viren89

Hi,

Do we get affected with widening our tires?

From 215/55/R17 to 225/55/R17?

Also, how's the ES in winter? I'm in Toronto and my first winter is around the corner lol, had a RWD car before and now FWD

jfelbab

Original: 215/55R17 tire width 8.5"

Some Options:
225/55R17 tire width 8,9" and yields a +1.5% speedo error, when speedo reads 65 you would actually be going 66 mph (your suggested choice)
225/50R17 tire width 8,9" and yields a -1.5% speedo error, when speedo reads 65 you would actually be going 64 mph
235/50R17 tire width 9.3" and yields no speedo error (probably your best plus size option)
245/50R17 tire width 9.6" and yields a -1.5% speedo error, when speedo reads 65 you would actually be going 64 mph
255/45R17 tire width 10 " and yields a -1.1% speedo error, when speedo reads 65 you would actually be going 64.3 mph

You will need to check to see if there is enough clearance for wider tires. Likely someone here has already done this and can comment.
I'd also pay attention to minimizing changes to the tires weight so as not to degrade the overall ride comfort. If you increase the unsprung weight the car will see to plod over every tar strip.

When you make changes to larger low profile tires ride comfort will almost always get firmer and sometimes noisier, usually not better things on a luxury vehicle. The suspension and tire package are designed to match for ride comfort and acceptable performance. If you are planning to plus size I'd not go too far. Also if you plan on using all-season tires and not dedicated snow tires for your winter driving, be aware that wider tires perform poorer in deep snow than narrower tires.

If you look at various tire brands of the same size you will also see while section width may be the same, tread width varies quite a bit. You might be able to increase your tread width in the same OEM size if that was your goal. But tread width does not necessarily lead to better traction and handling. Much of this is influenced by tire compounds and tread patterns. Look at the ratings on TireRack.com for the characteristics that are important to you.

Sulu

To add to this, wider tires tend to float on top of the snow, whereas narrower tires tend to sink in and onto the pavement, which gives you better traction. This is the reason that experts advise to user narrower, higher-profile snow tires (original-equipment size and width) if you do change tires in the winter.

If you are not used to winter driving, a full set (all 4 wheels) of good-quality, dedicated winter tires will help a lot.

viren89

Thanks a lot for the detailed response. I understand the concept of taller during winter concept. On my AMG in summer I had 275 and winter 245 all around.

I was just wondering, would our car benefit in any way if we had a little wider tire keeping height same? Don't you think it'll "look" much better if it had wider tires ?
For a car of this stature I feel like the tires are too narrow.