Widest tires Ran on a Riv . ( for street use )

I am doing research to run the widest tires possible up front on my 17x7.5 rims without wheel rub.


I have seen people run 255/50-17 on these rims. I am just trying to see if I can get wider than that .

The tire mfgr or dealer will tell you the rim width required with each tire, to maintain safe handling. Look up tires on tirerack.com and they will show a min/max rim width.

I run 9.5" rim with a 44mm offset. I can still go wider I think. My sig has the tire size.

oldsman105 wrote:

I am doing research to run the widest tires possible...

You know what, I'm actually looking into that too, but I don't want to part with my OEM rims at all. I love them so much that I just bought another set of rims. I had the chrome on the car and now I bought the alloy set to switch out in the winter and not have to worry about mount and balance.

For summer I want to go as wide as I can and I can get my hands on a set of 265/50r16. They're 3/4" wider on either side of the rim and I don't want to risk buying them without knowing of they will rub anywhere. Total diameter is perfect, it won't affect my speedometer enough to notice a difference, but no one wants rubbing tires.

Does anybody know an answer to this?

Thanks guys,

you should NOT mount 265 tires on your stock 6.5 inch rim.
use the tire & wheel app to see if wheels or tires are ok for you. It's on the forum

The 12 spoke OEM I bought are 7.0" wide which I'm thinking of using for my summer tires. The 265/50r16 bfgoodrich T/A's I'm looking at are designed for a 7.5 to 9.5 inch rim. Is 1/2" really a big deal?
I'm thinking the shop might not even mount them to cover their own asses...

This is what I have on the Riv now with OEM sized tires. 6.5" wide rims








This is what I bought just last week, where I want to install the thicker tires. These are 7.0" thick.

i wouldnt go past 255s on a 7" rim , and even thats probably pushing it. Personally when i get new tires in a few months , if i dont have money for another set of rims , i'm putting 245s on.

that is a 10.4 inch tire mounted on a 7" rim. pretty big difference if you ask me. even a 7.5" rim would be difficult to get the bead to seat.
i have about an 8" contact patch with the stock 7" rim (12 spoke) and BFG T/A 225/60/16 H tires. do you really need almost 11" of rubber? thats what Z06's run on the rear!
245/55/16 wound be the largest i would run on a stock rim. and even that might rub on the inside front at full turn.

That's the size I've been looking for, but it's very hard to find.

245/55r16

It's not that I need that much rubber, I just like the way it looks and I'm sure it handles better.

To each his own. Some like to see low profile tires, myself, I like to see alot of rubber especially FAT / WIDE.

From my experience, the Riviera wants to under-steer in a severe turn. By putting wider rubber in back, you increase grip to the rears, further enforcing under-steer. Be aware of this should you ever make a hard corner, the back will not want to slide with the rest of the car.

I know it might look weird, but I think slightly wider tires up front would help neutralize the handling of the car.

Whatever it does to the handling, I don't think it's something I would ever do, (put wider tires on the front).
The idea, of course, is to keep all tires the same size.
I'll probably won't go with the 265's and try to find the best suited 245's or even 255's with a bit of difference in the total diameter.
See, that's another issue with me, I really want to keep the original rims and the original total diameter, but just go wider.

Good news is, our tires are already pretty wide. You could try a lower-profile tire on the stock rims and it would appear wider even though it wasn't. BWMs pull this trick very well. Your speedo would be off, but oh well.

AA wrote:

the Riviera wants to under-steer in a severe turn.

understatement of the year. just yesterday i was leaving out from work, getting ready to make a U-turn with cars coming from the other direction. i took a wide entrance into the turn, catching the late apex, gave it throttle mid turn, and still ended up on the edge of the shoulder with an exit speed of like 25mph. (2 lane highway, plus extra lane of shoulder) had my rear end slid at ALL it would have been perfect. rear sway bars will make it slide out right?
i am still getting used to my new tires that actually grip.

sorry.

The rear bars make the back slide out more, correct. So do firmer shocks in back.

i have the widest tires ON A STOCK RIM!!!! on this site, 255/55/16


AND I WILL NEVER GET THEM AGAIN............... they rub a little in sharp turns and they slowed me down a little bit.

235's FTW!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for that, I'll stick with the 245/55r16 even though they're hard to find. It will be the best fit to keep my overall diameter.

Here is a pretty nifty tool that I've been using for my search, it gives a lot of information

http://www.wheelsmaster.com/rt_specs.jsp

AA wrote:

From my experience, the Riviera wants to under-steer in a severe turn. By putting wider rubber in back, you increase grip to the rears, further enforcing under-steer.

Wider rubber in the back than in the front?

Mr.Riviera wrote:

AA wrote:

the Riviera wants to under-steer in a severe turn.

understatement of the year. just yesterday i was leaving out from work, getting ready to make a U-turn with cars coming from the other direction. i took a wide entrance into the turn, catching the late apex, gave it throttle mid turn, and still ended up on the edge of the shoulder with an exit speed of like 25mph. (2 lane highway, plus extra lane of shoulder) had my rear end slid at ALL it would have been perfect. rear sway bars will make it slide out right?
i am still getting used to my new tires that actually grip.

sorry.

Do the rear STB + Ranchos - you'll be able to dial the handling in the way you want it. At 5 you'll start worrying about swapping ends.

Quote :

Wider rubber in the back than in the front?

Yes, to make the problem worse.

My new 225/60/16 tires rub a little (very little) in parking maneuvers. Which is not *that* surprising. Basically there are a couple 'profiles' you can get for tires, but you have to know what you are looking at - the average tire guy won't know. An "American" profile is pretty square at the bottom, the tread patch is about as wide as the carcass' wide point. A "European" profile is kinda rounded, contact patch is visibly narrower than the carcass' wide point. I am told that American profile tires have a squarish contact patch, and the Euro profile tires have a longer, rounder patch. Point being that Euro profile tires are nicer for carving along two-lane secondary highways, and American profile tires are about perfect for interstate highway duty, don't wander as much.

The original Michelin XW4's were kind of a European profile and did not rub at all, nor did the Michelin X DT's I had. The Goodyear UltraGrip Ice tires I run in winter, and the new Uniroyal TigerPaw Touring tires I just got, rub a little on the inner fender liner somewhere - not a big deal and not something I plan to do anything about... just an observation. The point to Oldsman: there's enough variability in tire sizes that you'll probably want to look at more than just the stated width (255 = 255mm) and profile (55 = tire is 55% as tall as the cross section of carcass at widest point), you also probably want to note if the tread is significanly narrower than the carcass.

Albertj

Well. After installing my 255/50/17 I can tell you it rubs in parking manuvers. I am probably going to use some wheel spacers to buy me a little room.

albertj wrote:

I am told that American profile tires have a squarish contact patch, and the Euro profile tires have a longer, rounder patch. Point being that Euro profile tires are nicer for carving along two-lane secondary highways, and American profile tires are about perfect for interstate highway duty, don't wander as much.

That sounds a little backwards - I thought big contact patches wandered more, and would handle better (having more grip).

You're right - bear in mind that Big patch could be either squarish or roundish.

Albertj

I originally had the 12 spoke wheels and have been running 235/60/16 s for years (I am on the third set) Recently bought the chrome 7 spoke which are an inch narrower and have not had a problem with them. The narrower rim gives them a better look that seems to fill up the wheel well better.

my tires are getting really worn. What is the biggest tire I can run on my stcok 12 spoke rims? I have 235s now, i would like 245s or maybe even 255s.

i ran 255-55-16's... they were truck tires... woot