OK, I need some advice here. I've got a '96 E300 and need new tires. I've had a few people suggest I "upsize" the tires from 215's to 225's, leaving the rest the same (55-16). Before I do that I wanted to find out if any of you have done it and what are the pro's and con's.

Thanks in advance.
Deuce

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Deuce
'02 CLK430 (Nightwing) 54K
'11 ML350 109K
'21 VW Atlas (Wife's Rocket)
'94 Bronco XLT (Son 1)
'06 Honda Odyssey 180K (Sold)
'02 E320 151K (Sold)
'96 E300D (RIP Riggo - 12/16/2010) 198K
'03 Honda Odyssey 34K (Sold)
'95 E300D 145K (Sold)
'01 Mazda Tribute 19K (Sold)

Well, your speedo will only be off by 1.7%

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Ali Al-Chalabi

2001 CLK55
1999 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel
2002 Harley-Davidson Fatboy
Merlin Extralight w/ Campy Record

It's probably off by more than that already, and most likely it reads high. That's not a real issue.

What is a real issue is putting tires on rims that are not quite wide enough. It happens all the time, and is acceptable but not optimal. The OEM size tires seem to fit the rims well. Going to a wider profile without changing the rim size will adversely affect handling, albiet to a small degree with a small change. I've driven a number of cars with tires that were slightly too wide, and going back to the stock size makes a noticable difference (in the right direction).

Unless you're unhappy with the ride quality of the OEM size tires, stick with that size.