Draw backs to narrower, higher aspect ratio tires for my car with the OEM 18" wheels

Draw backs to narrower, higher aspect ratio tires for my car with the OEM 18" wheels

As my comprehensive title states, I'm looking to see what would happen if i were to try to use narrower (215mm) tires with a higher aspect ratio (>40) on my car with 18" wheels. The reason I ask is because a regular customer of mine has offered to give me slightly used tires that he believes will fit my car. I trust him because he's a gearhead builds his own projects but i want to know the potential drawbacks i would encounter if i tried using them. He said that my speedo will be a little off in that it will read a couple MPH higher than I'm actually going. I wouldn't normally consider this but money is a bit tight and i could use a new set of tires soon. Any help will be greatly appreciated because i don't have a lot of extra time to keep researching this topic

so, he's offering 215/45/18 tires? Stock for 18" GTI's is 225/40.. so, if the tires that are being offered are in fact 215/45 you'll get about .5" in height to the overall tire if that's the look you're looking for. In other words it's going to look really meaty.. good for pot holes..not sure if i would want a skinny/tall tire for my style of driving.

https://tiresize.com/height-calculator/

Because the car wasn't designed for those tires it will only be a matter of time before your wheels fly off and you crash into a tanker truck full of chlorine gas killing everyone within a square mile....would be a typical forum answer. You'll be fine. It will probably even be hard to tell looking at it.

A couple of obvious drawbacks from a performance standpoint. It will not handle as well and you will have a bit less rubber on the road and likely they are a little harder rubber. Handling and braking will be diminished by some amount over a good stock tire size.

However should be fine and maybe even a bit more comfortable with the taller sidewall

Wascally Wabbit said:

Because the car wasn't designed for those tires it will only be a matter of time before your wheels fly off and you crash into a tanker truck full of chlorine gas killing everyone within a square mile....would be a typical forum answer. You'll be fine. It will probably even be hard to tell looking at it.

Click to expand...

Man you had me haha also, thanks everyone for replying! I didn't think it would be that big of a deal but i'd rather be safe than sorry.