215/55 R17 tires on 2015 Leaf

I have access to a set of good winter tires that are 215/55 R17 and am thinking about putting them on my 2015 leaf that has 215/50 R17 tires on it. Does anyone have experience with slightly larger tires or is using 215/55 tires now. I would appreciate any information you can give me. I hate to pass up the chance of getting these tires.

Thanks.

I used 215/55R17 tires on my 2015 for the last replacement set and am using that size on my 2019. I like the way they fill the wheel wells and give slightly more ground clearance. Top speed is a little higher with the bigger tires. The only drawback I can think of is that there may not be enough room to accommodate tire chains.

One bonus is that the speedometer will be more accurate

My 2015 SL calibrated the speedometer via communication from the navigation system which measures speed by GPS. My 2019 SL Plus does the same. The digital speedometer in the 2015 was accurate with original size 215/50R17 tires and also after installing 215/55R17 tires, but the odometer indicated fewer miles with the larger tires. The analog speedometer in my 2019 SL Plus was also accurate with the OEM 215/50R17 tires and remained accurate after switching to 215/55R17 tires (on second set now). The odometer shows fewer miles than actually driven now because the odometer is not calibrated by the navigation system.

Tire Rack has all the specs you need to answer your question. The OE Michelins (215/50 R17) have an overall diameter of 25.5 inches when new. 815 revolutions per mile.

If you switch to 215/55 R17 winter tires, they likely have a diameter of 26.3 - 26.6 inches and 782 - 792 revolutions per mile. So your diameter increases about one inch and your speed increases about 3 or 4% for a given RPM. I don't know anything about how the odometer calibrates itself on cars with built-in nav.

Speedometer is calibrated through the navigation system, but odometer is not. Therefore, the odometer will register fewer miles with larger tires.

GerryAZ said:

Speedometer is calibrated through the navigation system, ........

Click to expand...

Are you sure?
I notice that my 2015 SV with NAV has always been 4-5km/h short of the indicated 100km/h when I happen to have my phone GPS on.

Virtuallydead said:

GerryAZ said:

Speedometer is calibrated through the navigation system, ........

Click to expand...

Are you sure?
I notice that my 2015 SV with NAV has always been 4-5km/h short of the indicated 100km/h when I happen to have my phone GPS on.

Click to expand...

I am certain about both the 2015 SL I had and the 2019 SL Plus I currently have displaying accurate speed with OEM and larger tire sizes (takes a little driving distance after tire change). The 2015 navigation system had a hidden menu item to manually program an adjustment, but would always clear the manual adjustment after a few miles of driving so the GPS calibration took over. The 2011 did not calibrate itself from the GPS, but I was able to reduce the speedometer and odometer error by programming the hidden menu adjustment. The 2019 navigation system does not have that feature. As noted previously, both 2015 and 2019 automatically calibrate the speed, but not the odometer.