Tires: tyre size, tyre size, ford taurus

Question
Hi Barry, I drive a 97 Ford  Taurus  standard tire size 205/65/15 I have been told to fit 215/60/15 and that would be the same daimeter as my originals. To me the diference I thought would be 10mm dia smaller.Can you clear this up for me , I also want to raise the speed rating from H to V or better because I do tend to push my car a bit, I travel 180kl a day and 25% of that is done on winding mountain roads where I need a litle better perfomance, the rest is highway driving. thanks in advance Regards Martin de Vos

Answer
Martin,

Here's a tire calculator to help with the diameter question.

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

I am an advocate of using at least H speed rated tires, and, of course, moving up to a V would improve the handling somewhat.