Changing tire size

There is not a lot of clearance between the -top- of the tire and the wheel well. Ditto for the front and rear of the wheel well. As long as you don't overfill the wheel well (tire will rub) you should be ok.

You -WON'T- gain a lot of "ground clearance" no matter what you do. You -may- be able to squeeze a tire in there with, say, 1" larger overall diameter. Even that is "iffy". If it was possible you would gain 1/2" in ground clearance. Whoopee!

 

205/60 would give you not more than 10 mm of eztra clearance (5% of 205 mm).

 

I am thinking about the same thing. I do have a 2006 US Prius and normally I have 185/65 R15. Each winter I find my way with difficulty through the snow. Thus I also think that 195 or 205/60 R16 combined with new rims too would help? Any experience on this? Thanks!

 

I didn't see this earlier but if you are going to be putting on snow tires you always want to go a size smaller in diameter (never larger). There are several reasons for this but bottom line it will give you better MPG overall during the winter and one has to assume this is why you drive a Prius in the first place. Also larger rim size tires cost more so only move up if you want the look of larger rims in winter. The tires shouldn't be more than 3% less than stock size in order to keep the ABS and wheel speed sensors happy.

Use this calculator to see the difference between the new size and stock: Tire size calculator

So for instance if your stock size is 185/65 R15 then you'd be better off with 175/65R15 (2.1% smaller) or if you want slightly wider then go with 195/60R15 (1.0% smaller)

 

The European Prius OEM tyre size is 195/55/16 on all gen2 models. Many people "including myself" changed to 205/55/16's for a number of reasons. Price of tyres in the larger size are 25% cheaper, much greater choice of tyres, road manners greatly improved, fuel economy does not take a hit. Speedo, and MFD mpg readout is more accurate. The downside is the oddo under reads by around "depending on choice of tyre" 2.5%.
It is possible you may have rubbing problems on full steering lock with 205/60/16's so I cannot recommend that size. If you are using 205/55/16 tyres you already slightly increased ground clearance over the OEM size.

John (Britprius)

 

I thought someone already tried them.
I see that compared to 185/65 R15:
- 205/55 R16 is 1.7% more
- 195/60 R16 is 3% more
- 205/60 R16 is 5% more
I am thinking now about going 195/60 R16. Not concerned about mpg, costs, etc. The only thing I am worried about is clearance!
Tire Upgrade | Page 27 | PriusChat

 

This is not as simple as it first seems. The European gen2 Prius is fitted as OEM 195/55/16 tyres.
I changed my tyres going up one size to Hankook eco kinergy 205/55/16 without problems. After damaging 2 tyres on the motorway "hitting a piece of steel on the carriageway"
I changed my tyres and fitted Goodyear tyres of the same size "205/55/16". These tyres do rub lightly on full steering lock. Not really a problem but going up another size would be.
The online guides to tyre sizes are just that, "guides" sizes do vary between manufacturers. The "turns per mile" number published by many manufacturers is a better guide the lower the TPM the bigger the tyre diameter.

John (Britprius)