I am getting a 1997 pathy in april (will post pics when i get it) and i need to know if 275 55 r20 tires will fit safely on it. Me and my dad already have the rims and My dad already ordered those tires so we are hoping they will fit without rubbing too bad. Thanks in advance

simman92 wrote:I am getting a 1997 pathy in april (will post pics when i get it) and i need to know if 275 55 r20 tires will fit safely on it. Me and my dad already have the rims and My dad already ordered those tires so we are hoping they will fit without rubbing too bad. Thanks in advance

Im going to say they should fit, they are only an inch and a half taller than stock and in my 01 which essentially uses the same tire height i went from the stock 30.4" tires to a 31.6" and you are going to just over a 32" I still have lots of room

Are you sure you have the proper room?

I found out that going from 255/65/16 to 255/70/16 that the front left tire rub on the front when I turn the wheel fully to the right.

And that's pretty much just a 1" difference. BUT, there's another reason why there is rubbing, it was involved in some fender benders, so the bumper was pushed back a fraction of an inch (you'd only notice when you're up close).

Based on http://www.vehix.com/used-cars...inder/ and assuming that's STOCK... it should be 235/70/15

You are doing MORE than just an inch or two... it's a difference of almost FOUR inches. 28" stock to 31.9"

I run 255/70/16s and have never rubbed. You have to have more than a fraction of an inch closed up. Even under some flexing theres no rubbing. You can look up what tires fit on what cars and how much a size increase changes the speedo accuracy, and size matches for bigger wheels. I cant remember what the site was but it was a lot of useful info

As far as I can tell, it's moved maybe half an inch... I unscrewed and pushed the inner plastic forward about 3/4 of an inch and it doesn't come close to rubbing. Though the right side does touch slightly (bumper moved on that side too, but even less than left side and i didn't move the plastic).

im running 265/75/16 and they dont rub at all, when i go offroad, you can see where mud isnt collecting on the strut, but not rubbing, lightly grazing, but im running all terrains, they do that i think you have enough room and if not space em

Thanks so much for all your help i will let you guys know how they fit when he puts them on there .......he lives in virginia and i live in nc and he is getting the rims and tires put on it soon but not giving the car to me until april so ill let you guys know how it goes.

one more question i dont quite understand the tire sizes i saw that you guys had 265 size tires on yours but your rims were only 15s or 16s and im confused on if the 265 is the size height off of the ground or the height off the rims.... in a simpler form of the question are 275 55 20s the same exact height as 275 55 16s????

Thanks so much for all your help i will let you guys know how they fit when he puts them on there .......he lives in virginia and i live in nc and he is getting the rims and tires put on it soon but not giving the car to me until april so ill let you guys know how it goes.one more question i dont quite understand the tire sizes i saw that you guys had 265 size tires on yours but your rims were only 15s or 16s and im confused on if the 265 is the size height off of the ground or the height off the rims.... in a simpler form of the question are 275 55 20s the same exact height as 275 55 16s????

and what do you mean by space it?

simman92 wrote:Thanks so much for all your help i will let you guys know how they fit when he puts them on there .......he lives in virginia and i live in nc and he is getting the rims and tires put on it soon but not giving the car to me until april so ill let you guys know how it goes.

one more question i dont quite understand the tire sizes i saw that you guys had 265 size tires on yours but your rims were only 15s or 16s and im confused on if the 265 is the size height off of the ground or the height off the rims.... in a simpler form of the question are 275 55 20s the same exact height as 275 55 16s????

if i have a tire size of 265 75 16 what that means is the tire tread is 265mm wide, and the height of the sidewall from rim to outside of the tire is 75% of that and then 16 obviously the rim size

thats not what im asking im asking if 275 55 20s which is what im getting is the same thing as 275 55 16s cause thats a 4 inch difference in rim size and im wondering if the overall diameter of the tires would be the same on both sizes cause using my common sense im thinking that 275 55 20s will be much bigger than 275 55 16s and im pretty sure that 275 55 16s would fit on my car but im doubting that 275 55 20s will fit but it seems as if we will have to just wait and see

simman92 wrote:thats not what im asking im asking if 275 55 20s which is what im getting is the same thing as 275 55 16s cause thats a 4 inch difference in rim size and im wondering if the overall diameter of the tires would be the same on both sizes cause using my common sense im thinking that 275 55 20s will be much bigger than 275 55 16s and im pretty sure that 275 55 16s would fit on my car but im doubting that 275 55 20s will fit but it seems as if we will have to just wait and see

275/55/16s are close to the same size as stock (diff of about 0.1").

So that 275/55/20 is a 4" in diameter change, quite a bit there.

Assuming the size of the wheel well is the same as the 99.5 model that I drive, then maybe you can fit them as pubfinder suggests... but I usually assume that the body is changed based on the wheel well. So it's possible the well is smaller since it used smaller tires for stock.

Alright sounds good we will find out soon and i will let you guys know

This should help:http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

simman-definitely check out Kyoo's link. 275/55/16's are not the same diameter as 275/55/20's. The 275/55/20's are about 31.9" tall which is close to a 32" tire. I doubt they will fit being they are significantly taller and much wider than stock. For example, you may be able to fit a skinny 32" tire but not a tall & wide 32" tire.

Alright that helped tremendously i didnt think that they would fit with them being such tall tires so hopefully he will just be willing to get me some new ones but im not sure how it will work out ill let you guys know how it goes once i post pics in april once i get the car until then ill be surfing around and posting and reading all the info i can about my car to try and get a head start

and by the way how can i look at one of you guys' profile and pictures and stuff cause when i click on their name i just see a small picture and i can click and view this persons recent posts and stuff like that

That's all there is really. This forum isn't as community-based/social-minded as other forums.

any suggestions of any other forums i could join to better my knowledge of my future 97 pathy?

simman92 wrote:any suggestions of any other forums i could join to better my knowledge of my future 97 pathy?

You can say I'm biased... but alas, there really aren't any other sites that are more knowledgeable than here.

When I started using my brother-in-law's PF, I was in a similar situation, trying to find a forum/site that I could get info from... I used to visit another site and thought they were decent for a while, then I came here... and well, been here since.

One of the things I consider a problem for that is, there aren't a lot of aftermarket parts for the PF/Qx4. Sure you could find a few things to "pretty it up"... but since it's not really built for racing... and you know ric.. i mean racing is a popular trend that makes $$$ for businesses. And because of that, there isn't as big an audience as there is for other cars (look at the 350z section and you'll find it now has its own forum!).

I had a '97 Mitsubishi Mirage DE (aka Lancer) that had more options than this. The only thing I did to that car was change the headlights from single bulb to dual bulb (since one side broke) and installed power locks.

Ask around (or search if you think it's a common thing) and I'm sure you'll find many answers here.

*edit: side note... oooh, I just noticed this is my 100th post! lol.
Modified by UndeGuy at 11:34 PM 2/9/2010

So I know this post was 11 years ago but just looking through to see what I see. I am Running 275/55/R20 All terrain tires on a 2001 R50 pathy. I had to move the inner well wheel plastic on the front bumper about an 1.5 in and cut the bottom of the hard plastic bumper to accomodate this i also have a 2.5" lift to make room for the tires and 1.25 inch wheel spacers to accomodate the strut tower. if i didnt add the spacer the tires would rub the struts. Just incase anyone is reading this in 2021.