New 2011 Elantra Tire Question
 

Hey everyone, I just bought a new ELantra, and had a few questions about the tires and wheels.

I bought the limited which comes with 215/45-17's. I want to minus size some snow tires to put on it, and the very base model comes with 195/65-15's... which would usually be a -2 size for the car.

After using a tire size calculator (http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp?postId=906) it appears that a size of 185/65-15's would keep the rotational circumference closer to factory (195 is 1.5% faster, 185 is 0.8% slower). Would it be ok to use the 185/65-15's instead of the factory base size?

Also, I have read about re-programming the car for whatever tire size you have on it, so that your speedo and what not are exact again. Is this something I could have done at the dealership you think? And would it be worth it for the very slight change of the winter tires?

Thanks everyone!

-BigpappaJ

Yes it would be okay but I would rather have taller tires in the winter, not shorter. I see no problem with the 195/65-15's but if the 1.5% seems high to you you could always go with a -1 wheel size to a 205/55-16 that is only 1% faster.
http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/...jsp?techid=126

The factory tire on my Tucson were 235/60-16 (27.1" tall). I replaced them with 235/50-18 tires/wheels (27.3" tall). They are about 0.7% taller than stock. In the winter I use 215/70-16 tires (27.9" tall) on the original 16" rims. They are 2.8% taller than stock. No problems.

I don't know of any dealer that will do that. Personally, I feel that it's a waste of money because you will have to do it again when you put the summer tires back on. The difference is minor so I wouldn't worry about it. Plus, the factory speedo probably is 100% accurate anyway.

Something you probably haven't thought about is the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS). With new wheels/tires you will either have to buy new sensors (and get them programmed every time you swap tires) or go without sensors in the winter wheels/tires and look at the TPMS light all winter. I chose not to get new sensors because the cost to buy them and have them reprogrammed every time you switch wheels wasn't worth it to me. So I just ignore the TPMS light all winter and then it goes out when I swap back the summer tires.

See more about my wheels tires here:
https://www.hyundaiforum.com/forum/s...ead.php?t=7424
https://www.hyundaiforum.com/forum/s...ad.php?p=32683