First, lets look at the original tire sizes: 215/70/15 and 185/70/15 Those are the sizes for the cars that came with Pirelli tires (mine). (AFAICR the Michelin equipped cars had 225/70/15s on the rears). I plugged the original size:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/for...=215-70r15-185-70r15
So the OEM sidewall height difference was 0.83" with a 1.65" diameter difference (or larger for the Michelins)While different tires may vary a bit from these numbers, they are probably "typical".
I put in the "recommended" 335 - 235 17" sizes.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/for...=335-35r17-235-40r17
As you can see, the sidewall height difference is almost an inch (0.92)! or ~20%! Yes, that would be apparent to the naked eye but very similar to the OEM tires! The diameter difference was 1.83"
For anyone interested, in the 285/40/17 match-ups, the 245/40s come in at 0.63 sidewall with a 1.26 diameter difference. Dropping down to 225 or 215/45s doesn't change things much. While maybe not ideal from George's perspective, I doubt that the casual observer (i.e. folks admiring your car) would even notice
