Recommend a good tire size for stock 20's to fill wheel well?

[sbmrinaldi]

I need at least 2 new tires on the back of my wife's CX9. Not only did the stock tires stink on the Mazda but the width of the tires looked odd to me since it never filled the wheel well. What tire size will fill the well and come close to being flush with the fender and work well on the CX9?

 

[rlb]

Tire/rim size does not fill the wheel well. This is done by using shorter springs, which will also lower the ride height. The way to make the wheels more flush with the fender is by lowering the offset of the wheel. You can add spacers or get new wheels with a lower offset. No matter what you do, you should maintain the overall diameter of the stock wheel/tire so as not to mess up the speedometer reading.

 

[table5511]

245/50r20 yokohama avid envigor or yoko parada or nitto nt850

 

[Wisconsin Proud]

I need at least 2 new tires on the back of my wife's CX9.

It would look strange with 3 or 4 tires on the back

 

[table5511]

I would also advise on installing 4 tires at a time. The 9 goes through tires pretty quickly to begin with, and having 2 different kinds of tires plays havoc on your inner ear, you think you are hearing things, but its just the harmonic variation of having different tires on front and back.

 

[danz75]

Replacing all 4 tires is always recommended on AWD vehicles.

 

[ceric]

Some people don't realize that tires of different brands/models, even of the same size spec, are
slightly off in diameters by as much as 1/4" (check Tirerack.com for details). This would put stress
on the AWD system for extended period of time. Along the same line of argument, it is important to
check tire pressure so that the diameters of tires are consistent even with tires of the same models.

If you have FWD, this is of little concern other than traction variation.

 

[troytroy]

I wouldn't get hung up about running different tyres front and back on the AWD CX-9, it's not a full time AWD. 98% of the time it's in FWD mode until detecting slip. I myself like running front and back at different wear rates (best on the front) as it spreads the cost of paying for tyres. Each to the own though. The biggest variable will be the driver and how much tread you have on all your tyres if you find yourself requiring AWD mode.

 

[sbmrinaldi]

It is only a FWD. I had the snow tire setup and that filled the width of the wheel well much better than the stock 20" tires/rims. Since I sold them I will have to pull the paperwork and recall the tire size, but was looking to "push" the tire size to come out to near the fender of the car. The stock tire size appears to sit in the fender a couple inches. I stated 2 tires since the fronts are in good shape and should be able to get another 10k and financially it doesn't make sense for me to replace them yet.

 

[Craig-CX9]

I put Michelin 255/50 R20 on my 'o7 GT AAWD and loved them!

 

[ajjus]

I have 265/50/20 Yokohama Prada tires. Need a new set now. Lasted about 20k with aggressive driving.

 

[table5511]

ajjus, how was the noise level on the Parada's? I wish the ride was a little quieter on the interstate with the GT, but I guess the 50 height is a trade-off. Just curious to see what noise levels you have compared prior tires to your yoko's? I'll need new tires next year, and I think the Nitto NT's don't have enough grip in the wet and I'm thinking they deffinately won't have enough grip in the snow this winter. I'm eying the Avid Envigor, just by looking at the tread pattern.