Scooter

TireRack has reduced their prices modestly enough to look like a good buy!!!! which is great for me since i've decided to get em!!

the tires are now $200 a pop, as opposed to as much as $245 from various shops a few weeks ago!!!

i refer back to the thread i started on the best All-seasons about a month ago in case u were curious as to where all this came from
http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...ght=all+season

so now lemme ask u, if u had to choose either the 225/50/WR17's or 225/45/YR17's, what would b less offsetting on the odo??? is there a difference???

Bluto

Check your speedo and see how accurate it is now:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...o_accuracy.htm

I found when my car was new, the all-stock setup read higher than the actual speed. Now that the tires have worn, they are more inaccurate. When the speedo reads 65, my actual speed is 62.

The 225/50 would be good on my car. I see a lot of bad roads and pot holes, the 225/50 (larger sidewall) offers a little more protection between the wheel and the road.

Scooter

agreed...Long Island Expressway sux...potholes in my town suk...driving through the 5 boroughs sux even more...the 50 sidewall has to b the better of the 2 for Long Islanders

besides, i printed out the chart specs on both sizes, and the 50 sidewall actually is a much closer match to stock when i put the numbers side by side

fast_daddy_car

I have the 225/50 and love them. Much better handling, no affect on ride quality vs the stock tries. There is a bit more of road noise, but the exhaust note when accelerating easily overpowers this. The noise has gone down from when I had 10 miles on them to now where I have about 400 miles on them.

Note that the 225/45 only have a load rating of 90!!

I was also thinking of 235/45, but now I understand what people mean that they would stick out and look funny on the stock rims. To explain, the stock rims stick out a bit past the stock tires (215/50). However, with the 225/50 now the new tirest stick out a bit past the stock rims (now have some curb protection). I can see how 235 tire would stick out even more.

EricL

You lose "effective" torque to the road. The advantage of going to a 225/45-17 or a 245/40-17 is there is increase in acceleration due to the "lower" gearing. The bonus is with Toyo T1S (and other XL equivalent tires) you can get a superior load rating than stock (the tires are also lighter).

For general purpose, this is a very small issue... However, for those who want to really go as fast as possible, the smaller diameter is better. (And yes, our CLS speedo is already way too optimistic, but better for tickets).

Finally, the 225/50-17 will put a bigger front-to-rear footprint on the road that the 215/50-17 (more area in front-to-rear and side-to-side on the ground)

Scooter

i guess it's kinda too late cuz i already put the order in to TireRack yesterday, and the tires are already on their way to Park Ave.

but as for the "bigger front-to-rear footprint" issue, that's a good thing, right??? more rubber on the ground combined with springs and sways makes for much better handling in just about any condition, right??? please tell me out of the 2 sizes, i got the right one

BTW, if i went with the 45 sidewall, it would cost an extra $60.

hypno999

Anyone got pictures of 225 on stock rims? How does that look/car handling/do they stick out?

Scooter

if u can wait til March 23, i'll b postin pics

fast_daddy_car

The pilots in 225/45 and 245/40 have way too low a load rating.
And the T1S is a summer only tire, we are talking A/S here.

I agree lighter rims and tires help a bit, but with stock rims what is the actual affect of just changing tires 225/50 vs 215/50 vs 225/45, something like 0.002% increase?

fast_daddy_car

They look like the size the car should have come with.
They are maybe a few mm's past where the stock rims stick out, at least when inflated to 35psi.
Handling is much improved, but I think any tire you switch from over the stocks is better.

EricL

Regarding the load… the 90-load rating of the 225/45 is getting a bit too low for me and yes, the 94-load rating of the 225/50-17 is better. I’m not saying, “Don’t put them on…” I am simply commenting about “advantages” and “disadvantages” of change-in-diameter and “weight”…

Forget about the weight issue (for now)... There are some tires that are heavier in a 225/45-17 than others in a 245/45-17. Don't forget that that if the weight increase is 4lbs per tire (not unheard of), you can multiply that times four (4x4 = 16 lbs) and all of the weight is "outside". Now factor in the smallest figure I've found for rotation inertia issues (3x) and you are now looking at an equivalent static weight increase of 48lbs. (Ok, so go on a diet if you're a big person and the percent difference would be 48/3500 == 1.4% loss in HP/Weight. From another perspective, it is like losing about 3.6HP.
Hmmm.... how much power is gained by those AEM CAIs at $200 a pop [and only at the top end]?])

Now, figure a change in diameter to the road. For example, let's say you don't lower and put a 245/40-17 on the CLS in lieu of the stock 215/50-17. The change in radius is around (25.5 / 24.7 = 3% smaller than stock); that corresponds to a gain in torque at the wheels of 200 * 1.03 = 206 lb-ft across the *entire* power band!

So, in the case of the 225/50-17 to 215/50-17, there is a loss in "effective" torque of (25.5 / 25.9 = 1.5%). So, that 200 figure would become 200 * .98 = 196 lb-ft (just using the reciprocal ratio).

I know this seems minor, but the point that is important is understanding why people lighten drive shaft that are only 3- to 4-inches in diameter by a few pounds and why people ask about changing the gearing in our cars (hot rodders do like changing rear ends). (And, I do know that we don’t have a drive shaft )

The 0.002% increase is way off (and I could also see how in some circumstances [due to the tire construction] you could be dead-on correct with a “light tire” as a replacement, in a bigger size).

(Hey, and I'll bet someone says, "Tire buying is too difficult..." )

fbazakos

scooter ... talked to my bro ... he's still diggin' em ... i havent driven my acura in so long, i've forgetten what corenering feels like ... but this summer ... ohhh ... may be getting something nice ...

Scooter

so i guess based on Eric's explanation i got the better of the 2 at least, based on load weight

hey Fotis, maybe if u come to PAA in May u can rediscover what u've been missing