Wheel widening doesnt allow you to run wider tires? WTF?
05-25-2010, 11:51 PM
#22
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Brandon, Florida
Posts: 2,616
05-26-2010, 12:28 AM
#23
1st Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 108
please do i still cant believe you can run that wide i bet it is pure sehks and super aggressive
05-26-2010, 07:17 AM
#24
6th Gear Member
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: state of confusion
Posts: 7,635
"Stretching" tires to fit unreasonably wide wheels is not a very big segment, at least not in continental USA.
Traditionally, muscle cars never worried about much except straight line grip, so things like cornering stiffness and wheel width never mattered much. Many people still think that low profile tires should look like 80-profile 1960's Cadillac tires, big sidewall bulge sticking way out past the wheel and all.
It's one thing to run tires at to half an inch or so above the tire mfr max recommended width (for '08 anyway, the OE GT 17" and 18" wheels are AT the max width for their respective 235/55, 235/50, and 255/45 tire sizes). There can be some real benefits by doing this, if you can live with the "downsides" (typically, ride harshness and lack of scuff protection for the wheels). If you're an autocrosser or corner-carving enthusiast it'll look "more right" this way than a wide tire on a rim that's down toward the narrow end of the recommended width range. If you're mostly a go-fast-in-straight-lines-only sort of enthusiast, even this "mild stretch" appearance will probably be too extreme.
But those guys running tires on wheels 2" above the recommended max . . . it's just as silly as street-driven 315/35's on 8".
Norm
Traditionally, muscle cars never worried about much except straight line grip, so things like cornering stiffness and wheel width never mattered much. Many people still think that low profile tires should look like 80-profile 1960's Cadillac tires, big sidewall bulge sticking way out past the wheel and all.
It's one thing to run tires at to half an inch or so above the tire mfr max recommended width (for '08 anyway, the OE GT 17" and 18" wheels are AT the max width for their respective 235/55, 235/50, and 255/45 tire sizes). There can be some real benefits by doing this, if you can live with the "downsides" (typically, ride harshness and lack of scuff protection for the wheels). If you're an autocrosser or corner-carving enthusiast it'll look "more right" this way than a wide tire on a rim that's down toward the narrow end of the recommended width range. If you're mostly a go-fast-in-straight-lines-only sort of enthusiast, even this "mild stretch" appearance will probably be too extreme.
But those guys running tires on wheels 2" above the recommended max . . . it's just as silly as street-driven 315/35's on 8".
Norm
Last edited by Norm Peterson; 05-26-2010 at 07:20 AM.
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