I drive a 2005 Nissan Sentra with winter tires but they’re not cutting it on these icey roads up here in Alaska where I live. My friend has 4 studded tires she’s willing to give me, but we don’t know if they’ll fit. My tires say 195/60/R15 and her studs are 205/70/R15. Will those fit on my car?
Size does matter?
Absolutely.
It’s possible that they will. The diameter is correct (R15 = 15"), but the studded tires are a little wider (205mm vs. 195mm). Assuming the wheels on your Sentra are wide enough, the studded tires will fit just fine. Your tire dealer -the person who will have to swap them- can tell you if your wheels are of the correct width.
The width shouldn’t be a problem, however the overall diameter of the 205/70/R15 is going be much larger because of the higher aspect ratio (i.e. 70% of 205 = 144 mm vs. 60% of 195 = 117 mm is the tire height). To put it another way, the overall diameters of the 195/60/R15 and 205/70/R15 tires are 24.2" and 26.1" respectively. There may be clearance issues with the wheel wells.
Ed B.
Further to what Ed B said, your diameter will be 7.92% greater with those 205/70 tires, and 1010tires.com doesn’t recommend going beyond 3%, smaller or larger than your originals. They claim if you go beyond 3%, you face the risk of brake failure. Not sure what the reasoning is behind that, maybe someone here can explain?
Is it icey roads or snow…For snow you want a NARROW tire…NOT A WIDER tire.
It can’t hurt to call Nissan regional headquarters, customer service, and see what they have to say. Actually, they’ll transfer you to the Technical division but someone there usually knows the answer.
www.carbibles.com is a good website to learn about tires and tire sizes. I would not recommend going with a tire that much larger on a Sentra.
My suggestion is to look up consumer feedback on the 1010tires and tirerack websites. Look for something in a winter, well siped with a complex tread pattern.