Go back to COMG- The Cruze Owner's Maintenance Guide
There are alot... ALOT of misconceptions/miss information about tire size and what you can and cant (or more importantly should and shouldn't) do.
First off just so we are all on the same page the Cruze comes STOCK with 215/60R16 tires they are 26.1" tall. ALL DIC ABS speed etc etc is calculated off of this value. even though LTs and LTZs have 17 and 18 inch tires that are slightly different in overall diameter the stock tire size is used for calculations. no car manufacturer recalculates all those readings for a less then 1% difference.
The 2% Rule. This used to be the 3% rule (and still is for trucks) but anyway heres how it works STOCK size (26.1 inches) x (2%) = .522 (.5 to .6(if you really want that tire :th_coolio
.
So basically any tire that is 25.6 to 26.6 inches tall will work seamlessly on your car, this means that if you want a wider tire in a 16 inch the 225/60R16 is perfectly fine. or if you want a skinny tire the 205/60R16 will work as well.
Now as far as tire width goes you can pretty much go as wide as you want (within reason) as long as you stay inside the specs of your wheel for example a 225/50R17 has a measured rim width of 7 inches so a 17x7 wheel is perfect for it. however it can be safely mounted on a 17x6 - 17x8 and you will never tell a difference.
Q: If you go outside of these specs what happens? A: Just Don't its not worth it.
As far as wheels go as long as you can find a tire the right size to get you back to the correct overall diameter you can go as big as you want you just have to watch out they dont get to wide or to much offset (they hit strut/suspension on the inside or stick out and look stupid)
Tirerack is a great resource for all of the tire/wheel spec measurements i suggest using a Bridgestone tire then go to SPECS and you'll see everything listed. (why Bridgestone? because they make almost every size and their measurements are accurate).
Since this got sticky ed ill update this as the discussion or questions reveal more information.
for a full list of Sizes and other good info click http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/99-specifications/12821-comg-tire-sizes.html
There are alot... ALOT of misconceptions/miss information about tire size and what you can and cant (or more importantly should and shouldn't) do.
First off just so we are all on the same page the Cruze comes STOCK with 215/60R16 tires they are 26.1" tall. ALL DIC ABS speed etc etc is calculated off of this value. even though LTs and LTZs have 17 and 18 inch tires that are slightly different in overall diameter the stock tire size is used for calculations. no car manufacturer recalculates all those readings for a less then 1% difference.
The 2% Rule. This used to be the 3% rule (and still is for trucks) but anyway heres how it works STOCK size (26.1 inches) x (2%) = .522 (.5 to .6(if you really want that tire :th_coolio
.So basically any tire that is 25.6 to 26.6 inches tall will work seamlessly on your car, this means that if you want a wider tire in a 16 inch the 225/60R16 is perfectly fine. or if you want a skinny tire the 205/60R16 will work as well.
Now as far as tire width goes you can pretty much go as wide as you want (within reason) as long as you stay inside the specs of your wheel for example a 225/50R17 has a measured rim width of 7 inches so a 17x7 wheel is perfect for it. however it can be safely mounted on a 17x6 - 17x8 and you will never tell a difference.
Q: If you go outside of these specs what happens? A: Just Don't its not worth it.
As far as wheels go as long as you can find a tire the right size to get you back to the correct overall diameter you can go as big as you want you just have to watch out they dont get to wide or to much offset (they hit strut/suspension on the inside or stick out and look stupid)
Tirerack is a great resource for all of the tire/wheel spec measurements i suggest using a Bridgestone tire then go to SPECS and you'll see everything listed. (why Bridgestone? because they make almost every size and their measurements are accurate).
Since this got sticky ed ill update this as the discussion or questions reveal more information.
for a full list of Sizes and other good info click http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/99-specifications/12821-comg-tire-sizes.html
