Tire Selection Help 225/45 R17 or 215/45R17

[Chris-Massachusetts]

I need help selecting new non winter tires. I am looking for ones that will roll the easiest. If it was up to Tire Rack they would pick Pirelli Cinturato P7. I want to stay with the original diameter of 25.1" for the GLS.

Back-round on this is their going on a 2013 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Original tires are Hankook Optimo H426 205/55R16 diameter of 25.1" (Average MPG40+ over 30K). These steel rims are now winter set with IceX3 (drop of 2MPG ) (24.9 Dia).
I have Factory 17" rims that come with the Limited Model, but I haven't purchased Tires or tpms. (The factory 215/45R17 Hankook Optimo H426, 24.8 Dia)

Help does anybody have experience with this size tire, or close to it. There are no guides for brand to brand comparisons in non Prius sizes. Spending over $600- has me wanting to make the right choice.

Thanks in advance for reading and I hope suggesting/recommending.
Chris

[rmay635703]

If you want the best payload, life and fuel economy a 205/65r15 would probably be best for that car and it gives you a slight gearing increase.

Upsizing tire rims but not the outer diameter
1. Increases Cost
2. Decrease Fuel Economy
3. Decreases Tire Life
4. Makes the "ride" harsher

Not much gain to have a bling look

[mcrews]

Ditto what he said

I up sized on my 02q45 and increase fuel economy

[Chris-Massachusetts]

OK, I understand your comment, and appreciate your feed back but, I purchased the 4 17" Factory Elantra Aluminum rims used from another Elantra owner for a little over 300 bucks. (He went to 18s) I am keeping my 16" steel for winter. This is not about a bling look. One kid in college and one soon to go, and long trips to help my parents where I need snow tires.
I do not own 15" rims, and to get 15 or 16" rims is over $100ea (closer to 130 a pop) providing I want the correct offset.
My question was about your Brand Model recommendations for the sizes I have in the title. If no one uses that size I understand it would be hard to comment on that size.
If you are recommending I up size the diameter, then how much? I am currently at 25.1 Diameter. The limited rims come with 24.8 Diameter tire, so I am already staying larger.
By the way,
There is also information that wide is not necessarily worse. Please I am not trying to start an argument, But I believe there is a member CapriRacer that would back me on this.
I do truly appreciate your opinion, and I respect what is being done here. I do what I can with limited time and resources. My UltraGauge is mounted and I live by it. In the summer I have achieved over 50 MPG for more than 4 fill-ups. I understand this is small by your standards. But back to my original question.
Please, If you were going to buy this size tire, what would you buy? Is one brand and model better than another? Again what is the best rolling tire in this size?

Thanks again in advance,
Chris

[CapriRacer]

Chris,

As a general rule, the larger tire would be better for fuel economy. So the 225/45R17 would seem the obvious choice.

I don't have specifics on make and model, so I suggest you spend some time on Tire Rack's web site and sort out what you want the tire to do. There are compromises and what will work for you is something only you can decide. The most obvious compromise is the treadwear/traction/RR thing. You need to sort that out.

[Chris-Massachusetts]

Thank you CapriRacer I will pick the larger tire!
I was using the tire rack web site to establish tire diameters as near to (or above) the 25.1 stock diameter. I am not sure if the diameter is a loaded diameter or unloaded comparison. I am also not sure how much a change from 24.5 or 24.7 to 25.1 will have, but I will be going the right way.
I had a question for CapriRacer about proper tire inflation. I believe you explained this to me before. (I will repeat this question at your site, perhaps it's there and I missed it.)
The question is establishing the tire manufacturers recommended PSI for a given load on a specific tire.
I understand this is a loaded question (No pun intended) because of manufacturer margins for safety factor likely vary and not to forget liability.
But if I am changing to tires with a different load rating, I want to know how to establish the proper tire inflation.
I am sure that most people here have noticed that a 3 to 7 PSI change can drastically change MPG. What I am interested in is the small change that can yield the most benefit with the least loss of traction or wear.
Thanks again for the help Tires are a big purchase for me an once on I am married to them (for better or worse)
Chris

[Chris-Massachusetts]

A message to CapriRacer. I believe I found information on your site in the Load Tables area.

I will be reading for a while, Thank you for helping me get a better understanding.

Chris

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Chris-Massachusetts

Thank you CapriRacer I will pick the larger tire!
I was using the tire rack web site to establish tire diameters as near to (or above) the 25.1 stock diameter.

Always compare tires based on revs/mile, on my car a better quality set of 185's actually had the same revs/mile as the cheap 195 tires the came with the car.

Originally Posted by Chris-Massachusetts

I am not sure if the diameter is a loaded diameter or unloaded comparison. I am also not sure how much a change from 24.5 or 24.7 to 25.1 will have, but I will be going the right way.

Load usually affects under 1%, one other benefit of going to a larger tire is you can buy one that has the lowest load rating for the size (which is usally LRR) so long as your cars loaded weight does not overload your intended tire,

Originally Posted by Chris-Massachusetts

I had a question for CapriRacer about proper tire inflation. I believe you explained this to me before. (I will repeat this question at your site, perhaps it's there and I missed it.)
The question is establishing the tire manufacturers recommended PSI for a given load on a specific tire.
I understand this is a loaded question (No pun intended) because of manufacturer margins for safety factor likely vary and not to forget liability.
But if I am changing to tires with a different load rating, I want to know how to establish the proper tire inflation.
I am sure that most people here have noticed that a 3 to 7 PSI change can drastically change MPG. What I am interested in is the small change that can yield the most benefit with the least loss of traction or wear.
Thanks again for the help Tires are a big purchase for me an once on I am married to them (for better or worse)
Chris

Wet traction and traction on clean ice tend to be improved with higher pressures;

sand, leaves, wet snow, mud are handled best at lower pressures.

Wider tires can cause you to have less traction if your car doesn't weigh enough to cut into slush/snow, my insight flops all over the road when it had big wheels on, narrower tires made it track much better in the winter months.

Cheers
Ryan