I'm looking to get new rims for my 86 GXL. It has 205/60-15 tires on it now, and i want to get 17 by 7" rims. What tire size would I need to keep the speedometer and odometer accurate and to keep the overall diameter the same?

 

It really depends on the tire brand. I would say that a 205/40R17 would be pretty close. Check with the maker of your tire that you are looking at and they should have the info.

 

so I would still be able to use the 205 width tires? Wouldn't I have to bump up to a 225?

 

225s are about as wide as you can go without rubbing the spring or perch. 225s are fun, but steering effort is increased if you don't have p/s, and they tend to follow grooves in the road a whole lot more... just food for thought.

Tirerack.com has big-azz charts of tire sizes. Look at one. The column you're interested in is "revs per mile". Find a 205/60R15. Note its "revs per mile" find a matching number for a 17" tire that's 225 wide. If you can't find one, get the closest one that's slightly higher (that'll make your speedo read high, not low, which is a good thing, for the most part).

Now you're set.

Brandon

 

205/60-15
O.D. = 24.73 (approx)

215/45-17
O.D. = 24.60 (approx)

That would be a 7.00 in width tire.

Hope this helps, that is the best I could come up with in five minutes before my gf started IMing me.

Good luck!

 

215/45/17

 

stop the guess work and do it the right way:

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

 

How about 225 outback and 215 up front??

 

so will 215/45-17 fit on a 17x7 wheel?

 

bump

 

Most 215/45-17 should fit a 17x7 wheel just fine, but you will need to check with the tire manufacture to see if a 7" width falls within the recommended wheel range.

If you used the tire calc that I posted above you are aware that a 215/45-17 will cause the speedo to go off by .3%. So that when the speedo reads 60 MPH, you really are going 59 MPH

 

Yeah, I checked out the tire calc. Speedo reading faster is better than it reading slower. I'm looking at getting Sport Edition Fox 2 wheels from tirerack. And I'm gonna need new tires, so I wanted to upgrade my wheels also and wasn't what kind of tires I could get.

 

Way ahead of you...

again - 215/45/17.