Hi guys, has anyone put a 225/55/16 on a KH Verada?

If so, is it legal, does it affect any drivability factors, and does it look in any way odd?

If anyone's got any pictures, I'd appreciate it very much if I could have a look.

I've got Dunlop SP Sport 200E 215/60/16 which are nearly worn, so am considering my options when changing tyres.

Primarily, I want a quiet tyre, as I drive conservatively and spend most my time on the highway. Any recommendations will be highly valued!

I'm in Brisbane, so let me know of any good tyre shops too!

Thanks
Justin

Hi guys, has anyone put a 225/55/16 on a KH Verada?

If so, is it legal, does it affect any drivability factors, and does it look in any way odd?

If anyone's got any pictures, I'd appreciate it very much if I could have a look.

I've got Dunlop SP Sport 200E 215/60/16 which are nearly worn, so am considering my options when changing tyres.

Primarily, I want a quiet tyre, as I drive conservatively and spend most my time on the highway. Any recommendations will be highly valued!

I'm in Brisbane, so let me know of any good tyre shops too!

Thanks

Justin

Your overall diameter will be 3.4 cm larger which will affect your speedo and odo alot. Its
5% too big which will mean when your speedo says 100, you are actually doing 105. Also,
there ain't that many tyres that come in that size.

I upgraded my standard 215 60 16 on my KH wagon to 225 55 16 and it has been the best thing i have ever done.
I used the same Bridgstone Turanzas in the bigger size. They actually look quite nice in a larger size. Can take some pics if you want of the 215 size and the 225 size as my wife still has the 215 size on her Verada.

They have made a huge improvment to traction off the lights and braking grip. I can boot it off the lights in the wet and hardly get any wheel spin compared to the 215's. Cornering is also much better due to the extra width/grip. Yes the tyers are wider giving you a wider side wall but because they are also lower profile, you get less tyre wall flex. Much better.
Another bonus of the wider side wall is that there is no more rim scraping due to the extra width in the wall protecting the rim.

I stuck to the Bridgestone Turanza's because they are one of the quietest tyres avaliable on the market today. I spent many weeks asking around all different tyre stores which they recommend as the quietest and the overwhelming response was the Turanza's. This is why they are fitted to all Holden Calais's and Statesmans etc and also to many prestiege european cars such as BMW's.

As for the spedo, i have only noticed a 1km/h drop in the speedo. e.g. When i go along the road under those electronic spedo checks, with the old 215's, when i was doing 100km/h on the speedo the electronic display said 100km/h therefor being exactly right. Since putting in the 225's the electronic display now says 99km/h so it is in your favour being under rather than over. 1km/h isnt worth worrying about. I put my spare 215 tyre next to my 225 tyre and the tyre heights look exactly the same to the naked eye which is good for the spedo. They are much wider though.
I think the 215 60 16 in the Turanzas are about $125 each where as the 225 55 16 are $200 each.

I cant think of any negatives at all for going the wider size. You dont get any tram tracking or feed back through the steering at all. They actually feel lighter and more agile than the 215's.

Well worth it in my book for all the advantages and i think the 225 should have been the factory fitment to all veradas due to all the advantages. I'm sure they would have been the factory fit if they wern't so expensive but its worth spending the extra.

I cant recomend them enough and for what you are after these are the perfect tyre and i can guarantee you will be 100% happy with them.

Some pics

Some more

I've got 225/50/16's on my sport and it's actually shortened my speedo by 5%, so now I'm a total of 10%(ie: reads 100 at 90) out on the dyno at work. So if a 225/55 makes it a bit taller then you will be going closer to correct rather than further away. The width is not an issue :P

Matthius

A big thank you to FamilyWagon for putting up so many informative and A-B comaprative pics of the 215's and 225's.

The 225's do somehow fill up the wheel arches more, which is great.

Just a quick question : If your wagon lowered?

Thanks again
Justin

I've got 225/50/16's on my sport and it's actually shortened my speedo by 5%, so now I'm a total of 10%(ie: reads 100 at 90) out on the dyno at work. So if a 225/55 makes it a bit taller then you will be going closer to correct rather than further away. The width is not an issue :P

Matthius

225/50/16s are illegal for your car. Better hope you have a good lawyer when you have an
accident. Plus, as I said before, 225/55/16 is bigger than 215/60/16. Your speedo now
under estimates by 5%. Also, Family Wagon, the 225/55/16 tyres actually have a higher
side wall than the 215/50/16 tyres, hence the larger overall diameter. You'll also have more
sag/bulging of the sidewalls. 215's are on the limit of 6" rims 225's are more suitable on 7"
rims.

225/50/16s are illegal for your car. Better hope you have a good lawyer when you have an
accident. Plus, as I said before, 225/55/16 is bigger than 215/60/16. Your speedo now
under estimates by 5%. Also, Family Wagon, the 225/55/16 tyres actually have a higher
side wall than the 215/50/16 tyres, hence the larger overall diameter. You'll also have more
sag/bulging of the sidewalls. 215's are on the limit of 6" rims 225's are more suitable on 7"
rims.

Nope 225s are fine on my rim, did my research :) The tyres are suited for a 6.5 rim and are fine on a 6 or 7.

Matthius

225/50/16s are illegal for your car. Better hope you have a good lawyer when you have an
accident. Plus, as I said before, 225/55/16 is bigger than 215/60/16. Your speedo now
under estimates by 5%. Also, Family Wagon, the 225/55/16 tyres actually have a higher
side wall than the 215/50/16 tyres, hence the larger overall diameter. You'll also have more
sag/bulging of the sidewalls. 215's are on the limit of 6" rims 225's are more suitable on 7"
rims.


Made some calls (RTA/INSURANCE/TYRE RETAILERS etc), and 225/55/16 are a completely legal replacement for the 215/60/16 size on verada/sports without replacing the rim.
All you are doing by fitting is going slightly smaller diameter, with a little more width.
It is no different to the old widely used 215/60/15 replacement that people use to put on their standard falcon/commodore/camry/magna rim when 205/65/15's were the standard. The difference in speedo reading will be barely noticeable (1 to 2km/h at the most), and falls within the legal requirements in all states and Territory.
This is an easy upgrade if you don't want to touch the original rims, but at the prices quoted on 225/55/16 tyres I'd be looking at going to 17 inch rims if price permits.....Higher performance, and cheaper tyres to now be found in this size, hence better investment in the long run. As always the more popular tyre sizes are always heaps cheaper.
Goodluck.

Yeah mate the wagon is lowered with Kings lows.

As i said, wouldnt be worried about the spedo effect. I know in theroy it is ment to go up but in reality it has come down only by 1km/h. I have been on the Geelong road many a time before and after my new tyres. The old 215's were always spot on 100km/h dead accurate where as the 225's drop it by 1km/h constantly giving a reading of 99 when my speedo says 100. As i said before, the two tyres back to back next to eachother, they look the same height.

As for the sidewall, there is less or feels like less flex with the 225's to the 215's due to the lower profile. It is the shoulder of the tyre that is wider, not so much the wall. The 225's are also a V rating which gives you a firmer side wall which also helps. The v rating contributes to the more expensive tyre.

I have had them on for comming upto 25,000k's and corner fairly hard with them and they all still look like brand new which is good. The turanza has always been a long lasting quiet tyre and they handle more than well enough for someone that doesnt race their car.

I 100% recommend them and you will be absolutely wrapped with thew 225's.

Dont pay more than $200 a tyre for the 225 E30 Turanza's. From experience, i usually go with a Tyrepower store as i find the others just try and push a tyre they get a good deal on when they buy them in bulk. Tyrepower seem more indapendant and unbiased than other stores.

Just some more pics

Check here for your tyre size comparisons. :D

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalcold.html

add it to your favourites.

I just noticed too that the VT Calais had 215/60/16's as standard (Bridgestone ER30 Turanzas), but when the VT series 2 came out, they upgraded them to 225/55/16 still shod with ER30's.

Subsequently, VT Olympic Ltd Edition came out with 215/60/16 with the VT1 Calais alloys, VX Equipe however came out with 225/55/16 on VT2 Calais alloys, and VX Lumina limited edition came with 225/55/16 on VT2 "S" alloys.

Unless Holden went to the trouble of recalibrating the speedos to adjust the difference between 215/60 and 225/55......I'm assuming the two sizes would have negligible difference.

Hmmmmm

engineering cert, and it will be legal no matter what

Check out that link i put up above there, it says that the tyre size difference is 1.6% so if you were travelling along and the speedo said that you were doing 100, you would actually be doing 98.4km/hr....:shock: lol

My old man works for a Victorian council and gets an Acclaim as a work car. They upgrade their tyers from 215 60 16 to 225 55 16 when they were due to be replaced and if a council are doing it then it is all fine because everyone knows how anal councils are about liability etc.. So if it wasn't fully legal and if it would effect speedo's too much then there is no way on this earth they would do it.

Check out that link i put up above there, it says that the tyre size difference is 1.6% so if you were travelling along and the speedo said that you were doing 100, you would actually be doing 98.4km/hr....:shock: lol

Most car speedo's are out more then that anyway.
The ADR's (Australian design rules) set a tolerance of 10% for speedo's, so changing from 215/60/16 to 225/55/16 is perfectly legal, and a normal accepted upgrade (as stated earlier the car manufacturer's regularly do this. The Police pack standard falcons use this upgrade,and the Commodores were using 215/60/15 (over 205/65/15) for their Police pack, but have now gone the same. The load rating is not a problem either with such as small change most/ if not all tyres comply (ask tyre retailer if in doubt) So this upgrade is DEFINATELY legal, and a positive handling/breaking benefit!

:stoopid:


ive got this size tyre on my car and i prefer it over the 225/50/16. i reckon that the 55 handles better.

Nope 225s are fine on my rim, did my research :) The tyres are suited for a 6.5 rim and are fine on a 6 or 7.

Matthius

Yes they are illegal. I'm not talking about the width. I'm talking about the load rating which
to my knowledge is only 92. And, unless you have a sports version it should be a minimum
of 95.

Yes they are illegal. I'm not talking about the width. I'm talking about the load rating which
to my knowledge is only 92. And, unless you have a sports version it should be a minimum
of 95.

They are definately NOT illegal.
You can easliy get tyres that comply with/ or exceed the load ratings, so not a problem.
When my mate did this upgrade all the tyres he priced had the correct load rating.

Thats why the Police use as a performance upgrade!!

Ring around the tyre shops ifu interested in this upgrade,and they will easily find heaps different tyres that comply to use.

They are definately NOT illegal.
You can easliy get tyres that comply with/ or exceed the load ratings, so not a problem.
When my mate did this upgrade all the tyres he priced had the correct load rating.

Thats why the Police use as a performance upgrade!!

Ring around the tyre shops ifu interested in this upgrade,and they will easily find heaps different tyres that comply to use.

I'm referring to Matthius' car with the 225/50R16 tyres. Last I did a search, they all have
a load rating less than 94.

I'm referring to Matthius' car with the 225/50R16 tyres. Last I did a search, they all have
a load rating less than 94.

Ok I thought we were still on the topic of fitting 225/55/16 instead of 215/60/16 as per the original thread, which is very much legal and widely used.