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I bought 205/55 -16 Michelin Alpins for winter in the Northeast mounted on 16 X 6.5 inch Rials from Tire Rack.
The rolling circumference is less than 20mm larger than the original equipment tires which yields a negligible difference in gearing. Used the tires through two winters with great success. The slightly narrower footprint of the 16's yields slightly better tire load and traction.
There's probably some gains in traction to be made by mounting wider rubber on larger wheels. The obvious trade-off is in tire/wheel weight and rotational mass under acceleration. I'm planning on replacing the OEM tires with the stock size 17's and upgrading the rubber compound over the low rolling resistance OEM's. Probably see a small decrease in fuel economy then.
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