Pros/cons of higher profile tires?

Question

I have a 2002 Hyundai Elantra, which ordinarily comes with P195/60R15 87H tires. What are the pros and cons of changing these tires to a set of P185/65R15 86T? Some sites say they're compatible, but not all do, and while I understand the benefits of lower profile tires, there's not much talk on higher profile ones.

Answer 1

Caveat: all of the following information is heavily dependent on the tire construction, tread pattern, application, etc. If you care more about a particular application, you should research that specifically:

A higher profile tire will potentially affect the following factors:

1. Comfort: increased - you've increased the vertical air space in the tire, allowing the tire to adapt to small bumps pneumatically before they hit the suspension.

2. Handling: decreased - a taller, less stiff sidewall will generally reduce turn-in ability and responsiveness (i.e., in back-to-back comparison, you'll notice a distinct lag between turning the wheel and seeing the car turn).

3. Deep snow performance: increased - a tall thin tire is better able to dig down into a deep pile of snow than a wider shorter tire.

4. Speedometer reading: different - the rolling circumference between the two tires will almost certainly be different.

Regarding that last point: there are plenty of rolling circumference calculators on the web. I plugged your numbers into this one and it thinks that the difference at the highest level would be 20 millimeters of circumference. The calculator estimates that there would be a difference of about 1 kph (i.e., too small for most people to observe on a standard speedometer).

Now, considering your specific example, Tire Rack does list both of these sizes as valid choices for winter tires. Its default search does not show that size but that may be more of an assessment of their customer base than a judgment.

Using all of the above, if this was my vehicle where I live (i.e., I buy all-weather tires since deep snow is rare), I would not go with a taller tire. There are plenty of tire vendors, brands and applications available for me to select a stock size tire without sacrificing our mutual criteria (comfort for her and handling for me).