An acceptable difference in tire sizes?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Hi, I’m looking for advice on tire sizes. All four of mine need replacing on my 2018 Toyota Yaris iA, but I apparently have an unusual tire size (185/60-16).
The options are quite limited - some places don’t carry any tires in that size at all - so a tire salesman suggested I go with a slightly different size (205/55-16), which is 0.6% difference in diameter, and has far more options available.

Would you go with this plan, or should I be a stickler about the size?
The salesman said the advantage would be that it’d be easier to replace a flat tire in a pinch, and the minor drawbacks would be a very slightly greater demand on gas and a tiny offset in the speedometer reading.

Thanks!

Edit: thanks all for the help. Gonna stick with the proper size to make it easier. Appreciate the input though

2

Look in your owners manual or the door sticker that lists acceptable sizes.

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3

What does your local Toyota dealer say ?

In my area where I live, most new car dealers are very competitive on tire prices.

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4

The biggest issue is the potential for the tires to rub. I’d check on tire rack to see what options they list.

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5

My experience is that GENERALLY, you can go 2 tire sizes up without rubbing. That means 2 increments larger in width (185 >>205), or 2 increments larger in aspect ratio (60>>70). That’s because the vehicle manufacturers add enough room for chains (which means you can’t use chains if you change tire size!)

But there are a lot of exceptions, so this isn’t a sure thing.

So the 205/55R16 (up 2, down 1) sounds like a good idea.

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6

The Yokohama AVID Ascend GT comes in your size and Tire Rack liked it in their testing, so if this were my car I’d get that tire and avoid the issue, at least this time around.

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7

Tire rack shows 205/50x17 as an optional size, so the 205/55x16 should fit, I’d guess.

And I would switch sizes. They only show 2 in the stock size, 168 in the alternate size.

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8

The difference is only 2/10ths of an inch in overall diameter, so that the speedometer/odometer would be off by less than 1%. which is fine in my book. Width will be up by 11% which is far more noticeable. You’d have to makes sure there’s no rubbing and that your wheels can accommodate a wider tire (they should).

9

fuel economy will also drop, not drastically, but it will

10

Any decent tire shop will make a reasonable substitute size. But Discount Tire has 185 60 16 and of course Tire Rack . Also many shops may not have it in stock but can have them in a short time .

11

Oh good call. The manual lists 185/65-15 as the other possible size. So maybe I’ll go with that as it seems quite close

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12

Which is it? Only the second one will fit your current wheels.

13

You’re right that was a typo. It’s 185/65-15. That’s the one you meant would fit right?

14

Why not just have the tire store order the correct size . As I said the local Discount Tire has them in stock . Also if you trust this tire store you are dealing with then just go with them . Why make things complicated ?

15

The last number, “15” is the wheel size, 15 inches. You can’t install 15" tires on 16" wheels.

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16

As noted by @Nevada_545 noted, no, they won’t.

17

Yeah, you’re right. The reasoning was that I’m going on a trip this weekend and wanted to hurry and get them. But I found a place that has the proper size already in stock so I’ll go for that

18

I am agree with the salesman.

19

Mathew , the post just above yours by the person who started this thread says they found a place that has the proper size tires and that is what they are going to do.