Been looking at prices of tyres,

195/55-15s are really expensive compared to 195/50-15s.

Would it make any difference to the handling/feel of the car if you fitted 195/50's? Obviously the speedo would be slightly out, but are there any other reasons why this would be a bad idea?

For an example of prices, mytyres.co.uk quote:

EAGLE F1 GS-D3 195/50 R15 as £37.40 each and
EAGLE F1 GS-D2 195/55 R15 as £67.10 each!

Would the fact that they are GS-D3 rather than GS-D2 make that much difference?

Bugger all difference to be honest mate in terms of speedo reading and gearing and economy. The 205/309 GTI owners have the same situation - their OE spec 185/55/15 tyres are a rip off (or just not available) so they get the 195/50s.

195/50/15's don't have the load rating to carry an Mi16. OK on a 205, but not a 405.

Other option is 205-50-15. Got some good deals round here on Yoko's in that size.

That's a good idea. Only problem I could think of is that a 205 width tyre is too wide for the standard Mi wheel?

But Peter almost all uk 405 Mi16s, 306 S16s and 306 GTI6s end up wearing 195/50/15 tyres because they're so much cheaper but we don't get blow outs.

You can get plenty of 195/50's with a high enough load rating
I'm running them on mine, and mines even heavier than most, slightly quicker acceleration, speedo's out a few percent, but it bounces up and down a little anyway

205/50 would be the tire size i'd recommend. get a bit of extra grip/handling too.

205/50 or 195/55..
Got 195/50 now for road use, they are to small diameter for my opinion.

For track I've driven 215/50-15 for 15"-wheels but thats too wide for best performance. Next set is 205/50

So 205/50's fit fine onto standard rims then? I would have thought they would be too wide for the wheel?

This question pops up occasionally over on the 205 forum and the answer there is usually that they will fit but there might be too much flexing over the tyre wall. Or something. Years ago I asked at my local tyre / exhaust fitters, a family run business, and they said they wouldn't fit 205s.

I have no problems with 205/50 on my standard rims looks good too

I can testify that 205x50/15 move around way too much on the standard rims. I then tried them on some Pug. Motorsport 15x6.75" rims and they were superb. You can really feel them squirm when you work them hard. A bit like having a loose seat.

Show me one with an 84 load rating. I'm happy to be proven wrong! Our local RTA inspectors and cops love nothing better than to defect a car after checking the Tyre plate.

You got that right though

They don't here in the UK, when the police pull you over they never do a check of your car, they usually just gas on for 3 hours about why going 0.00000001 mph over the speed limit is so naughty.
Thing is Peter fitting the 50 profile tyres is very common because they're cheaper than the 55s but I've never heard of anyone having a blow out.

Some of our 55 profiles don't have an 84 load rating either.

I thought about 195/60's like on a Focus but they're hardly any cheaper than 195/55's, if at all.