# 1997 Sentra come stock 13" or 14" best mpg



## 97OldSchool (May 19, 2012)

My sentra looks to have the stock steelies with hub caps at 13". I do see Sentra's with 14" wheels. So here is the real question...for the best mpg do I stick with the 13" tires or do I find stock 14"? I will continue to look in these forums for the answer but if anybody can help please do so.

Thanks.


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## Jdoggsc (Dec 25, 2007)

hard to tell.
Stock sizes are 13",14" and 15" (according to FSM). Most have 13". I was getting mpg numbers like 50mpg when I had undersized tires (165/70/13) but that's because the car thought i was going faster than I really was, and therefore thought I was going farther than i really was.

In theory, a smaller tire would require less torque to get you to speed, so gas usage would be less, but then again your engine would be spinning a bit faster at any speed, so your usage would be up. If you wanna change tire size, make sure you make the needed changes to the VSS or whatever in the transmission to make sure it reads the correct speed to compensate for the wheel size change.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

It doesn't really matter what the wheel size is, rather, the overall circumferance of the tire. On many models, Nissan uses different wheel diameters on a vehicle but the overall outer circumferance of the tires is the same, thus it's not so much a "mileage" difference rather a handling difference, as a larger diameter wheel with a lower profile tire will have a firmer ride that a smaller wheel with a larger profile tire, assuming the overall circumferance of the two tires is the same. If you were to check those three tire sizes available for 97 Sentras with a tire calculator, you'll probably find there's not much difference in the overall diameter or circumferance.


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