I have a 98 Honda Accord Ex 4cyl. I am thinking to upgrade the tires and wheels to 16inch Rim. Right now the tires are 195/65/15. Planning to upgrade them to 205/55/16 as recommend by www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html. My question is by doing the upgrade, will I notice loss of power since the wheel is bigger, and will my gas milege go down? Any one had done this before and noticed this issue or not?

 

The way your car is affected by the change depends on the weight of the new rims. If your new rims/tires weigh the same as your current ones then there will be no change. As for gas mileage as long as the diameter remains the same even if you gain some weight you'll probably never be able to tell the difference in mileage. Power wise it's all about weight but unless there is a drastic change you'll most likely not feel any difference.

 

I just did this to my '98 LX, except that I moved up to a 205-60-16,which is only like 0.6 inches larger in overall diameter than the 195-65-15 combo. I honestly can't tell any difference except that it rides better, and looks 100% better. It fills up the wheelwell nicely, too.