Quick Tire sizing question
1st Gear
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 246
From: SoCal
RE: Quick Tire sizing question
I mis-spoke below. I got it backwards. The 16" goodyears are "too big" for your current wheels. Sorry about that.
The simple answer is yes you could put 16" rims on your car. You would not want to mis-match wheel size however. You would want to go with all 16".
However the thing to consider when changing from factory wheel and tire size is how it will effect both your odometer and your speedometer. For some people this isn't really a concern and they just want a different size wheel because they like the look. Here is a link to a good site that could help you decide. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
You can put in your factory wheel and tire size and then the size you are considering changing to and it will tell you how it will effect your odometer and speedometer.
Changing wheel and tire size can be a bit complicated. Personally, unless I was customizing a car for show I would try to pick a size wheel and tire that will clock my odometer and speedometer as close to factory as possible. Rule of thumb is smaller wheels and tires will show you driving faster than you really are on the speedometer and increment your odometer at a higher rate than you are actually traveling. A bigger wheel and/or tire will do the opposite. FYI, stock tires on the 93 100 S would be 195/65/R15, so the tires you currently have are slightly wider, than stock. (You can check factory specs here: http://www.audiworld.com/model/).
If you run a comparison on the link I gave you above for the tire calculator, between stock tires (195/65/R15) to the new goodyears you mentioned below (205/55/R16) its a pretty good change (close in speed and revs/mile to factory). You'd just have to purchase 4 new 16" rims and 2 more tires to match the ones you have.
If you really wanted to spend the money and wanted wider tires, and bigger rims you could go with 17" rims and 225/45/R17 tires. This is an exact match for speed and OD revs/mile to factory specs. Then you get into more complications like making sure those tires actually fit and don't rub wheel wells or fenders when turned and stuff like that, but that's more complicated. Also, some tire sizes are difficult to get, in that they don't manufacture a lot of tires in that size. Just some things to consider.
I hope that wasn't too long winded and confusing. If you want to keep the car closest to factory spec and spend the least amount of money, I'd just stick with getting 4 new 195/65/R15 tires that all matched. But if you want to pimp out your ride a bit, you can go down the road of new wheels and tires.
The simple answer is yes you could put 16" rims on your car. You would not want to mis-match wheel size however. You would want to go with all 16".
However the thing to consider when changing from factory wheel and tire size is how it will effect both your odometer and your speedometer. For some people this isn't really a concern and they just want a different size wheel because they like the look. Here is a link to a good site that could help you decide. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
You can put in your factory wheel and tire size and then the size you are considering changing to and it will tell you how it will effect your odometer and speedometer.
Changing wheel and tire size can be a bit complicated. Personally, unless I was customizing a car for show I would try to pick a size wheel and tire that will clock my odometer and speedometer as close to factory as possible. Rule of thumb is smaller wheels and tires will show you driving faster than you really are on the speedometer and increment your odometer at a higher rate than you are actually traveling. A bigger wheel and/or tire will do the opposite. FYI, stock tires on the 93 100 S would be 195/65/R15, so the tires you currently have are slightly wider, than stock. (You can check factory specs here: http://www.audiworld.com/model/).
If you run a comparison on the link I gave you above for the tire calculator, between stock tires (195/65/R15) to the new goodyears you mentioned below (205/55/R16) its a pretty good change (close in speed and revs/mile to factory). You'd just have to purchase 4 new 16" rims and 2 more tires to match the ones you have.
If you really wanted to spend the money and wanted wider tires, and bigger rims you could go with 17" rims and 225/45/R17 tires. This is an exact match for speed and OD revs/mile to factory specs. Then you get into more complications like making sure those tires actually fit and don't rub wheel wells or fenders when turned and stuff like that, but that's more complicated. Also, some tire sizes are difficult to get, in that they don't manufacture a lot of tires in that size. Just some things to consider.
I hope that wasn't too long winded and confusing. If you want to keep the car closest to factory spec and spend the least amount of money, I'd just stick with getting 4 new 195/65/R15 tires that all matched. But if you want to pimp out your ride a bit, you can go down the road of new wheels and tires.
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