Tires general question

Hey guys,
I'm not very familiar with tires / measurements etc.

How much of a difference is there between 185/60R14 and 175/65R14 ? Can I
buy the 185 if I currently use the 175?

Thanks

 

As far as overall diameter, these two are pretty close, but whether you can
install a wider tire on your existing rim depends on the width of the rim
and how much space there is in the wheel well - you haven't told us what car
this is.

General tire size calculator:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

More info on tires:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/general/sidewall.htm

Also check out the specs of the particular tires you're looking for on
TireRack. It'll tell you the recommended rim width that it can be installed
on, but generally it should be from 5 to 6.5 inches for a 185/60/14 tire.

Cheers,

Pete

 

Example:
185/60R14

The first number is the nominal width, 185 millimeters.
The second number is the percentage of the width that the height is, 60%
So the height is 60% of 185, or 111mm.

175 x 65% = 114mm

There is a difference of 3mm (1/8") per side, or 6mm (1/4") total in the
diameter of those two tires.

A perfect match to the 175/65 would be 185/62, which they don't make. So
you've got to compromise a bit.

That would work. Your speedometer would read fast by around 2 or 3 percent.

 

175/65/14 rating system:

175 is the width of the bulge. Actual width of tread varies. Some tires with
175 rating have wider tread width than most 185.

65 is 65% of 175, which is the width of the sidewall. The bigger the number,
the more air it has, the higher its load rating.

14 is the diameter of the rim.

Sure, you can use 185/60/14. Such small difference is not critical.

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

 

"TeGGeR" <>

The difference on the speedometer would be much less. Overall diameter
(according to your calculations) is 175 -> 583mm and 185 -> 578mm, thus less
than 1% difference.

Bye,
Leon