2002 Protege' ES - Tires

[reeny224]

I need some advice. I have a 2002 Protege ES four door sedan. I love the car but HATE the all season PR19550R16 tires and rims that came with it. The past couple years, because I live in the snow belt, I have been using winter tires put on by a Mazda dealer. The winter tires are on PR 19560R15 rims so obviously the process takes a couple hours to go from the all seasons to the winter tires each time and vice versa. I love the way the car drives with these tires and rims. I would like to continue to use these rims with some decent all season tires in the PR19560R15 size but when I went to the local Walmart all I got was "not recommended for this vehicle" despite telling them repeatedly that the rims are not the originals and that I had the correct size of tires for the rims that are now on the car. I am now beginning to feel like my Mazda garage led me astray and that perhaps the 19560R15's are not safe for my car. Please help! I really gotta get my snow tires off. I was looking at the Bridgestone Potenza all seasons. Any advice would be appreciated!

[njaremka]

i wouldn't put much faith in a recomendation from walmart. if you liek the size thats on the car, go with it.

[Liquid_Ag]

why go that small?

[Mutmatt]

they probably are saying it isn't recommended because the speedo...

[Liquid_Ag]

u can go with a wider tire on the 16s and it will perform better

[Mutmatt]

knowing what rims you have will effect the decision and the advice we can give you due to the offset and the width of the rim itself

[5PADZAM]

they probably are saying it isn't recommended because the speedo...

The speedometer will be reading slower than your actual speed with the 195/60-15 tire size, but will not really be noticable. At 60, you will actually be traveling 1.4 mph faster than the speedometer says you are. If you like the ride with the taller side-walls, then get them. There will be no probelm with this size.

Like njaremka said, don't put much faith in what Wal-Mart says. If you want accurate advice about tires, go to a real tire shop.

[Mutmatt]

noticeable to a cop that sees you doing 68.5 rather than 67 could be the difference in a ticket or not... just something to keep in the back of your head while driving with different than stock tire sizes

[5PADZAM]

noticeable to a cop that sees you doing 68.5 rather than 67 could be the difference in a ticket or not... just something to keep in the back of your head while driving with different than stock tire sizes

Yeah, but that's assuming that our speedo's are accurate. I know that, with stock tires, when my speedo reads 60mph I am actually doing closer to 58mph. I have a friend in the state patrol that clocked me with a radar gun. Even running the size that he wants to run, my car would still be going slightly less than what the speedo reads. And with tire wear, that difference would eventually almost go away.

I have read that all car manufacturers have a tolerance that the speedometer has to be accurate to. And generally, they read low. This also has the hidden benefit (for the manufacturers at least) of the mileage warranty running out a little before the car has actually traveled the warranted distance. Honda is especially bad for this.