225s too much?...

[Silver Bull3t]

Starting to think about summer tires. I switched out to winter steel rims, so I,m looking for a dedicated summer performance tire. I'm probably going to go to a 215 instead of the 205 stock. However, would a 225 be too much, or just plain unsafe?


(drinks)

 

[bluntman]

No, those will be fine. Get a rim that's at least 7" wide.

 

[toucci]

you don't necessarily need a 7" rim. I'm pretty sure most 225 series tires work fine on even 6" rims. check on the tire specs to make sure.

 

[bluntman]

Good luck with that, the stock rim is 6.5" wide.

 

[djltoronto]

Handling and response time will be significantly reduced with 225's.
The sidewalls will have soo much latteral flex.

 

[bluntman]

Handling and response time will be significantly reduced with 225's.
The sidewalls will have soo much latteral flex.

You mean on a narrower rim, right?

 

[RedRaptor]

I don't think putting a 225 tire on the stock 6.5" is very safe...I'm sure it can be done but I would at least go with a 7" width rim to be safe.

 

[djltoronto]

You mean on a narrower rim, right?

Yes..

 

[MidnightSpeeder]

AzMz3 has (225)Falken Azenis on the stock 6.5" tire.

 

[bluntman]

According to the Falken website, the approved rim width for 225/45r17 Azenis RT-215 tires is between 7.0" to 8.5".

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

 

[MidnightSpeeder]

Hey! Talk it up with him! It's his car, and he hasn't had any problems with it!

 

[goldwing2000]

Hey! Talk it up with him! It's his car, and he hasn't had any problems with it!

But if he does have problems, Falken can wash their hands of it because the tire was used on an unapproved wheel size.

 

[GimmeA3S]

A 225 is using all it's sidewall strength just to hang onto that narrow rim...if anything extraordinary happens (hits a bad pothole or swerving at high speed) can cause the bead to pop off the wheel...don't stress your tires by putting them on a rim that's too narrow...7" at the narrowest.

 

[djltoronto]

A 225 is using all it's sidewall strength just to hang onto that narrow rim...if anything extraordinary happens (hits a bad pothole or swerving at high speed) can cause the bead to pop off the wheel...don't stress your tires by putting them on a rim that's too narrow...7" at the narrowest.

Exactly..

 

[badAzLava3]

This issue has been discussed at length on another forum.
There are hundreds of us that have run a 225 on the OE rim without a single problem.

Autocrossers routinely stick 225's on even narrower rims, Miatas and 230hp SRT4's all favor 225's. No one has ever had a tire pop off the rim. They also drive a heck of a lot harder than most of us do on the street.

In fact the Mazda Rev It up tour featured 3's and they all had 225's on stock rims, hundreds of runs a day done dozens of times over several months.
No problems.

By the time you get to a low profile 17" tire, the sidewalls are all very stiff.
I agree that 225's would be better on 7" rims, but the ideal width for a 225 is 7.5".

215's might be a compromise if you are nervous, just remember they are shorter so your odo and speedo will both read higher than actual.

225/45 and 205/50 are an exact match diameter-wise.

 

[RED SP23]

I have 225/40x18 Sumitomos on 18"x7" wide this was the minimum legal width for rims with 225s in OZ. RED SP23

 

[AzMz3]

Alot of bad information in here. Yes I had 225's on the stock rim. I had 15000miles on them and not a single problem. I went with a tire with probally the stiffest sidewall out there. No flex, and I would be surprised if anyone could get the tire to come off the rim during an autox, let along on the street.
The tire sites say not recommended. There is a big difference between not recommended and it can't be safely done. And one of the reasons they don't recommend it is because of how hard they are to mount on the rim.
Another thing you guys need to take into account is not all tires are the same. One 225/45/17 will and can differ from another 225/45/17 in another brand. Just like with my new tires, I'd never mount them on the stock rim as they are wider and taller than the Falkens.
I now have 225/45/17 Nitto Neo Gen's on 17X7.5 Rota Subzero's

Bottom line do some research on the tires and pick the right ones.
And don't listen to eveyone on the NET that has no real experience or knowledge of the situation.

 

[M3 5MT]

A 215/50/R17 isnt available? (to be mounted on stock rim)

How much will it throw off the speedometer/odometer and why?

 

[djltoronto]

A 215/50/R17 isnt available? (to be mounted on stock rim)

How much will it throw off the speedometer/odometer and why?

I've attached an excel spreadsheet that will calculate how far off the speedometer will be. A positive percentage means the speedometer will report a higher speed that actual.

To answer the question "why" well, is you increase the diameter of your tire, then each revolution your actually going a further distance compared with the original size.

Hope this helps...