I just wanted to run this by somebody else to see if my rationale makes sense. I have an 05 Corolla CE with 185/65R15 tires and I've been getting some winter tires priced -- namely the Michelin X-Ice. To make a long story short, the dealer's price is only a couple of $ more than Green and Ross (where I usually buy my tires because they tend to have pretty reasonable prices). That being said, I went into the dealer last night to discover that their packages (with steel rims) have been put together with 195/65R15 tires -- this is the tire size they put on the Corolla LE and Sport.
I guess what I'm wondering is, for my particular car, why would I buy a wider tire for winter? Doesn't make sense to me. The other question I have is, do they calibrate the speedometer/odometer differently between the CE and LE models based on the fact that the different tires have slightly different diameters? Comparing the different tires looks a little something like this:
Goodyear Integrity 185/65R15 (86S) -- OE on Corolla CE
24.5" diameter (5.0-6.5" reco. rim width; 7.5" section width on 5.5" rim)
Goodyear Integrity* 195/65R15 (89S) -- OE on Corolla LE
25.0" diameter (5.5-7.0" reco. rim width; 7.9" section width on 6.0" rim)
*I think some models might come with Michelin, so I've used Integrity as a benchmark
Michelin X-Ice 185/65R15 (88Q)
24.4" diameter (5.0-6.5" reco. rim width; 7.5" section width on 5.5" rim)
Michelin X-Ice 195/65R15 (91Q)
25.0" diameter (5.5-7.0" reco. rim width; 7.9" section width on 6.0" rim)
The above specs do show that the X-Ice packages that the dealer has makes complete sense for the LE that comes with 195/65R15 OE tires, but wouldn't the 185/65R15 X-Ice tires make more sense for my CE? I know I'm probably splitting hairs here, but I though I'd just like to get some other opinions on the matter. I'm also assuming that Toyota only has one standard steel rim size for the Corolla models (probably a 6" wide rim?).
