GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I know i've read on here that's possible to replace the 205/55/16 with 215/55/16 for that 'beefier' tire look.will this affect driving characteristics at all? Does the sidewall go through more stress? Will cornering become 'mushier'?Can somebody direct me to pictures of both sizes on their vibe to see if there really is that much of a difference?thanks for the help!

You would actually be running a completely different sized tire.P205/55R16 and P215/55R16 would be running a larger slower tire of about 1.7% which means you will be going 61mph when the speedo indicates 60mph. it will throw off your ABS(if equipted) and you odometre(sp)If you want to run a wider tire, you need to decrease the sidewall... I'm running P215/45R17 to match the stock P205/55R16 size. Now of course your looking at getting a wider tire on a 16" rim. Trying to find a tire in a P215/50R16 runs you at 1.7% to fast which means you would be going 59mph instead of 60mph... again with the same damaging results.Either change rim size to a 17 to get a beefier tire or stick with the P205... IMO.

Don't bother with either! Go 225-50-16...it fits and its the best choice. Same circumference as stock and puts more rubber on the road for better handling and safety.

Quote, originally posted by Salsa! »Mavrik, could you shed some light on this.... I have trouble understanding the damaging results ...I know that it sets off a bit your odometer, but what's the problem with the ABS??? ABS sensors "sense" when wheels block....how would different tire size change the way they are handling? I might be missing something!It would be preferable to have a tire which is closer to the stock size than this one....1.7% is a fair differenceputting on different tires throws the wheel speed specs off, it will cause ABS problems, there is more to the ABS then sensing if one wheel is locking up, trust me of not, I happen to work with this stuff every day.

Quote, originally posted by Mavrik »putting on different tires throws the wheel speed specs off, it will cause ABS problems, BUT.....225-50-16 won't throw anything off and won't affect ABS. Do it!

Quote, originally posted by philndz »BUT.....225-50-16 won't throw anything off and won't affect ABS. Do it! Yeh! Go with 225/50/16, I did. Falken FK-451. The car handles great and looks great too.

if the tire size is less then 1% then sure, go ahead. I don't have ABS on my Vibe and my tires are only .5% different.

They are .09% different. 59.9mph to 60mph.

Quote, originally posted by Sunny »They are .09% different. 59.9mph to 60mph.its when you get into 1% and more that you run into problems.

Quote, originally posted by Sunny » Yeh! Go with 225/50/16, I did. Falken FK-451. The car handles great and looks great too. 225/50/16 will fit on the stock rim (i don't remember the dimension right now....15x8? x6? )can you post a pic of your wheels with this size mounted?

Quote, originally posted by Atomb »225/50/16 will fit on the stock rim (i don't remember the dimension right now....15x8? x6? )can you post a pic of your wheels with this size mounted?I put 225/50's on some aftermarket rims that were 1/2" wider than the stock rim, but I don't think you'd have any problem with them on the stock rims. There's some pics on this link. (not real good pics, but you can see the tire/wheels in a few of the pics.)http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...%3AITYes, I'd go with the 225/50's again if I had to do over.

wow, and i have the same colour vibe and my rims aren't actually stock...they almost look like the rims you have on your car!scarey how similar our 2 vibes are actually.so you had no problems due to that 1/2"? Did they say anything at the tire place when you asked them to mount those tires? i'm a bit cautious so i'm sorry for the constant requests for re-assurance on this....how does it affect handling? better/worse/no difference?

When I bought the wheels, I had Discount Tire take the original Continentals off the stock steel rims and put them on the aluminum wheels. After the Continentals wore out, I bought the 225/50's and he said that the 225's fit the slightly wider aluminum wheel better than the stock Conti's, so I'm assuming he meant the wheel was a little wide for the original size Conti. I'd say the ride improved quite a bit. I don't know if it was due to the wider tire, or just the fact that the Continentals they put on the Vibes are one of the worst tires I've ever owned, so anything would be an improvement.The visual improvement alone is worth it. It makes the Vibe look much better, especially when I had the Hotchkis springs on it.

One of the G6's I saw at a dealer the other day had contis...Glad to see they listened to customer feedback on those...

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »Glad to see they listened to customer feedback on those...They were probably cost a couple cents less....... Actually, I've read that Conti. does make some decent tires, but obviously not the model they stuck on the Vibes.

Quote, originally posted by cohocarl »They were probably cost a couple cents less....... Actually, I've read that Conti. does make some decent tires, but obviously not the model they stuck on the Vibes. i have never been a big fan of continental for most of my life....when i was younger and racing road bikes (bicycles) our team was sponsored by conti and we had issues with many flats...that set the tone in my mind.i've heard of others having issues with conti's on thier cars. Then I hear about my brother-in-law having issues with conti mountain bike tires and this past summer, the entire Phonak team during the tour de france were on conti and had the most flats in the peloton!sorry for the aside on cycling...but i really am not a big fan of continental. they're over priced and i've never heard of any examples where people had 'great experience' with them.thanks for the info on the 225. i think i'll take a serious look at going that route!

Just a note on Speedo error, According to my Garmin GPSMap 60C, IM going 58 when the speedo says 60, 67 when the speedo says 70, and 76 when the speedo says 80, with stock tires and the readings are always consistent.

What really matters is what the POLICE radar says!!!

JUst noting that if my speedo is off with 16's, then everyone else probably is too