Another question about tire sizes

[BlueBomber]

I need new summer tires for my '01 Celica GT, but can't decide between a few tire sizes. I'm thinking maybe 205/45/17, 215/40/17, or 215/45/17. I'm concerned about the wheel gap as well as the performance. With the 215/40/17, it seems like the wheel gap will be quite large as they will be quite smaller than the stock tires on a GT. With the 215/45/17, I'm worried that too much tire may affect performance and slow my vehicle down. The Celica GT isn't exactly fast, so I really wouldn't like to take a hit in acceleration.

Any suggestions? Anyone with pics of any of these tire sizes? Thanks.

[Mike@TO]

BlueBomber, I'm in the exact same predicament. I have actually narrowed it down, that I've decided to go with 215/45/17. Here are my numbers:

195/60R15 24.2196 inches stock GT 15s
205/40R17 23.4616 inches
205/45R17 24.2693 inches
215/40R17 23.7768 inches
215/45R17 24.6239 inches
225/40R17 24.0920 inches
225/45R17 24.9785 inches

I'd be interested to hear where you are looking to get your wheels, as I'm in the TO area as well. I'm getting a price from a place in Pacific Mall tomorrow, as the guy said that he would be able to beat a price I got quoted from Hammen Tires in Whitby. It looks like I'll be probably paying around $1500 after tax for 17 inch Motegi MR7s on Yoko H4s tires, but I'll know for sure tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

Mike

[BlueBomber]

*sniff* I miss PMall. I'm currently at U Waterloo right now, but I go out almost every weekend back to the Markham area.

I'm actually still looking around for wheels, but I think I've sort of decided on getting bronze 17 inch Work Emotion CR-Kais. I don't remember the name of the store, but it's close to 14th Ave and Warden. Actually, there are a few shops there, so if you want to know, I can ask my bro tomorrow. I believe the price is about $1500 after tax for the CR-Kais.

As for tires, yeah, I was thinking of 215/45/17 as a most probable choice. Possibly Potenza RE750s. Still not sure where I'd pick them up from yet though.

[DopeCelicaGT]

Guys all I can say is that the 215/40-17's will give you a slightly better final gear whereas the 215/45-17 is slightly larger and therefore will take away from low gearing. In other words lets say you had, for example, a final drive of 4.10 with the stock tires on, then you may have a 4.30 with the 215/40-17s because they are slightly shorter than stock, and the 215/45-17 may net you a final drive of 3.90 final gear because it is slightly taller than the stock tire size. SO if you are in it for performance then go with the 215/40-17, if you want a little bit extra, not much, but a little bit of extra rim protection then go with the 215/45-17's. As far as looks and fender gap goes the 215/40-17 is less than half an inch shorter than the 215/45-17 so technically you would subtract a little less than a quarter of an inch of each side of the tire for the fender gap difference. I highly doubt that you would even be able to tell much of a difference if the two were placed side by side. For examplem wheel for wheel, tire for tire, my 195/60-15's look the same height as my 215/40-17's but they are slightly different, very slight. Then again air pressure also has a lot to do with it as well. Needless to say there is a bit of a noticeable difference in between the 195/60-15 and the 215/40-17's but there is hardly any difference at all between the 215/45-17's and the 215/40-17's. It would really be all up to preference. However, I must note that with the 215/40-17's your car will count the mileage on the odometer at a faster rate than it really is. For example, if you ran 215/40-17's for 50,000 miles then your car's odometer would read 53,000 miles instead of the actual 50,000 miles. This is the only reason I regret getting my 215/40-17's.