to prevent some idiot from suing them, or most likely, one or more persons has done it in the past. Also, all their salesmen probably do not have enough qualifications or experience that allow them to sell anything but items that are similar to stock to customers. The guy at the local tire shop probably has been selling tires longer and has more knowledge about his products and can better judge whether putting a wider and/or lower profile tire would have adverse effects on the vehicle. This is my experience anyway.