Lower profile tires? 205/50's or 205/45's

[RNandKT]

Has anyone put 205/50-R16's or even a 45 series on their car? I realize it will mess up the speedometer, (I can fix that). I am thinking of lowering my car about an inch and want to go slightly lower profile tires, but I'm afraid that it will look too small for the wheel well and wanted to hear if someone else has done this? Oh and this is on a 1997 Leg GT. Any pictures would be helpful.

[MCarp22]

The outside diameter of the 205-50s would be about the same as my 195-60-15s here. Ignore the wheels and look at the tires in this pic:

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/images/imported/2007/02/saltdoom-1.jpg

[RNandKT]

Actually the side wall height of a 195/60r15 is almost the exact same as the sidewall height of the stock 205/55r16, even though the diameter is 1 inch shorter because of the wheel size, so your tires would not look as low profile as the 205/50r16 would.

Thanks though

[shazapple]

I think you're confused. The diameter of the 195/60/15 tire in the picture is the same as the 205/50/16 you're considering. The picture is to show how much of the wheel well is filled.

Im curious as to how you'd fix the speedometer. Theres about a 6.5% difference between 205/55/16 and 205/45/16 anyway.

Can you even find a decent tire in those sizes anyway? Why not get a wider tire? I think your priorities are a bit messed up...

[badbasser98]

These are 205/50-16's

https://sl-i.net/FORUM/

Though I guess it'd be hard to tell how much gap there is since the car is not sitting level... The L's had a smaller over all tire diameter, that's the reason why I was running that size on my BD.

[RNandKT]

Shazapple I'm not confused in the slightest. I know that a 195/60-r15 is about one inch shorter than a 205/55-r16, but the sidewall height (the distance between the tread and the wheel) is about 4.41 inches on both of them which means it will not give the low profile look of a 205/50-r16 since it has about 4.01 inch sidewall.

Badbasser, I appriciate the pics it helps, and I'm not worried about the height too much since I plan to lower it a bit.

[LunchBox04V]

Honestly, I think that a 205/45/17 would be great. It is slightly larger in diameter (about 3mm or so larger). There would be very little change in speed between the original, and the 205/45/17's. (like 2 mph at 60). Plus, there are some good tires in that size. That is my plan for the summer!

However, I currently have Yoko AVS ES100's for summer now in 195/60/15, and they are pretty good.

[LegacyRob]

I took off the 205/55/16 and switched them for a 225/50/16 , same diameter but a bit wider, i like it.

[Sarra]

I wanted to change to a wider tire, but I need to roll my fenders first. :p