[BoxcarBill]

Does anyone know if these will not touch the (front) spring supports if mounted on the stock aluminum wheels?
I'm gonna need new tires soon and the Toyo Eclipse (Les Schwab) tires (that I know will fit cause that's what I put on 4.5 years ago) are way overpriced.

I'm trying to get the largest diameter tires that will fit on the '07 hatch.
Both the Eclipse and Premier Touring 205/70s are 26.5 inches in diameter, which is more than most 205/70s.

 

[BoxcarBill]

These tires have a 6" wide tread width. I'm sure they will rub the fender wells too much.

 

[JoshG]

How about 205-65? Or 205-60? I have those and no issues. They're wider than stock so it feels like they grip the road. No more shaking on the interstate.

 

[BoxcarBill]

I'm after MAXIMUM diameter to compensate for the 6 speed's lack of overdrive.

 

[JoshG]

What do you mean?

 

[BoxcarBill]

The Versa 6 speed trannys don't have enough overdrive. The cvt has 27% more overdrive than the 6 speed. Large diameter tires will add overdrive to the high end.

 

[bstewart8]

What is overdrive?

 

[BoxcarBill]

What is overdrive?

Good question.
I used to hot rod Chevys. Drive was pretty much standard back then at 3.08 to 1, or 3.08 revolutions of the engine for every revolution of the wheels in high gear. The smaller 4 cyl engine cars seem to have drive at very close to 4 to 1.

The Versa 6 speed has a 3.933 to 1 set of final drive gears. When the transmission output is more revs than the engine that's called overdrive. The Versa 6 speed puts out 1 rev for every .81 revs of the engine in 6th gear.

To be practical it should be close to .6 engine revs to 1 rev output of the tranny. For some reason manual transmission drivers can't be trusted to properly operate a car with that much overdrive.

You can get the car into 6th gear without touching the gas pedal on a flat surface without any harm whatsoever to the car.

The Versa should have 2.9 final drive gears with 1st, 2nd, & 3rd gears lowered in the transmission. Then it would have as much overdrive as the CVT trans.