Should You Go Ahead With Car Tyre Upsize? Pros And Cons Explained

Automakers go through rigorous testing and after all that R&D sets into place, a car is rolled off the manufacturing plant with all the elements working in tandem to provide the optimum level of performance. But one trend, that has taken center stage in recent times, is the car tyre upsize. Bigger alloys and fatter rubber for the looks and a lot more reasons, but is is something that you should go for? Is it just bad with no positive upsides? In this section, we take you through the pros and cons and you can decide if you want to go for it or not! But before that, make sure to join the 91wheels WhatsApp Community to never miss out on any latest news and automotive updates.

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Pros

1. Better Aesthetics

Although the manufacturers give you the optimum performance tyres, but sometimes they are under-sized for the dimensions of the car, which is a move at cutting costs. Smaller tyres are more affordable! But it sometimes makes the look of the car less appealing and upgrading to a size above makes it look a lot more attractive. But remember, it should be well within the limits. More on that later!

2. Improve Road Grip And Handling

If you go with a wider section tire, the road contact surface of the rubber increases, resulting in better handling and grip on the roads. This means that you will have more traction on wet surfaces, along with better braking and handling characteristics. The cornering confidence might improve with better feedback on the steering wheel, making you feel more planted and in command, on the road.

3. Increased Ground Clearance

When you go up on the width and the aspect ratio of the tyre, for example upgrading from a 185/55-R16 tyre to say, 195/55-R16, you will get an additional ground clearance of around 5.5mm which is sure to the increased sidewall height. Although you can say that this margin is not significant, when it comes to ground clearance, every mm matters, and this surely enforces the saying that size matters! It is important to note that upsizing beyond the reasonable limits of deviation will result in some serious flaws which we cover in the next section.

While these were some pros of getting bigger shoes for your ride, the downsides are plenty. While you should be very cautious and calculative while choosing the set of tyres and alloy sizes, it can mess up your cars overall system if the deviations are beyond permissible limits. Let's look at what the cons are.

Cons

1. Reduced Fuel Economy

The instant downside you will notice will be the drop in the fuel economy of the car. Bigger tires mean more contact with the ground which increases the rolling friction, consuming more energy to move the car than before. How much of a difference you can have it

2. Speedometer And Electronics Error- ADAS Compromised

When you increase the size of your tyres, you change their overall circumference, meaning they travel a greater distance with each rotation. Since a vehicle's speedometer and odometer calculate speed and distance based on the original tyre's rotation, larger tyres cause these readings to be inaccurate; for example, if you install larger tires, your speedometer might indicate you're traveling at 60 kmph when you're actually going faster, and your odometer will record fewer kilometers than you've actually driven. Another big thing is the working of ADAS. Although the ADAS will work, it could miscalculate your speed and hamper the adaptive functionality of the feature amongst many others.

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3. Wheel-well Scraping Under Full Load

When you upsize the alloys and match up the rubber to it as well, in case it exceeds the top model specifications, the wider tyre will scrape while turning the steering wheel, and with the full load including all passengers and luggage, the tyre will scrape the wheel well and bottom out in potholes and other undulating surfaces, adding to the complexities and even overburden the suspensions, incurring replacements and other expenses earlier than normal.

4. Higher Costs

Car tyre upsize is an expensive affair and I am not even kidding. Getting a bigger tyre sometimes costs double what you are currently using in your car, where not only do you pay, let's keep the alloys at 9,000 per unit for a 16-inches, which comes to a total of Rs. 36,000 and the tyre size of 195/55-R16 at an average of 9k again, add another Rs. 36,000 to the mix, taking the costs of around Rs. 70,000 and above, depending on what you trade-in your older set for and the brand of new tyres that you go for. These are conservative figures and can fluctuate very reactively, considering what level of upgrades you're looking for. Keeping the higher upfront costs aside, future tyre replacements will be costlier as you will need to shell out more for the now-equipped, bigger shoes.

5. Steering And Suspension Issues- Increased Cost Of Maintenance

The altered dimensions and increased weight of larger tyres place additional stress on components like ball joints, tie rod ends, and wheel bearings, potentially accelerating their wear and tear. Furthermore, suspension components, designed for the original tire specifications, may also experience premature failure due to the added strain, necessitating more frequent replacements and driving up overall maintenance expenditures. Users have time and again reported suspension issues after upsizing beyond permissible limits, and it continues to pop up now and then.