You want your rim width to fall within the "Rim Width Range" values. Generally, toward the narrow end favors ride quality and toward the wide end is better for cornering.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Goodyear&model=Eagle+F1+All+Season&t irePageLocQty=

You get to there off this page.


Norm

 

Perfect! Just what I was looking for. And if I read the chart right, the ideal rim width would be the "Meas rim width", which would give me the performance the manufacturer meant to deliver?

 

Pretty much. My suspicion is that the Measuring rim width is probably where optimum straightline traction lies, and at that point you have the mfr's chosen balance between ride quality and handling for that particular tire's mission. That still puts the ride vs handling on a see-saw of sorts - above the meas rim width gives sharper cornering response and maybe a little higher ultimate cornering grip than "design" at a cost of having a stiffer ride, with the reverse being true for narrower.


Norm

 

The measured rim width refers to that tires dimensions as it is measured on a specific wheel width. For example: The tire may say fitment for 9"~11" wheel as measured on a 10" wheel. So the numbers you see are based on that tire on a 10" wheel.

I am sure someone out there can find a better way to say that! (havin' a dickens of a time trying to explain such a simple thing) :-)

ALL the given numbers will change from microscopic to minimal going from one rim width to another. The performance of the tire can change a little more going one width to another.

Jazzer

<edited after reading Norms post and realizing I mispoke>

 

Thanks folks! I certainly know a lot more than I did a few days ago, thanks to you, and I feel much better prepared to engage salespeople that may or may not know about the products they sell...bill

 

Most measured tire dimensions do not vary very much with rim width. The main exception is section width, which increases (decreases) by about 0.4" per inch that the rim is widened (narrowed).


Norm