Running the original Affinity tire on my HHR LS 215/55/16. Need a new set of tires.
1. is there a difference between affinity touring and affinity oe?
2. Can we safely run a 205/60 or 215/60 both at the 16 height? no mods too car suspension
3. Trying not to break my family's budget got any good suggestions?

 

The 215/60/16 would have a total diameter of 26.16 and would either just fit or would rub the lower spring perch as 26.1 is said to be the limit for our cars. The 205/60 would be very close to the factory size. But with the 205 you will be giving up some contact patch area if you care about that.

 

i warmly recommend narrower and smaller rim size. i run 205/60/16 set in winter, muuuch better in old and bad roads than original set. Original size run of course better at flat new asphalt highways and on circuit...

 

And do yourself a favor by broadening your search to other tire brands, there are better tires than the Affinity's out there for less money.

 

215-60X16 fit just fine. Some paint may disappear from the strut perch. They are usually cheaper and sometimes a longer mileage warranty.

The sidewall markings on Affinity Touring and OE seem to be identical, but the price is radically different.

I am currently looking at Yokohama AVID Ascend 215-60X16 at MrTire 4 for around $500 with 85,000 mile warranty.

If you go to 60 series tires you will need to recalibrate your brain's speedo using a GPS device. The car speedo will be showing a couple of MPH lower than it used to.

 

I loved my Affinity tires, and probably would've replaced them, but Firestone values them higher than I. So I bought cheaper, but probably better tires for the money, IMHO. My thread " Finally replaced the Affinities" https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/tires-wheels-49/finally-replaced-affinities-45381/

 

Thanks for the replies. Yes I was already planning on different brand just wondered what the difference is between the two affinity tires.

 

I never got a straight answer from a tire store. From what I can tell, price is all. May be totally wrong, but the sidewalls seem to have the identical markings. BTW, Firestone usually puts them on buy 3 get 4 sale in Oct. or Nov.

 

Local TiresPLus is running that sale right now

 

I just got around to "COMPARING" the Affinity Touring and Affinity OE on Firestone's web site.

Turns out there is a difference:

-------------- Touring -------- OE
Speed rating T ---------- S
Mileage Warranty 70K ------- 50K
Load rating 93 -------- 91


Price --------- $123 ------- $190 Round numbers/no discounts included