Tire/Wheel Size Question

[Steel2686]

The set of rear tires on my T/A I just bought are nearing the end. I want to buy a new set of Goodyear F1's for the rear, because the fronts have less than 500 miles on them. My question is this: I want to get 315's in the rear. What, if anything, do I need to do in order to have 315's put on? Do the sidewalls balloon more than the 275's? Do they stick out of the wheel wells at all?

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Christopherrr]

it won't work...actually, it'll work, but your contact patch would be serverly reduced...total opposite of what you're trying to acheive with 315's.

[Steel2686]

Okay... I've seen a few people on here mention they have 315's on the rear, but I'm assuming they either have aftermarket wheels, or just deal with the smaller contact patch.

I'll probably just get a couple more 275's. At least I can rotate them.

Thanks for the response.

[Injuneer]

There are two distinct schools of thought on running the 315/35's on the 9.5" wide wheels. The tire manufacturers do NOT recomment putting them on a wheel that narrow. Yet every time this gets pointed out, a bunch of people will post that they are running the 315's on 9.5" wide wheels "with no problems". Generally, they are running the Nitto 315 drag radials, which apparently are a significantly smaller section width than a true 315 tire. Hard to understand. You can point out that the tire is seeing excessive flex, causing excessive heat buildup, and possibly damaging, or at least shortening the life of the carcass. But they apparently have some sort of X-ray vision, and are absolutley certain that isn't the case. They then site ridiculous 60-ft times to discount the claim that the tire contact patch is reduced.

I've seen 315's on a 9.5" wide wheel, and it looked extremely "bulgy" to me. Just offhand, I wouldn't start trying to second guess the tire manufacturers engineers. I run my 315's on 17x11" wheels.

[Steel2686]

Thanks, Injuneer. The bulgy look was something I wanted to avoid anyway. I appreciate your post.

By the way... Do they make a factory WS-6 wheel clone in 11" depth?

Thanks.

[casey02ws6]

You can have them widened. By the way you can safely go with a 285 width - they look good and there should not be any clearance issues. I have seen several cars with 315s on 17x9 wheels - don't go there.

[Injuneer]

Here's a link to a writeup on widening the stock 17x9" WS6 wheels to 17x11". A friend of mine had some work done by the same shop in Monrovia, CA, and the workmanship was of an unbelievably high quality. But there are some negatives to having the wheels widened, since the extra width can only be added to the back of the wheel, resulting in a huge backspace that must then be compensated for with relocation of suspension components, or adding spacers.

http://www.ws6.com/wheels.htm

[Steel2686]

Thanks for all the help. Good link, Injuneer. It was an interesting read. If anything, I may go with casey's recommendation of 285... but being they aren't that much wider than stock, I may just stick with 275 so I can still rotate them.

Thanks again.

[pete]

While we are still on size, what is the largest tire that may safely be put on my 16" salad shooter wheels?

[Injuneer]

The tire size vs. wheel width is defined by the tire manufacturer. For any given tire you need to check the manufacturer's recommendation. Not all manufacturers have the same requirements for a given tire size, and even within a manufacturers various lines, you may find differences.

That said, the problem with the stock 16x8" wheel is not "what is the widest that will fit?".... its "what is the widest available in the type of tire I want?". In general, for high performance street tires, you won't find anything larger than a 255/50-16. Fits fine on an 8" wide wheel. If you start looking at "all season, general" type tires, you can sometimes find sources that stock the BFG Radial T/A in sizes up to 265/50-16, but now you have a tire that is 1" larger in diameter than the stockers, and will throw your speedo off, and act the same as reducing your numerical rear axle ratio.

Then there are "racing tires" like the ones from Hoosier, Kumho, etc in really wide sizes with the correct diameter. An example would be a 275/45-16 that is slightly smaller than the stock tire diameter, and will fit on a rim from 8.0-10.5" wide. But that's a thin tread, "dry only" tire intended only for track use.

Bottom line.... you aren't going to find anything larger than a 255/50-16 that you would want to use on your car for daily driving.

[pete]

Thanx Fred! That's all I was after, just something a hair bigger than the factory's 245/50 x 16. The 255/50 x 16 are readily available down here from various sources.