GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

My 2005 Vibe will be needing new tires soon and I was looking at getting onesize bigger than the stock 205-55/R16s (24.88" OD). Maybe 205-60/R16s (25.69" OD). That's only 0.81 inches difference in diameter.I know the speedometer and odometer will be slightly off, but I think the Vibe will look much better.(The stock tires leave too much wheel-well space for my liking) Has anyone else done this?If so, do you have any pics?-Tim

Yes. I have. I have had 215/60/16 tires on my Vibe at one time. They worked alright. If I ever did it again I would probably go with 205/60/16 but only if they saved me money. If not, I would stick with the 205/55/16. I don't have any pics though.

A lot of Vibe owners asking about this. Several of us in this forum have put larger tires on the steelies, and yes, they really do look better. There is a surprising amount of space inside that Vibe wheel well, so go for it. The largest tire I saw on a Vibe steel wheel was a 225/60 16. MountainMax had a set on his old Vibe. There were some pictures of his car and tires posted last year. You might want to search him out. Signature picture shows 225/50 17's on alloys that are about 4% bigger than the 205/55 16 RS-A tires that came on my car. Someone else just posted a set of 215/55 18's on his Matrix in Wheels and Tires. They really fill the void and he has no problems with the fit or the ride.Just make sure you get a good idea of your Speedometer error, so you don't get stuck paying for speeding tickets.

225/60/16 is too tall and will hurt performance. 225/50/16 is perfect, virtually identical to stock (205/55/16) diameter but 3/4" + wider than stock. Installed 225/50/16 Goodyear TripleTreds on our '05 33K miles ago and they still look almost new.

Quote, originally posted by vibolista »Just make sure you get a good idea of your Speedometer error, so you don't get stuck paying for speeding tickets.Technically speaking, if you have these larger tires on the car for a while then when you sell the car you 'technically' will have to state that the odometer is not accurate, in most states. Also DO check your speedometer. Get a good GPS navi that shows horizontal accuracy and speed (like a Garmin Nuvi). When you've got enough satellites to get 10-20 meter accuracy compare the speed on the navi with your speedometer. I put larger tires on a VW rabbit many years ago that caused the speed to read 10 mph slower. They were take-offs that were a good deal. Got pulled over a couple of times before I figured it out. Both I and my passengers were all arguing with the officer that I was not speeding. In fact I was, I just didn't know it.

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »225/60/16 is too tall and will hurt performance. 225/50/16 is perfect, virtually identical to stock (205/55/16) diameter but 3/4" + wider than stock. Installed 225/50/16 Goodyear TripleTreds on our '05 33K miles ago and they still look almost new. If your tires are larger in diameter than stock, then you will technically lower your gear ratio. That will cause a slight loss in torque but may increase your 'actual' fuel efficiency (before subtracting any extra tire drag).

Taller tires will slow down the revs slightly but also place more load on the engine so the gas pedal has to be pushed farther to maintain a given speed which will likely decrease fuel economy. The Vibe is a torque wimp and doesn't need to lose any. When riding a 10 speed bike it's harder to pedal a taller gear, say for example, 6th gear vs 5th gear and it is harder for an engine to turn a taller tire vs a shorter tire. Having a slightly wider tire while maintaining factory spec tire diameter will have virtually no negative effects.

Could .81" make that much of a difference? I've been pricing tires and I noticed the 205/60's are cheaper than the 205/55's. I was thinking of going with the 60's too. I drive 90% highway.

They really don't make much of a difference. Nothing you can feel. Funny thing is that my speedo was more accurate with the larger diameter wheels than with stock (according to the Minnesota State Highway Patrol)

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »Could .81" make that much of a difference? I've been pricing tires and I noticed the 205/60's are cheaper than the 205/55's. I was thinking of going with the 60's too. I drive 90% highway. I also plan to switch to the 60 profile tires on our Vibes. The speedometers read a little high now so this will actually make them more accurate and the difference in gearing is insignificant. If a change in gearing of a few percent were that crucial then we'd all need to have CVTs to keep our engines in exactly the correct gear ratio at all times. But cars work fine with 4 - 6 speed transmissions that have substantial gaps between gears. With the larger tires I might stay in a given gear for a few extra seconds before shifting up - not a big deal.A couple small side benefits: a bit smoother ride with higher sidewalls and a bit more ground clearance.

i have had 225/55 R17 on my vibe for about a year runs great with them on the speedometer is off about 2mph but but other than that its fine. but looks great on the car

Quote, originally posted by BlueCrush »They really don't make much of a difference. Nothing you can feel. Funny thing is that my speedo was more accurate with the larger diameter wheels than with stock (according to the Minnesota State Highway Patrol)The stock speedo on my 2009 reads 2-3 mph faster than the car is actually traveling. Most cars are set that way. What they do is determine the accuracy of the speedometer in the real world (say 99% @ +/- 2mph) Then they adjust them all up 2mph so that 99% of them ahould be guaranteed to read at or below the correct speed.

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »Couls .81" make that much of a difference? I've been pricing tires and I noticed the 205/60's are cheaper than the 205/55's. I was thinking of going with the 60's too. I drive 90% highway. It's not the diameter, it's the circumference, which is the diameter x Pi. So the difference between 50s and 55s is 2.6 inches of circumference which is +3.5%. 3.5% of 70 mph is 2.5 mph. The difference between 50s and 60s is 5.1 inches. That's 6.75%, which at 70 mph is 4.7 mph.

.........and most tire mfg's. recommend that the diameter/circumference not exceed original factory spec by more than 3% with less than 3% being preferable.

If you are always pushing the accelerator and trying to leave the line as quick as possible (aqap) then it's a given that you will use more fuel and lose out on available power with the larger diameter tire. I have always run larger diameter tires on vehicles to lower the RPMs at highway cruise. Since I drive easily, I have not experienced any of the problems mentioned. The tires also tend to last a long time. Generally speaking, if you are easy on the go pedal, you can reap better mileage numbers. Again, you have to be sure that you figure out the odo difference to make accurate calculations and to keep the road regulators chasing someone else. More than one person has used the 225/60 16 tires on their Vibes without problem... but there is a point where an even bigger tire will eventually lead to lower mileage and lousy handling. My summers (225/ 50 17s) have been allowing between 36 and 38 mpg, of course, after figuring their 4% lower rotation rates. You end up adding a few miles for each tank and that's only a slight pain. You also gain a little extra ride height, a nice thing to have in winter around here!

I currently have 205/60/16 on my Vibe. I think it looks better, since it fills up the wheel well a bit more. Check out my garage for some pics.

Not to be Johnny rain cloud here but you could simply lower the car to take care of the wheel gap and keep your stock wheels and tire size where they are... My Vibe is ~2.5 inches lower than stock and I have yet to get stuck in the harsh Michigan winters and I've had the car for about 6 and a half years.I really don't think a size up like that would have much of an impact on anything unless you are keeping track of it to the "T", which is kind of weird in my opinion. Although I guess if you are conducting some sort of research it would make a difference? I just don't understand the gas mileage hype. If you wanted to get ridiculously high gas mileage, seems like a different car would suit better

Again, the 3%, preferably less, increase in diameter/circumference is what tire mfg's. recommend......but don't take my word for it. At what point does a larger than stock diameter tire place more load on the engine/drive train?..........when the diameter/circumference begins to exceed the factory diameter/circumference..........according to the laws of physics anyhow. When can/does the (removed) dyno begin to tell a performance difference????.......some before others and some will never notice a difference, regardless of the laws of physics.

Quote, originally posted by Merzbow »I really don't think a size up like that would have much of an impact on anything unless you are keeping track of it to the "T", which is kind of weird in my opinion.I agree that it won't make much difference, but the alternate size tires are 1) cheaper; 2) should ride a little smoother; 3) result in more accurate speedometer readings; and 4) give a bit more ground clearance. All minor items so I'm not going to run out and get new tires. But when I need to get some anyway I'll plan on getting the 60-profile ones rather than the 55-profile. So far our oldest Vibe has almost 40000 miles on the original RSAs and they'll last for about another year - then I'll see about getting 205/60-16s.

Thanks to everyone who answered. Bigger tires here I come.Merzbow,A different car? Bite your tongue. Seriously, I'm getting 42-43 mpg in my 5-spd '05 Vibe. The Vibe is a very good choice for a "hypermiler" andit's more practical than most other economy cars.-Tim

True, I know there aren't a huge variety of fuel efficient cars out there that get the mileage you are getting but I know there are a lot more than getter better mileage than what I think I get (removed)...Actually I think my bike gets around 45 mpg so if your Vibe does that's pretty amazing

Wow! Here's hoping I can get MPGs into the lower 40s as the Vibe breaks in someday. If your driving style allows that kind of mileage figures, you'll do well with the new tires. Michigan snow must be a little lighter than Maine snow. Even though I would love to lower my Vibe, I wouldn't consider it living here. It would probably get stuck in any storm that dumped more than 6 inches of snow. Water content is pretty high here, so the consistency is more like a heavy syrup a lot of the time. If you have to drive in it it would likely take the bottom of your bumper off.

Yeah you probably get a lot more over there. We had 14 inches a week or two ago and I faired well in that. Didn't get stuck at all.

I wouldn't say we would get a lot more snow here in Maine than you guys do, it's just that we tend to get the really thick stuff that's tough to drive through until the plows get out. A lot of people out here crack or break their lower bumper sections going through the snow berms that the snow plows leave along driveways and such. If you have a truck or something that has a little more clearance, it's not a problem.Farther inland from the Maine coast, and especially over the mountains here, the snow is generally the fluffier stuff. I noticed some fairly good sized hills on your signature pic background... what part of Michigan was that taken?

Which picture are you referring to? My current signature pic was taken on the Dragon's Tail in Tennessee last July lol...no snow there. I live about 20 minutes north east of Detroit. So most of my pictures are around the Detroit area. Last few winters we didn't get many snowfalls but we get nailed when it does snow and it gets bitter cold here Bigger tires may be a little more bouncy actually too. My summer rims are 18's with low profile tires, they ride rough. My winter rims are the stock 16s with bigger tires and it is not as rough but it definitely bounces a little more.

Low profile tires have less sidewall, so they tend to respond to bumps a bit quicker than a higher profile tire. That's how you also get a quicker steering response from that lower profile. Not as much squish. Bigger sidewalls will feel totally different. If you can, lower the pressure a pound or two to see if it might keep the tire a little calmer for you.I thought your signature picture was taken in Michigan. Oops!

Ha, I like rough rides, it makes me feel like I'm actually driving the car rather than just sitting in it lol. Michigan doesn't have very much natural scenery worth taking pictures of. Unless you go up north on the west side of the state.