Is it completely safe to use 215/60/16 snow tires on a vehicle that wants 215/65/16 size tires?

Should be okay, BUT check what the minimum rim width is for the 215/60/16 tires. Your current rims should be 6.5 to 7 inch but check.
Use the same size for all four corners for safety reasons.

It’s fine, and I do such things all the time. The width is the same (215mm), so no worries about fit.

The only thing I’d be concerned about is that the slightly smaller diameter will lower your gear ratio a tiny bit, so you’ll need to be slightly gentler on the pedals.

Thanks a lot for your help, guys! Your advice makes me feel confident about going ahead with them.

Ideally, the tire tread should be the same or nearly the same width as the rim (wheel). Your 60 series will be a little wider and a little shorter (not as tall) than the 65 series but should be OK. Your speedometer will be a little off ( Your actual speed will be will 1 to 4 MPH lower than the speedo reads.) A check with your local tire store person would be a good idea. No safety concerns to worry about.

215mm is 215mm, and changing from 215/65 to 215/60 won’t change that 215=215, so I fail to see how it would be wider unless you went to a 225/60. I have walked out of a few tire shops because they too could not figure out that that first number was tread width, and that the profile number has no effect on width.

As for the inaccuracy, I hit up this tire calculator and found out it’s a 3% difference; when the speedometer reads 50, you’ll only be doing 48.5

The first number is the size of the tire. Back in the old days it was listed as a letter like F, G, H, L. The second number is the width of the tire in relation to the height so, back in the old days it would have been L78 or L70 or L60. the last number is the size in inches of the rim or L78–15. Nowdays they list the tire size in metric like a 195 or a 205 or a 215. Next number is the series which is the width indication or 78, 75, 70, 65, 60, 50. Then the rim size. Tires vary some in actual size between manufacturers. So if you had two tires from the same maker, the 60 series would be a bit wider than the 65 series. The “R” in the number means “radial.”
And yes, one tire size wouldn’t make a big difference in speedo readings. You could have that much of an error in the car as it sits now straight from the factory.
If what you say was true about the width of a tire, notice that on some small pick ups that the size of the stock tires is about 195/75 – R14 or 205/70 – R14. Now notice that the tires aren’t as wide as yours.

@kritiper Maybe that would explain it then; some mechanics and tire salespeople are not familiar with how things have changed since the 1970’s. I wonder if they even know that most cars don’t use carburetors any more, and that Carter hasn’t been President for quite a while….

For any tire marked in accordance with internationally accepted ISO standards, the number before the slash is the nominal section width (in millimeters), and the number after the slash is the aspect ratio ( Sidewall height = Width / (Aspect ratio / 100) ) . But there is a difference between section width and tread width, and the treads on a truck’s 195/75-R14 tire may be narrower than they would be on a car’s 195/75-R14 simply because the weight of the truck makes the middle of the tires bulge out, making the middle wider than the tread.

However, some trucks (and older American cars) don’t use the ISO standard, and their ratings place the width second and the tire diameter first. Of course, none of them would start with numbers much above 40 as the first number is in inches. Try mounting tires over 17 feet in diameter on your car! But those tires are obvious as they don’t use a slash either; they use an X, as in 37×12.5R17LT.

@jerv Yes truck tires you mention are a different size numbering than cars. And the weight of a tire may make the tire squat differently. but that has no bearing on the size. The center of the tires don’t spread out much due to the tread belts, which are almost always steel. You couldn’t have much spread anyway because, at speed, the tire squirm would rip the tire apart. What is tire squirm? Tire squirm is caused by the tread constantly accelerating from 0 MPH to twice vehicle speed.

@kritiper I think there’s been a miscommunication here. What belting is there halfway between the rim and the tread, which is the widest part of most tires? How much tires squat depends on vehicle weight, air pressure, and sidewall stiffness, and most trucks/SUVs weigh considerably more than cars, especially ones like my 2300-pound Corolla.

Also, you just hit on another reason I prefer slightly undersized tires; between gearing, squirm,and sidewall flex, I generally prefer tires a hair smaller. If I had the OP’s vehicle, I’d go 215/60 right from the get-go. Then again, I corner a little aggressively, so I tend to have more issues with sidewall flex than most drivers ;)

When tire manufacturers talk about tire width, they mean the tread, not the expanded sidewalls.

…except when they don’t. Some use tread width, some use tire width at the widest point (profile width), and some split the difference.

I can’t confirm or deny your statement. Can you name some manufacturers that size tires by their sidewall profiles?? I have never heard of such a thing. The most important thing is to select a tire that has a tread width that is the same as the wheel width.