Ok, this may sound stupid, but I have pretty much no idea how to read tire sizes. Looking into good performing all season tires for my stock 15" se rims.

Here is what tire rack says about the stock tire sizes:

<b>SE -- 215/60-15</b>
<b>GXE -- 205/65-15</b> (this size is currently on the car. The side walls are too tall -- looks ugly...)

What do each of the numbers mean? Does the stock SE size have less of a sidewall, which is my main concern (just something a little bit less, not much)? Thanks for any info you can give me...

 

I'll use the SE Tire size for an example. 215/60-15. 215 is the width of your tire in milimeters. 60 is the aspect ratio. This means that the sidewall is 60% as high as the width of the tire. 15 is the rim size.

if you want a lower profile sidewall you will have to buy bigger rims. Because if you put a smaller sidewall on the 15s then the overall diameter of the tire will change and therefore mess up your speedometer and a few other things as well. You can probobly go with a 235/45-17 to keep the same diameter. But like I said I don't know if your interested in purchasing new rims.

 

Here's a decent explanation of tire sizes

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/size.htm