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195x55x15 will they fit as front tires?

16K views 14 replies 9 participants last post by  strelnik 
#1 ·
I have the 195x50x15 tires on the rear of my smart and the 175's on the front. Will a 195x55x15 tire fit on the front without rubbing?

I want to put 195x55x15 on the front and rear. You have a much better choice of tires in that size compared to the 195x50x15.
 
#3 ·
When I replaced my first set of 195/50s, I thought really hard about moving up to the 195/55s, but was concerned about rubbing on the front since 185/60s rub a little and I knew that the 195/50s do not rub. If anyone does this, I'd really like to know if it works before my current set of 195/50s needs be replaced. :)
 
#4 ·
I'm at the stage now where I'm looking at replacing all four tires. I upgraded to the 195x50x15 in the rear and I moved the 175 rears to the front. I have 31K on the 195's, there's some tread left but winter is coming and I'd like more tread than I have now.

Both the front and rears have to be changed out. The 195x55x15's have taller sidewalls than the 195x50x15. For this reason is why I asked if anyone has used this tire size on the front.

There are a lot more choices of tires that are 195x55x15 than there are 195x50x15. I'm going to stick with an all season tire due to the ice and a bit of snow here in OrEgone. A summer performance tire won't due.

I have a set of s-drives on a Corvette and last winter I backed out of the garage into my driveway that has a little pitch and a dusting of snow and almost didn't make it back into the garage so the summer performance tires are out of the question.
 
#5 ·
Should work fine!

I have all 185/65 R15 if you inspect the inner fender very closely you can see where it has made contact with the front fender, but is very minimal. Well worth the extra rubber between you and the road. I found a tire calculator and was given the following results.

185/60 R15
Sidewall 4.4 IN.
Radius 11.9 IN.
Diameter 23.7 IN.
Circumfrence 74.6 IN.
Revs/Mile 850


!95/55 R15
Sidewall 4.2 IN.
Radius 11.7 IN.
Diameter 23.4 IN.
Circumference 73.7 IN.
Revs/Mile 860

I say go for it you should be fine!
 
#8 ·
I have all 185/65 R15 if you inspect the inner fender very closely you can see where it has made contact with the front fender, but is very minimal. Well worth the extra rubber between you and the road. I found a tire calculator and was given the following results.

185/60 R15
Sidewall 4.4 IN.
Radius 11.9 IN.
Diameter 23.7 IN.
Circumfrence 74.6 IN.
Revs/Mile 850


!95/55 R15
Sidewall 4.2 IN.
Radius 11.7 IN.
Diameter 23.4 IN.
Circumference 73.7 IN.
Revs/Mile 860

I say go for it you should be fine!
Thanks for the info. I'm going to go for it. When I moved the oem rears to the front and put the 195 on the rear it took almost all of the shake out of the car while on the freeway around large trucks. I 'think' removing the 175's and putting 195's on the front will take the little shake that's left away. I'd like a bit more rubber on the road.

If you would, please post the same information for the 175's and the 195x50x15 info as you did above. I'd like to see the specs for all four tires together. Very interesting.
 
#7 ·
I have a set of four OEM rear rims on my smart. The OEM front tires & rims are in my garage still mounted. I take one of them with me on long trips as a spare. I have a jack and wrench set I bought off of ebay that fits inside of the OEM front rim so I have a 'package' that fits behind the driver's seat or over the engine.
 
#10 ·
No. I purchased a pair of the wider rear rims from another smart member and I installed a set of 195x50x15 on those and mounted them on the rear. The wider OEM rear rims that had the 175 tires on them still have the OEM tires 175 rear tires mounted on them and they are now mounted on the front so I have 4 of the wider rims all the way around.
 
#12 ·
All 4 for comparison

175/55 R15
Sidewall 3.79 IN.
Width 6.89 IN.
Diameter 22.58 IN.
Circumference 70.93 IN.
Revs/Mile 893.23

185/60 R15
Sidewall 4.37 IN.
Width 7.28
Diameter 23.74 IN.
Circumference 74.58 IN.
Revs/Mile 849.54


195/55 R15
Sidewall 4.22 IN.
Width 7.68 IN.
Diameter 23.44 IN.
Circumference 73.65 IN.
Revs/Mile 860.24


195/50 R15
Sidewall 3.84 IN.
Width 7.68 IN.
Diameter 22.68 IN.
Circumference 71.24 IN.
Revs/Mile 889.36
 
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