Tire widths on stock S13 rims...

[groundhogday1976]

I have 205/50-15 Hankook Ventus Sport K104s on my car currently. The techs at the tire shop had a hard time getting them mounted and getting them to seal on my stock seven-spoke alloys and said I should have a wider rim to get the proper fitment. I agree the stock rims are too narrow, but a 205/60 was available as optional equipment from the factory, and I have a hard time finding max performance tires in my price range in the OE sizes. I wanna upgrade rims, but can't afford to right now. Is it okay to just continue using the 205/50s until I get new rims no matter how much the techs whine?

[p00t]

those should fit on the stock rims fine... its just that your tire diameter is gonna be smaller than stock, and youll increase the fender gap (booooo!)

Im not sure why they arent sealing though... is it possible for the rim to become too dirty from past tire installs where the tire seats on the rim? there are plenty of people using 205/50 sizes on this forum though with no problems...

[SmithSR]

They probably had a hard time mounting the tire on the wheel, because at that width, with that sidewall height, the tire's second bead doesn't just ease itself onto the wheel. They've got to do a little bit of work to get them on.

The tire should seat just fine. They were probably having trouble with one side of the top bead seating easily. They most likely had to inflate the tire to 50+ PSI to get both beads seated properly.... which is a no-no as far as the written rules are concerned.

The wheels can be cleaned very easily around the area where the tire's beads seat themselves. A wire brush and some elbow grease can make the bead mounting surface clean and nearly new in appearance.