Hi,

My father gave me his Yokohama winter tires size 195/65R15 that he had on his 2004 Mazda 3. I was wondering if I can install these on my 2003 Mazda Protege5? I tried one on the front left hand side and everything seemed fine. I'm aware that the speedo will be off but will everthing else be okay? The winter tires are about 1 inch higher than the stock 195/50R16 summer tires.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Steven

 

an inch is a LOT

 

Might be ok, though. They're only a smidge bigger than 215/45-17s which were stock on the similar MazdaSpeed Protege.

 

true.. 215/45-17 looks way large on a P5 though, not sure why.. probably depends a lot on the wheels.

and plus it's still a half-inch taller than the 215/45-17

... with wheels 2 inches smaller I can't imagine what a P5 would drive like with 65-series tires. I know well enough how it is on my 195/55-16 snow tires

here's a comparo between those two sizes:

Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumference Revs/Mile Difference
195/55-16 4.2in 12.2in 24.4in 76.8in 825 0.0%
195/65-15 5.0in 12.5in 25.0in 78.5in 807 2.2%

I know my 195/55 tires look really big and they tuck into the fenders in the rear (lowered suspension) but don't come that close to rubbing.

 

?! How do they fit on the rims?! The stock wheel is 16" and the tires are 15"...

-puzzled.

 

Tires probably came mounted on 15s already.

 

steelies

you can fit 14" steelies over stock brakes :P

 

Yeah, the 15 inch winter tires came on metal rims. I usually use 14 inch tires during the winter on my P5. had an issue withe the rims I had bought at Wal Mart at first since they didn't clear the brake calipers so, they took them back without a problem. I wonder how the car will handle with the 15's though