I have a 2012 Passion and looking to buy 4 new tires. I currently have 165/15 front and 185/15 rear. What is the best size for a smoother ride? I am looking to stay with 15 inch rims.
Many of us have gone to 4 rear wheels on the 451, which allows you to run wider tires all around and be able to rotate them, as well. Many more have switched to 6" wide after market rims all around. With the stock front wheel size, you can go up to 175/55-15.
I personally went to 4 rear wheels with 195/50-15. The difference is night and day!
There are many threads here about tire and wheel sizes.
you could go with 185/60-15 or 195/55-15 all around, or you could go up to 205/60-15 for the rear tires, the rear has larger wheel wells. just make sure the front tires stay under 24 inches in diameter. you'll have to use 5.5 inch or wider wheels up front.
If you don't want the expense of adding two new wheels, look for tires with a higher sidewall ratio, say 65 as opposed to 55 or 60. The additional sidewall height gives more flex than the lower ratios. Just make sure the overall diameter of the tires is within a few percent of the stock sizes or you'll have issues with the stability system. You can discuss with the folks at Discount Tire or Tire Rack and they should be able to find tires for your smart.
i currently have 195/50-15's that are 40mm wider in the front and 20mm wider in the back, no rubbing problem in 6+ years. i just ordered 185/60-15's to replace them, i'll get those installed this friday, i know a person who has 185/60-15's in the front and has no problem.
i just got my new 185/60-15's, they're 1 inch larger in diameter than the 195/50-15's and fit fine. while at the tire rack, the car next to mine was a honda insight, which is more rare than a smart, and it had a humorous license plate, especially as it was suspended by 4 jacks, so i took a pic of it!
I had one of those! Hovering was the term we used when the ICE shuts down after stepping on the clutch while slowing down. Kinda like D- in a smart ED.
before i drove it, i turned the wheels to "full lock" and could still fit my fingers between the tire and the front wheel well, so i have about 1/2 inch clearance, only drive slowly at "full lock". the tires are quiet as well, when on the highway with the old tires i had to play my radio at volume "14" (smart model 10, 6 CD changer) just to hear it, now i can listen at volume "11", now i can hear wind noise and the blower motor that is starting to go out again :laugh:
I run 185/60's on all four corners...............
There WILL be an occasional rub on the fronts when going over some bumps, but for the most part.....no problem.
I have been running these for 6+ years
i got them on saturday, in 185/60R15's very pleased with them. yesterday we got 6 inches of snow and my car handled like it had snow tires or that there wasn't several inches of snow on the ground, no wheel spin or slippage! (my ABS/ESP has been AWOL for 5+ years). along with being quieter and smoother, should have got these instead of the lousy Kumho's in the first place, just to save maybe $50-60!
The best size for a smooth ride is a 155/65R15 front tyre fitted to a 3.5" rim and a 165/60R15 rear tyre fitted to a 4" rim. Continental make matching winter tyres in both these sizes. You can run the latest Continental winter tyres all year round, as long as you don't overheat them in the summer by driving too fast.
For the smoothest ride you need to fit any given tyre size to the narrowest allowable rim. Also make sure the tyres don't have rim protectors built into the sidewalls as these will make the ride harder. Rim protectors are extra thick rubber moulded into the sidewalls. These make the sidewalls stiff and hence give a harder ride.
However, if you want to keep the standard 5.5" rear rims and 4.5" front rims, fitting 185/55R15 rear tyres and 165/60R15 front tyres will give a smoother ride than the standard 175/55R15 and 155/60R15 tyres. This is because the wider tyres are fitted to relatively narrower rims and have higher sidewalls, which makes the tyre sidewalls flex more easily when going over bumps.
If fitting 185/55R15 tyres, run 29psi to 32psi tyre pressures. You don't need to run the air pressure of 185/55R15 tyres as hard as 175/55R15 tyres as they have a higher load index. ie. The 185/55R15 tyre will support more weight than the 175/55R15 tyre at the same air pressure.
For the smoothest ride you need to fit any given tyre size to the narrowest allowable rim. Also make sure the tyres don't have rim protectors built into the sidewalls as these will make the ride harder. Rim protectors are extra thick rubber moulded into the sidewalls. These make the sidewalls stiff and hence give a harder ride.
I do not recommend fitting narrower than stock wheels onto a 451. For what gains you get in comfort, you can make handling and emergency maneuvers into a mess.
Then, if one happens to use car washes that have tracks, forgoing wheel protectors will lead to mangled wheels after your first wash. I know that from experience.
Honestly, a vastly better option is 185/60/15 on all corners. You get improved handling, improved highway performance, better treadwear, a happy ESP system, and they're significantly better than the stock sizes at soaking bumps.
...if one happens to use car washes that have tracks, forgoing wheel protectors will lead to mangled wheels after your first wash. I know that from experience.
The sidewalls bulge out when fitting a tyre to the narrowest allowable rim. This protects the wheel from kerbing damage far better than extra rubber moulded into the sidewalls.
Honestly, a vastly better option is 185/60/15 on all corners. You get improved handling, improved highway performance, better treadwear, a happy ESP system, and they're significantly better than the stock sizes at soaking bumps.
185/60R15 tyres have a 603mm outside diameter. The standard 175/55R15 rear tyres have a 573.5mm outside diameter. By fitting 185/60R15 rear tyres instead of 175/55R15 rear tyres, you are raising your gearing by over 5%. This is a very big change and as well as reducing your car's top gear acceleration and possibly making your speedometer underread, it raises the car's center of gravity by almost 15mm.
A disadvantage to running the same size tyres front and back is that the car is relying on the car's electronics to prevent it loosing the back end in wet and slippery conditions especially in emergency and sudden accident avoidance maneuvers. The ForTwo is a very short wheelbase car, and you need to consider the handling characteristics on the limit. One unfortunate ForTwo owner fitted the same size tyres all round and during an emergency maneuver in wet and slippery conditions lost his back end. The car hit a brick wall and was a write off.
In dry conditions there are no such problems, as the car's front suspension camber causes the front end to break away first ie. understeer. Understeer in the ForTwo is safe, oversteer is not.
Been driving for a few years now with same size tires front and rear, (on my third smart) and in all road conditions from dry to 10 inches of snow, and enough water on the road to hydroplane, Traction control cuts in before I realize I am on black ice at times and I have not had any problems with running same size tires on aftermarket (wider) rims. If you are talking racing or off road conditions, that is completely different story. As for the car that hit the wall, it is possible the driver could have contributed some error and not completely the car's fault.
Curbs in my city are high. High enough to damage rims on most cars and trucks. A sidewall sticking out from using too narrow of a rim will surely get chewed through in a short order. All tires have a min and max rim width size. If you stay within the parameters, you should be fine. I run 185\60\15 on all 4 corners, with 6.5 wide rims. Much smoother ride and better handling in strong winds.
Plus the 185 tires are more common which gives a wider selection and better price. Stock tires only come in 1 or 2 brands.
I think you meant the speedometer reads faster speed than the car is traveling. the 185's made the actual speed and the read out on the speedometer more closely matched.
As always, any modification on any vehicle should only be done with a clear understanding of what it will affect, both positive and negative. and is done at your own risk. The factory specs are for a wide range of conditions. changing items to meet your local conditions or driving is purely up to the person doing the driving.
As always, any modification on any vehicle should only be done with a clear understanding of what it will affect, both positive and negative. and is done at your own risk. The factory specs are for a wide range of conditions. changing items to meet your local conditions or driving is purely up to the person doing the driving.
Hello gents.
We just bought a Smart Fortwo for our second family car. It was cheap since it is 2005 model. Since I want to have a dedicated set of winter wheels/tires I was offered by a friend 4 identical Smart wheels 5.5Jx15'' ET22.
I want to go with the same size front/back option in order to rotate the tires each winter season front/back.
What would be your suggestion about the tire size for these wheels? 185/60/15 or 195/55/15 or any other popular size which could be found around the stores easily?
FIRST things FIRST ...... before you spend another dime on your Smart. Buy a can of Silicone Spray Lubrication and spray every Chassis and Suspension point you can find under you Smart. It will free up your Smarts suspension and make it ride like a car is supposed to. Do that First. Loosening up that Chassis and suspension is the most important change you will make to your Smart. After that have a ball and choose tires based on tire specs, and personal preference to stated performance style and looks like any other car.
Sure we will all have recommendations but if recommendations are coming from anyone who has not Lubed up there chassis and suspension, they will be describing a totally different hard driving, harsh suspension car.
Fitting 185/55 tires to 4" rims is not advisable. If rims came in 0.25" increments you could fit a 185/55 to a 4.75" rim. However, rims only come in 0.5" increments.
I've produced a guide below which assumes rims come in 0.25" increments (which they don't). The point is to show how the minimum rim width decreases as the aspect ratio increases with any given width of tire.
Minimum rim widths for 205s
205/50 5.5"
205/55 5.25"
205/60 5"
Minimum rim widths for 195s
195/50 5.25"
195/55 5"
195/60 4.75"
Minimum rim widths for 185s
185/50 5"
185/55 4.75"
185/60 4.5"
Minimum rim widths for 175s
175/50 4.75"
175/55 4.5"
175/60 4.25"
Minimum rim widths for 165s
165/50 4.5"
165/55 4.25"
165/60 4"
Minimum rim widths for 155s
155/50 4.25"
155/55 4"
155/60 3.75"
Tire fitters will often refer to a guide which groups 50 to 65 aspect ratios together. The guide gives minimum rim widths of 5.5" for 205/50 to 205/65 tires, 5.5" for 195/50 to 195/65 tires, 5" for 185/50 to 185/65 tires, 5" for 175/50 to 175/65 tires, 4.5" for 165/50 to 165/65 tires, and 4.5" for 155/50 to 155/65 tires.
So I decided to get a wider set of tires (2008 Passion) for better overall handling. Want to go with Vredestein brand. According to the tire specs on Tire Rack (and stock rim sizes), I can go with 175/55/15 front and 185/55/15 or 185/60/15 rear. Which combination would you recommend?
Also, I noticed that the 175s are speed-rated T and the 185s are H. Does mixing these speed ratings create possible issues? The 175/65/15 are rated H, but I am afraid they will be too large for the front.
This size could be matched to front 175/55R15 77T tires.
175/55R15 front matched to 195/50R15 rear could be considered a standard upgrade for the 155/60R15 front and 175/55R15 rear sizes.
Both the 185/55R15 and 185/60R15 tires have much larger outside diameters than the 175/55R15 tires so may cause problems for the car's ESP if you match them to the smaller outside diameter 175/55R15 size.
Also consider 185/55R15 82H front and 205/50R15 86H rear. 205/50R15 will fit the rear 5.5" wide rims. Although 185/55R15 has a recommended 5" minimum rim width, you could try them on the standard 4.5" wide front rims. In a post above, Mailman fitted his front 185/55R15 tires to even narrower 4" wide rims, although this is more extreme than fitting front 185/55R15 tires to 4.5" rims.
Front steel Smart Roadster 452 rims are 5Jx15 ET24 so could be fitted to the front of a Smart Fortwo 451.
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for in the rear. However, I found these tires on Tirerack, and since the website did not show 195/50/r15, I falsely assumed that Vredestein did not make this size.
Just found them (and ordered) on Vulcan Tire. So I guess now the only concern is the difference in speed rating... Since front tires are Ts, I purchased the H version for the back. This way the front and rear will be only one level apart. as opposed to two with the Vs. Will report as soon as the tires are installed.
I got a 2015 smart fortwo citybeam edition, nice one.
It has brabus rims 4.5xr15 in front (155/60r15) and 5.5xr15 on rear (175/55r15).
Before I put on new tire, I tested out by putting rear one (175/55r15) in front and drove above 45 mph, it was very unstable (worse on highway). I had to constantly put both hands on the steering wheel and still unstable (it looks like it can flip over any time).
After searched online, I found it was the effect of "moose or elk test" condition on wide tire in the front. It is worse on smart because smart is tall and short.
Now I got new tires:
front: 165/60r15 on 4.5r15
rear: 195/50r15 on 5.5r15
Very stable now.
What tire size fit 4.5r15 rim?
Accidentally, the tire place folk puts 195/50r15 on 4.5r15 rim. It fits good. So, 4.5r15 can take up to 195/50r15 but not recommend.
Good luck to all. Don't put any tire wider than 165 on the front, tested.
I had one of those! Hovering was the term we used when the ICE shuts down after stepping on the clutch while slowing down. Kinda like D- in a smart ED.
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