im on 215/40/17 tyres and will be needing a new set soon ,my mate has offered me a set of 205/50/17 at a very very good price .will the 205/50 profile change the handaling of the car ect i know the profile is higher but will the speedo be different ect .
anyone know of a website with a conversion chart or one one running 205/50/17 tyres on a classic

thanks guys

 

Your existing 215/40 R17's have a rolling circumference of 1896mm.

The 205/50 R17's are 2000mm - an extra 104mm/4" further per wheel revolution!

So your speedo will well underread running the 205/50's... when compared to the 215/40's...

 

The 50's will be more comfortable but offer less precise handling characteristics.

Your car won't accelerate as fast either... but you're unlikely to notice any tangible effect of this.

 

thanks thats sort af what i was thinking ,im thinking of going coilover set up so if the ride is abit more for giving on 50s profile then i may be tempted im running whiteline arb,s ect

what is the correct size for a 17inch subaru wheel

 

17's were only fitted as OEM fitment to the New Age STi I believe (I think the New Age WRX got 16" wheels). I think the OEM 17" tyre size is 225/45 R17(?). I might be wrong though.

- Classic MY93/94 - 205/55 R15
- Classic MY95-00 - 205/50 R16

What precise model do you have, as that way I'll be able to tell you what the OEM tyre/wheel size would have been... and therefore the correct rolling circumference for the speedo to read as Subaru intended. That way we can work out the closest 17" tyre size to match that...

 

its ok mate just read ur other thread about tyres ect for a 500 bhp .my car is a 1992 import wrx but when i bought it had 205/50/16 on gold wheels im now on oz wheels 17 inch running 215/40/17 and after reading other post this is correct tyre size

 

Yes mate, 215/40 R17 is the closest 17" tyre size to the std fitment 205/55 R15 tyres your car would have been fitted with from factory. :-)

 

cheers mate bit heavy this for a sunday ha ha time for lunch me thinks

 

Joz......For the love of god will you change your sodin Avatar please......every time i stumble across one of your messages i end up Mesmerised by it and find i cant look away...... bit like a rabbit in the car headlights......

 

lol good idea - well earnt I think!

I'm starvin' me 'ead off... :-(

 

<--- It's mental innit?

Wrist-bitingly frustrating though lol

One wants to mash those bas'tads within an inch of their lives!

 

5% slower acceleration is noticeable... IMHO

I have some "pretty" wheels for the summer and they are about 4% bigger overall, in fourth gear upwards I can feel they "edge" has gone from the car's acceleration.

dunx

 

Well, thinking about it more, I suppose c.5% is quite a 'big' real-world difference.

Interesting dunx - thanks for that insightfull input.

So there you go Andy... not advisable to go to those 205/50 R17's! NO-ONE!!! wants to lose out on acceleration! lol (Plus, aesthetically, they'll look far too 'fat' and untrendy).

 

fair comment i will buy a couple of 215/40/17 yoko prada spec 2 and leave things as they are ha ha

thanks for the help guys

 

I used to have 215/45/18 fitted to my Type R - to increase the rolling circumference as the gearing was too low for me on the motorways. Now I've changes to a 6 speed 'box I don't need them so I'm running 225/45/17 at the moment and will change to something else - probably 215/40/17 and maybe a set of 215/40/18 (yes, yes I know) for the pretty wheels!

 

Sad as it sounds, I was contemplating trying some 225/35x17 tyres on my std STI rims, but the load rating is too low for road use....

These would drop the gearing by 7.5%, making the car feel like it has 30 extra bhp....

LOL

dunx

 

That's a shame about those tyres' load index dunx.

Would be a well simple way of upping the acceleration...