wide tires on 7'' rims

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skyline084
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I've been told, and told out, by nearly half the people on this forum who say that you cannot put anything bigger than 225's on 7'' rims.

I'm here to inform all you that you don't need to go buy heavy a** 9'' rims to fit your fat tires.
I got a blow out, and put a 245's on the rear. This is on a 7" rim.
They actually look much better than the 215's... no bubbling on the sides at all.

Just wanted to inform ya'll who were and are thinking about it...


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jltibbs
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There are quite a few factors that play in this. Wheel diameter, aspect, and tire brand/type can make a huge difference. Why not post up the complete specs on the wheels and tires, and also a few pics to give a visual of what you're describing?

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Gabes13
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Yeah you can stick a wider tire on there, but why bother? I've seen 255 on a 7". It looked super dumb because the tread was bulging as a sidewall. Rule of thumb is widest tire should be 2" wider than the wheel. If you want more grip, you might want to consider a stickier tire.

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simmode1
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245's on a 7" wheel? Ugh. No thanks.

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szh
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Unfortunately, no longer a Nissan or Infiniti, but continuing here at NICO!
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skyline084 wrote:I've been told, and told out, by nearly half the people on this forum who say that you cannot put anything bigger than 225's on 7'' rims.

I'm here to inform all you that you don't need to go buy heavy a** 9'' rims to fit your fat tires.
I got a blow out, and put a 245's on the rear. This is on a 7" rim.
They actually look much better than the 215's... no bubbling on the sides at all.

Just wanted to inform ya'll who were and are thinking about it...
Fitment with such stretching depends on a lot of factors - particular the aspect ratio of the tire. You may have chosen a a low ratio to keep the rotating diameter of the wheel correct. If so, you may not have a good seat of the tire bead on the wheel.

And if the tire bead is not properly seated, your tire could explosively pop off the wheel if you hit a bump. If that happens at highway speeds ... :ohno:

Or, if you hit somebody else, the other sides lawyer is going to successfully take you and/or your insurance company to the cleaners. :rolleyes:

Basically, I'd say you and your car might simply be "an accident looking for a place to happen". :yesnod

Z

skyline084
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Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 4:23 pm

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nope it's a 245/40/17 as compared to my 215/45/17 which was more rubber.... the wide tire fits so much better.... i'll take a picture to show ya... it's been good so far and honestly looks better than the slimmer tire

skyline084
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Joined: Sat Oct 30, 2010 4:23 pm

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this tire honestly looks like it is seated better than my original tires.... i'll show ya

skyline084
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Ohh, and I'm not going to hit anyone. I know how to drive, thank you. Plus it's not the stupid ace rubber that's an accident waiting to happen. It's the fact that i drive a skyline motor in my 240 that's an accident waiting to happen. I've been pulled over for the dumbest s*** ... it is rediculous, loud exhaust, tinted tail lights, no license plate, sweet old a** 240.. you name it.. i've been pulled over

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szh
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Oh, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that you will have a problem guaranteed! Or that you will have an accident as a result of this tire selection.

The thing is that stretching tires can make them a bit more unsafe, and less tolerant of situations where normal fitment tires might do fine.

For example, hitting a bad bump or pothole on the highway might pop the tire off the wheel if the bead is not seated properly. Where a properly fitted tire would not have a problem! At speed, this could be dangerous.

And, if (a big if, of course) you get in an accident and end up in a lawsuit or insurance settlement situation, the opposing attorney (or insurer) could make a stronger case against you because of a less than safe tire situation. Remember that you could be an excellent driver, and the other person who hits you could be at fault ... but you could lose that not-at-fault position in a heartbeat.

Regardless of all that, remember that using too wide a tire for a given wheel, and then putting normal pressure in the tire, can actually lift the edges of the tread off the ground so that the width of the contact patch of the tire on the ground could be less than a correctly fitted tire. Meaning that you could have less of the tread touching the ground than if you had used correct width tires, and handling/performance is degraded.

Putting on correct width tires for a given wheel width optimizes the performance of the tire - going outside the limits (either too narrow or too wide) by a lot, can potentially decrease performance and handling.

So ... What is your reason for putting on wider than normal tires for that particular wheel width?

(BTW, ultimately, this is still your choice to do this, of course! But people who worry about performance and safety are not likely to endorse it.) :)

Z


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