After much deliberation, I decided to take the plunge and change my 195/45/16 tyres to 205/50/16, my two main reasons were wheel protection and comfort, our SA roads are not always in the best of shape hens the change. I only wanted the upsize in profile from 45 to 50 but because of the lack of tyres in the country in that size I went with the 205/50/16's, to cut a story short I were everything I had hoped for and more, the car not only rides softer, but that half inch in height of the car means no more scraping the driveway especially with my Titanium spec having the sporty skirts on as standard, the tyres do look bigger, but it still low profile enough, I still have to dodge potholes, but at least I have a bit of a buffer between the tyres and rims, I have done close to 5000km with them sins coming back from my holiday and they still great, I will post pics once my car has been cleaned after doing a 3500km trip the last week

The new 205/50/16 before going on

New 205/50/16's

No wheels

Couldn't have lifts outside like that in the UK, would be getting rained on all the time lol!

I've been looking at Fiestas lately and noticed the tyres were really low profile, same as a lot of newer cars. I think it's for emissions and economy reasons but does make for a harsh ride and will put more wear on suspension components. Good idea to swap to some fatter ones imo! Car looks good as well! :D

It's our local tyre place and at the start of December the guys told me they were doing 1000 units per day (1000 new tyres per day), that's why they had to install 5 extra lifts outside, December the temperatures hover around the 30's here so no reason to worry about snow or anything like that, It took me 4 hours to have them change tyres and re-aline the wheels, not because of bad service but because they are just that busy.

It's our local tyre place and at the start of December the guys told me they were doing 1000 units per day (1000 new tyres per day), that's why they had to install 5 extra lifts outside, December the temperatures hover around the 30's here so no reason to worry about snow or anything like that, It took me 4 hours to have them change tyres and re-aline the wheels, not because of bad service but because they are just that busy.

Just give us a few weeks of sun and NO rain,on and off for weeks.

Does the tyre stick out more than the rim as i always hit mine on the curb when parking.

Yes the tyre side wall does stick out about a centimetre from the rim, but so did my 45's The Yokohama's are amazing, the stick like glue on the road and by using my GPS I noticed that my speedometer is 99% accurate, when I had the 45's on it was about 5km/h out

Just give us a few weeks of sun and NO rain,on and off for weeks.

Does the tyre stick out more than the rim as i always hit mine on the curb when parking.

You can get tyres with a rim protector that are the right size but cover the rim more.

That said, avoiding kerbs is probably best, frequently scuffing tyres won't do them any favours.

As promised, pics of my new 205/50/16 and for comparison the old 195/45/16's

195/45/16

195/45/16

205/50/16

205/50/16

need lowered a tad to take away that " arch gap"

need lowered a tad to take away that " arch gap"

That would most likely completely ruin the comfort of the car. Which is the main reason he increased the profile of the tyres.

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Yes that's true, I wanted comfort above boy racer look, the car does ride 1/2 inch higher now because of the tyre change, but I prefer it that way, now the underside of the front end doesn't scrape every time I go over a speed hump or out of my driveway, it still looks low enough not to be mistaken for a 4x4 and it is the same 50 profile that's on the facelift Titanium model, just a wider tyre.