I currently have 255/55 R18 tires on my SUV. I have found a set of 4 studded tires that are 255/35 R18 and want to know if this will be problematic for my vehicle.
I know that my speedometer will be off but could there be other problems?
If you plug those tires into an online tire size calculator you'll see that there is a pretty big difference in diameter (roughly 4"), which equates to about 2" of ground clearance. That would be my big concern.
Sure ground clearance is an issue but dlu has covered this and you are aware of speedo error. Tyre diameter is just like gear ratio. Big diameter is like a tall diff which makes takeoff slower, makes the engine last longer and to a certain extent increases fuel economy. Small diameter has the opposite effect. Experiments with tyre diameter are a cheap way to anticipate performance with a changed diff ratio.
