4 ms·

In a word: no. The rubber band tires are almost entirely for show. A 2024 Camry weighs in around 3,300 lbs and comes stock with 205/65-16 tires. A 1998 BMW 52

In a word: no. The rubber band tires are almost entirely for show. A 2024 Camry weighs in around 3,300 lbs and comes stock with 205/65-16 tires. A 1998 BMW 528i comes in somewhere north of 3,500 lbs and came stock with 225/60-15 tires that have a taller sidewall than the Camry. You'd be hard pressed to convince me that the Camry rides and handles better. Nobody wants smaller cars because the safety rating goes through the floor A 2023 Corolla and 2000 3-series are roughly the same weight. Both got "good" ratings from the IIHS across all the tests.

elmerfud 3y ago
Let's do the math because I'm not sure you understand how tire side wall height works. The Camry, 205 * .65 = 133.25. The BMW 225 * .60 = 135. So your BMW has a whole 1.75 mm more sidewall. Yes I'm absolutely positive that slight amount of sidewall made no difference between these 2 and it came down to the suspension engineering of the car. Neither of these are low profile tires and both are sedans and not crossovers that have a high center of gravity. Also a while Corolla is classified as a compact car it's curb weight is 3000lbs. This is heavy car, largely due to mandatory safety things. While that's all we'll and and good, heavier car requires better suspension and tires than a lighter car. Which is why you see 18" and 40 profile tires are every version except the hybrid. Now if we compare it to a compact of the past like the humble Ford pinto. It weighs in at a feather weight of 2000-2200lbs depending on the version. Massive weight difference from an modern compact. As vehicle weigh goes up other things must change too. I think my point about smaller cars was lost. It was meant to mean that in most first world countries we can no longer get actual smaller cars. The safety rules that we want in place for our vehicles preclude them from being sold here.
- inferiorhuman 3y ago
  The Camry is running on 16" wheels while the E39 is running on 15s with that sidewall height. This trend towards massive wheels is almost entirely about style and has little-to-no engineering merit. If you step out of the 70s and early 80s we had cars that rode and handled well while not needing low profile tires. The fact that the Camry can provide "modern" levels of driving dynamics on tires that aren't super low profile supports this. Even so there's no engineering reason Toyota couldn't offer a 15" wheel option. It's all about style over substance. Cars vs SUVs/crossovers is a red herring as all vehicles (in the states at least) have been getting larger and larger wheels. SUVs that offered car-like driving dynamics only came out as the trend towards larger wheels took off. It'd be perfectly reasonable to sell such a vehicle with smaller wheels but it probably wouldn't sell well as people have been conditioned to think it looks weird.

elmerfud 3y ago

Let's do the math because I'm not sure you understand how tire side wall height works. The Camry, 205 * .65 = 133.25. The BMW 225 * .60 = 135. So your BMW has a whole 1.75 mm more sidewall. Yes I'm absolutely positive that slight amount of sidewall made no difference between these 2 and it came down to the suspension engineering of the car. Neither of these are low profile tires and both are sedans and not crossovers that have a high center of gravity. Also a while Corolla is classified as a compact car it's curb weight is 3000lbs. This is heavy car, largely due to mandatory safety things. While that's all we'll and and good, heavier car requires better suspension and tires than a lighter car. Which is why you see 18" and 40 profile tires are every version except the hybrid. Now if we compare it to a compact of the past like the humble Ford pinto. It weighs in at a feather weight of 2000-2200lbs depending on the version. Massive weight difference from an modern compact. As vehicle weigh goes up other things must change too. I think my point about smaller cars was lost. It was meant to mean that in most first world countries we can no longer get actual smaller cars. The safety rules that we want in place for our vehicles preclude them from being sold here.

inferiorhuman 3y ago
The Camry is running on 16" wheels while the E39 is running on 15s with that sidewall height. This trend towards massive wheels is almost entirely about style and has little-to-no engineering merit. If you step out of the 70s and early 80s we had cars that rode and handled well while not needing low profile tires. The fact that the Camry can provide "modern" levels of driving dynamics on tires that aren't super low profile supports this. Even so there's no engineering reason Toyota couldn't offer a 15" wheel option. It's all about style over substance. Cars vs SUVs/crossovers is a red herring as all vehicles (in the states at least) have been getting larger and larger wheels. SUVs that offered car-like driving dynamics only came out as the trend towards larger wheels took off. It'd be perfectly reasonable to sell such a vehicle with smaller wheels but it probably wouldn't sell well as people have been conditioned to think it looks weird.