tire size question '04 Retrobird

[Jim Murdoch]

I am considering changing from the standard 235 50 to 235 55 in an effort to improve ride quality. Has anyone done this? Any clearance issues, font or rear. Look forward to getting some feedback. Thanks. Jim Murdoch.

 

[BluByeU]

Many have done this with absolutely no issues. In-fact the change in tire size will also give you a wheel well appearance change which many have found to be very nice, better looking than the standard size the car is recommended to have. A another plus is the 55 tire size at most tire shops is less expensive than the 50.
Go for it!

 

[Quickdraw]

I am considering changing from the standard 235 50 to 235 55 in an effort to improve ride quality. Has anyone done this? Any clearance issues, font or rear. Look forward to getting some feedback. Thanks. Jim Murdoch.

No issues at all... well there was one issue, Costco refused to install any size tire that wasn't originally specified by the manufacturer. So I bought them from Mr. Tire. I got the Michelin Premier AS. Im not enough of a performance buff to notice any difference from the original tires except for one thing. These tires "sing" on concrete surfaces at highway speeds. This isn't due to tire size but rather tread design. It really isn't much of a problem because there is surprisingly little concrete highway in the Midwest, mainly its just short sections of bridges.

 

[Rusty_G]

Note that this will throw off the accuracy of your speedometer. If your speedo reads 60MPH you will be at 64MPH. based on 235/55 diameter of 27.2" and 235/50 diameter of 26.3". Not a big deal, it will also keep the odometer lower too. Multiply your speedo reading by 1.07 to get actual speed (assuming the speedo was accurate and the specs I found match).