Wider tires on the stock 16" rims???

[berncres]

Hi all, first post here.

I'm wondering if anyone has used wider tires on the stock 16" SE rims. I'd like to get better handling but don't want to buy new rims at the moment.

I was looking at Falken ZE-912's at 245/50/ZR16, which according to the online tire size calculator is just about the same circumference and will read 0.2% too fast on the odometer.

According to Nissan's site, the 16" rims are 7.0 inches wide, and the approved rim size for the tires above are 7-8.5 inches.

I think this would be a relatively inexpensive upgrade in handling without sacrificing ride quality and (more importantly) without sacrificing your wallet.

What do you guys think?

[generic808]

245 is a bit wide for a 7" wheel. I'd go with a 225 if I were you. A 225/55/16 will be the 0.1" taller than the tire you listed, which is closer to factory spec. By the way, welcome to NICO!

[berncres]

Thanks generic808, glad to be here!

I wanted to stay away from 55 series because they're usually more expensive than 50 series tires. I'm googling right now to see if anyone's tried 245s on a 7 inch rim. So far, I've seen comments such from "they would look too funny", "those are way too big", to "they fit fine", etc.

It looks like 245s are the widest (some) tire manufacturers will allow on a 7" rim.

If I were to go with 55 series, I think 235/55/16s would be closer to the original tire, according to the tire size calculator.

[generic808]

Rather than going with an odd tire size, why not just pick up a used set of wider wheels? You may pay a little more up front, but in the long run you'll save yourself money with more common tire sizes.