[Dorchester2]

Originally Posted by Ross R75

I was giving the car a good clean yesterday and had a quick look at the DOT codes on the tyres, only to find that they're about 10 years old. They're Michelin Energy saver efforts and I've never had a problem with them, but they're starting to crack quite badly on the sidewalls and the tread blocks, so it's time to replace them.

Mine is a PPD car so it has 205/65/15s fitted, that being the correct size at the time. Later cars had 195/65/15s fitted. Looking at the rolling radius, the 195/65/15 is less than 2% out so shouldn't cause any problems with the speedo reading. I'm going to buy Michelin, Goodyear or Bridgestone boots for her, but the obscure 205/65/15 is almost twice as expensive as the 195/65/15 size on the same tyre.

Has anybody made the change and noticed any real difference in how the car drives? The ride quality of the car is exceptional on the current tyres, and handling is fine for my needs.

When I bought the car in 2017, all 4 tyres were 205/65/15 with Contour alloys.
Thanks to the forum I've found Crown alloys and when I was to change the front pair of tyres, I realized too that 205/65/15 were 50% more expensive than 195/65/15 (around £45 - Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance).

So I bought the same Goodyear but in 195 and at the moment I've 205 fitted on the front (formerly on the back) and the new 195 on the back.
I feel absolutely no real difference at all! It drives fine.

Next I'll change the other pair probably at the end of next August, just before the MOT (that uses to happen only every 2 years in France).