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255/45-18 are the way to go I think. Ive got coopers on my stang in that size, and they seem to fit really well, they stick out slightly further than the wheel, unlike the stock size.
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Red 07 GT 5-speed - Tint, 14" Antennae, 255/45-18 Coopers, Fanblades, BMR LCA's, JLT intake/X3 w/ brenspeed tunes, slightly lowered.
Red 97 Wrangler 5-speed - Raised 4", 33/12.50-15 STT's, tons o' other crap. My wallet doesn't like me...
they are both only 0.5" shorter than the oem 235/50/18 size...so that is about 1/4" less sidewall than with the original rubber
275/45 is 27.7" tall, half an inch or so taller than the OE sizes. This 45-series tire IS mfr-approved for mounting on 8.5" wide wheels. 275/40 generally is not (there is a tiny possibility that some mfr makes some tire model that they claim is OK on 8.5" but I'm not going to try to chase it down).
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alot of people run the 275 width on their oem rims. And it is almost never an issue. It will become an issue if you are an autocrosser, or like to take corners really hard. that will cause alot of sidewall flex, and might possibly unseat the bead...causing a blowout.
Being half an inch under the minimum mfr-approved wheel width will give away some of the tires' lateral stiffness, so it'll feel a bit "lazy" about cornering. (ps - the word "almost" bothers me, a lot, because sometimes poo does happen. If/when it does, it'll be too late to wish you'd done differently)
I'm less concerned with unseating the bead than I am with extra heat generation in the sidewall, and where specifically in the sidewall that the extra heat gets concentrated. Something called a "flex point" moves up/down over the sidewall as wheel width is varied. Not all portions of the sidewall are equally capable of handling this local flexing or the temperature that is developed.
That said, being half an inch "below spec" is something that you can get away with for short duration or low-speed driving where the tire temperatures remain low. But loading a car so equipped up to the gills with all sorts of gear and taking three of your friends on a long highway trip in the middle of a Texas summer heat wave is probably asking for trouble.
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