It's not if the tire fits on the wheel...it's will the
tire fit on the car without rubbing. As far as I have been able to determine, a 185-60-15 will fit on a Mirage (with the correct wheel) without rubbing anything. It's close...especially up front. But it will work. If someone is reading this and they have lowering springs, then all bets are off on what will fit without rubbing.
Here's a forum member (
kerk) with 185-60-15 tires on 15x5.5" wheels...
FYI... I have been running 185-55-15 tires for almost 90,000 miles on my car and have had zero clearance issues with them.
My next set of tires will be 185-60-15. I decided to go with this size (instead of 185-55) for a couple of reasons:
1. 185-60-15 is a common tire size in the US. Tire Rack carries 43 tires in this size (Discount Tire carries 47), including low rolling resistance, snow tires, name brand, off brand, etc. These tires are often less expensive than 185-55-15s which are much less common.
2. 185-60-15s are 1.3" taller than 165-65-14 or 175-55-15s. Running these tires will drop my freeway RPMS at 60mph by about 200 RPMS. Not exactly a 6th gear...but close to a 5.5 gear.
My speedometer will probably be off by about 3 MPH at 60mph...but that's not a big concern to me. I just want something to drop my RPMs on the freeway.
Here's a quick chart comparing these tires:
If you are concerned at all about fuel mileage, I would certainly not just slap any 185-60-15 on the car without considering Low Rolling Resistance options. Lowering your RPMS slightly won't save you any fuel mileage if you buy non-LRR tires.
My preference is the Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 Plus, which is the OEM tire used on the Prius and Nissan Leaf. These tires combine high fuel mileage and long tread life. Check my fuel log...I've been running the same set of 15" Ecopias for almost 90,000 miles (yes...they need to be replaced)
.