Tires

Want Wider Tires?

Q:
Can a 245/50x16 tire be mounted properly on a 7" wide wheel?

#1:
The formula to determine if the width of the tire is appropriate for the wheel, (from a safety standpoint) is as follows: Convert the section width of the tire into inches by deviding the larger number by 25.4 mm to an inch. Subtract the width of the wheel from the answer. Devide what is left by two. If it is less than 0.5" you have an excellent fit. If the amount is between 0.5" to 1.0", you have an acceptable fit. If it is over 1.0", you have an unacceptable fit and should consider either a narrower tire or wider wheel or both. In the case mentioned above: The section width is 245 mm, which is 9.64 inches. Using a wheel 7" wide means that there is a total of 2.64 overlap. Deviding that in half means that each side has 1.32 inches protruding past the lip of the wheel. Safety-wise,that's unacceptable.
*Ed Ruiz

#2
1st the tire in question is a 245x50 x16 the 7 " rim can more than handle it. the 8" rim uses the 245 45 , which gives you the same type of fit. the 255 would be a problem. with a 245 50 the bead fits and seals fine.

2nd. as far as safety, this is a safe recommended tire to mount on 7s. first, I raced the dam thing for two years, drove over 100000 miles and never had a problem . Lucky, hardly. i mounted a camera to answer an argument of the famed tire roll! Most street rubber in the rear is hardly capable of rolling even with a greater side wall . We pulled a couple of 8 g turns and watched the tires. before they can roll they start to slip. so , they never roll on theside wall. its not much of a different fit compared to the 225 50 spec rated tire. Emergency stops, the presure is on the fronts and rears dont do much of anything. pot holes, hard mountain driving is no problem.

3rd The 225 in the rear is much too small of a tire for the size and balance of the car. the 245 is a safer, better tire for the application. Like I said, no one put more miles on a set than me. Time trialing, high speeding, mountain roads, pot holes, were handled great by the increased size.

4th Just because it comes on the car , doesnt mean it is the best tire. remember, the motivation for the tire size is so you can rotate them.

5th. 1" taller tire is about 3 inches more of rolling circle. That’s 4% or so so at 60 you would be at 62 and 100 would be at 104 Big deal!!!!
*MK