Tire Sizing Question (REVERSE Tire Stretch)

06 Jan 2016

Hey folks, I’ve been wanting wider tires for my car for a while now, so I started researching tire sizes. I know that for a certain tire, the manufacturer recommends they be fitted to a range of rim widths. I was wondering, what’s the widest tire size that would fit on my rims? I have 15”x6.5” rims, and my current tires are 215-70R15’s. My wheel wells are spacious and can support a wider tire without any issues.

It’s important to me the overall diameter is close to 27 inches. That’s the diameter I have right now, and I don’t want to have to recalibrate my speedometer or lose fuel efficiency.

Thank you for reading this! Let’s talk tires.

Comments

Food for thought, most shops have a policy that they will only mount a tire that is within a certain % of what is it intended to be on that rim. So while it may be perfectly safe to mount something that is +/- 15% (This number is completely made up) larger but the shop’s policy is to only go +/- 10% (again completely made up). Things get really weird when lawyers and insurance get involved. Plus with all the recent publicity that the stanced/stretched guys are getting for being unsafe, lawmakers are beginning to create laws to try and prevent them from doing that.

I have access to a shop that I used to work at, they will mount anything I need. In fact, they used to mount used tires to my car whenever I wanted to go drifting! So they probably won’t bat an eye when I get wider tires.

Also, if the tires blow out from me driving on them, I’ll just scratch my head and try again instead of suing anyone! :)

I have 295 50 15s on my truck that’s a bit shorter than yours but quite a bit fatter

I’ve had a 245 on a 16×7 wheel

With a 6.5 you’re pretty limited. I would find another car from your manufacturer that’s closer to 7.5 or 8 inches wide. My 8 inch wheels mounted a 245 from factory. Www.Willtheyfit.com will calculate tire diameter for you