Originally Posted by aardvarcus
Wheels/Tires:
Stock tire size on your car would be 185/65/14, or 23.4” diameter. Your 205/45/16s are 23.2” diameter, so less than a 1% change. The downside is that most low profile tires like you now have are geared more for grip and performance, not for rolling resistance.
For example if you wanted to go with Michelin Energy Saver A/S the smallest tire for a 16” rim on Tire Rack is 205/60/16, which is 25.7" or 10% bigger. I know from experience there is a drastic change in acceleration when you upsize that much, if you even can fit something that large on your car without rubbing.
As far as handling goes, my Celica had fairy new low profile Kumho 205/50/16s on it when I bought it. When I replaced them with oversize 205/65/16s Michelin Energy Savers the handling of the car surprisingly improved drastically. Night and day difference, they were better on dry pavement, wet pavement, cornering, everything except squealing. It was simply a better tire, and that advantage overtook the fact that the previous ones were low profile.
If you like the wheels and want to run them, go for it. If you are looking for aero, personally I think the 7 Slot 15x6 inch, 4x100 bolt pattern (45mm Offset), One Piece Alloy Factory OEM Wheels look pretty good and appear more aerodynamic. Keep an eye out for a pair cheap. Pair that with some 185/65/15 or 195/65/15 Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires (or your LRR of choice) and you would have a good factory looking LRR setup.
Engine:
Your 1.6L was designed to be a mainly high revving engine, low end torque was never the specialty of semi-modern four banger imports. My celica hates below 2k as well.
Gearing:
What are your cruising RPMs right now at your most common speeds? I regeared my Celica because my highway RPMs were 2900@65 and my interstate RPMs were 3600@80. Now I sit at 2600@65 and 3100@75 (great mod btw, 80->75). I wouldn’t recommend you significantly regear like 10% using tires unless your RPMs are way too high, as you take an aerodynamic hit, the weight increases, etcetera. If your RPMs are already decent, going up 3-4% would help without significant impact.
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