Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 19:16:06 GMT From: Retro Bob <uctraingnospamanet.com> Subject: Re: 9-5 tires
On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 14:23:50 GMT, "Bill Jackson" <wjacksonnospamester.rr.com> wrote: > >I'm approaching this from a "get more rubber against the road" standpoint, >and wanted a wider set of tires on the car. Sure I could jump up to a 17" >tire (like the Aero has) which I'd love to do but I'm not too interested in >buying wheels AND tires. So, wider tires is the next best thing. > >But I do agree with you that this trick will NOT change the height of the >sidewalls. You should understand that changing tire size does not put more rubber against the road. Since the weight of the car is fixed, a narrower tire will have the same contact area as a wider tire. The only thing that changes is the layout of the contact patch. It will be slightly wider with the wider tire. If you don't change rim width or offset, the new tire will be distributed equally to the left and right of the centerline of the old tire. This might be good or bad. Most of it comes down to bearing loads and clearance issues. However, you should know that a 235/245 has a minimum rim width of 7.5" - 9". I don't think you are close to that with the stock wheel.