How much bigger diameter tires you can put for 2023 Leaf?

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2022NConnecta62

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Feb 28, 2022
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I will have soon the 2022 facelift model (2023 in US) with those funky aerowheels and i am thinking that how big winter tires i could buy. 59kwh has only 135 mm round clearance so i want couple cm more and skinnier wheels. I dont care what TUV says because i will inspect my car with summer tires.


Greetings from Finland I was thinking for winter tires 205/65R17 instead of normal 215/50R17.
- benefits 26,5 mm more round clearance ( 161,5 mm which is more than enough for snowy forrest cabin roads)
- more accurate speedometer and 13 km/h more top speed
- bigger sidewall with narrower tire means better fuel economy

Do you have experience about such big tires (diameterically) with nissan leaf secon gen? If thats too big i will consider 205/65R16 which is only 13 mm taller and gives 148 mm round clearance.
 
I am running 215/55 R17 Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires on my 2019 SL Plus. I am not sure there would be enough clearance for tire chains on them (SAE S-class chains are allowable with the OEM tires, according to the owner manual). My calculations show overall diameter of 26.31 inches for the 215/55 R17 tires I have, 27.49 inches for the 205/65 R17 tires you propose, and 25.46 inches for the OEM tires. I doubt there is enough clearance for your proposed tire size with suspension fully compressed and there certainly would not be enough clearance to accommodate tire chains. You might get by with 205/60 R17 tires (diameter would be about 26.69 inches) if you want narrower and taller tires, but I doubt that you could use tire chains.

I like the slightly taller gearing and the 215/55 R17 tires fill the fender openings nicely. The taller gearing does not seem to impact acceleration.
 
Is there anyway to calculate it? For example if you can find full movement of shocks then you can calculate with angles how near top of wheel is to fender or side of fender when wheel is rotated when shocks are fully compressed. Nissan should know it… is there general rule that how close OEM wheels are to fender when suspension is fully “down”?
 
There are other comparable sites, but I use this one for figuring out tire options that will work:

https://www.wheel-size.com/size/nissan/leaf/2022/

They also have a tire calculator that's handy for side-by-side comparisons:

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/

As long as you stick to a 6.5" wide wheel, then the suspension and fender clearances should be fine. The wheel well clearance will obviously change, especially if you need additional clearance for chains in winter. The hardest one to figure out is whether the new tires will scrub on full steering lock.
 
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