Originally posted by scottd60:
Originally posted by 1314:
 I did. When I was trying to decide between a 225/45 or a 235/40, I wanted to be as close to stock in diameter as possible. That calculator showed that the stock diameter of a 215/50 16 is 24.46. The 225/45 is 24.97 and the 235/40 is 24.40. The 235's were closest and that's what I went with and haven't had a single problem.
That is exactly how it should be used/done...
Trust me, I've used those calculators in the past and like I said, they are informative, but not accurate.
Using that calculator, here are some examples.
Stock:
215/50-16 - 24.46
Most commonly used 18" tire:
225/40-18 - 25.08
Tire calculator:
225/35-18 - 24.20
No thank you. Not enough tire.
Tire calculator:
225/30-19 - 24.31
No chance on earth I'm putting that rubberband on 19" wheels. I had 225/35-19s and thought they weren't wide enough.
I've never understood the small minority of people who sacrifice wheel protection, appearance, ride comfort to keep their odometer as accurate as possible / "be as close to stock" diameter. Is 1.5mph at 60mph really that important?
In addition, I'm not trying to knock people who do use the calculator, but until you've tried as many wheel and tire combinations as I have you're giving poor advice by telling people to use the calculator to determine tire size.
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