Tires

[ian rooke]

Hi

Has anyone changed the T spirit tires from 215/45/17 at £133 each to the 15" alloys used on the T3 195/65/15 at £74 plus new alloy will the speedo register correctly, will it effect fuel consumption

[timberwolf]

They should be the same. You could try one of the online tyre calculators for example:

http://www.alloywhee...Tyre_Calculator

Edit: Also you can do the diameter calculation yourself, wikipedia has the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedometer#Error

Diameter = T x A/1270 + W = 195 x 65/1270 + 15 = 24.9803

Diameter = T x A/1270 + W = 215 x 45/1270 + 17 = 24.6181

That looks pretty close to me, unless my maths is wrong!

[Ancient Nerd]

According to the calculator on Etyres , there will be an increase in tyre size of 9mm, 1.44%. This should be completely acceptable.

I haven't yet got winter tyres, but it looks as though you can get the 15 inch alloys with winter tyres for significantly less that the cost of winter tyres alone for the 17 inch wheels.

Add to that the improved fuel consumption, improved comfort, and the really big savings on tyres down the line, and I would say it is a no-brainer. Unless you are worried about appearance.

[ian rooke]

Thanks gents not so fussed about having the lower profile tires and you can get some nice looking alloys in 15" as I intend to keep the Prius for a time it was the cost of the tires in the future which concerned me.

[kevin h]

Mmmm, good idea, I've just seen the price of replacing my Tyres.

How much would you expect to pay for a set of decent alloys?

[ian rooke]

Hi Kevin I have seen alloys for about £230 for 4 so for the first change of tires it will cost the same but the next change should save money, one advantage is it will be harder to damage the 15" alloys on the kerb, also I am looking at getting rid of that wheelbarrow tire that Toyota supply as a spare as the 15" wheel is not so wide so should fit into the well.

[kevin h]

Cheers Ian, I'd seen £299 so was wondering how that price compared.

[Opifex]

I have wondered about swapping to 15" myself, mainly to soften the ride but it would also make it less likely to scrape the kerb. I happened to look at the French Toyota site recently and it seems you can specify either 15" or 17" on both the two top spec levels at a cost of €600 extra for the 17" version. I wonder why Toyota France can offer it and Toyota UK doesn't. I don't think UK roads are so much smoother.

If you do go ahead you need to tell your insurance company that the car has changed from a standard spec. A few years ago I changed wheels on a car simply because they were needing refurb and I happened to know someone selling a set of the same size but later design. The insurance company not only noted the change but charged me an extra £10 for the privilege.