sirtokesalot Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 i have a 1998 outback i currently have 205 55r16 on it. will 215 55r16 fit without rubbing? i have a chance to get 6 free tires in very good shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Yes on an outback you can use a 26.5-27" tire without issue. Your 205 55 16 is smaller than what would have come on it originally.. Keep in mind, free tires are not good if they are over 10 years old or show dry rot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirtokesalot Posted December 5, 2016 Author Share Posted December 5, 2016 (edited) they are tires from my dads car. they have been stored indoors for about 8 years no signs of dryrot lots of tread still left were inside a heated basement. the 205 55r16 i have now looked small to me but again they are the tires that my mom gave me with the wheels they did look to be close to what was on there and my speedo is still accurate compared to gps. i dont have a spare 16 inch tire ither can i use one of the 15 inch tires as a spare so long as i put the fwd fuse in if i use it? Edited December 5, 2016 by sirtokesalot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coryl Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 (edited) Sirtokesalot, I wouldn't be putting these tires on my car. First of all, they have been stored for 8 years, so I'm guessing that the tires were not just purchased 8 years ago and then stored, so they are probably many years older? You can check on the sidewall to note the date of manufacture. Rubber naturally degrades over a period of 5 or so years depending on conditions. You will not see cracks in old stored tires like you describe (and tires may look perfect) until they are perhaps inflated to specs or under load, and then it could lead to tire blow out which may risk your life. An example would be of an old rubber band looking good until you stretch it and only then you see the cracks before it breaks. Buy yourself some newer tires, these in my belief are probably just too old. Edited December 5, 2016 by coryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB's93LegacyL Posted December 5, 2016 Share Posted December 5, 2016 Looking at specs for the '98 Legacy Outback, it shows 205-70-15 as the original size. The OEM wheel was a 15x6JJ, but I don't see the offset listed. Your free tires will still be 1" smaller diameter than OEM. Your free tires will be 0.4 inches wider and taller than the tires you have on now. This website is great for comparing tires size specs. https://tiresize.com/comparison/ You could also check the circumfererence of the spare vs the new tires to see if it is within spec for protecting the AWD system. If the tires were made after 2000, the date code is four digits, with the first two digits indicating the week of the year. The third and fourth digits show the year. So for example, 3109 would be the 31st week of 2009. Since you live in snow country, be aware the wider tires are worse in snow. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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