Wheel Widths with wider tires advice.

[DavidPIL]

Hello all. Well, I'm gearing up for Spring already. Yeah, I know it's awfully early but I tend to take a lot of time before I commit to a purchase. My reason for posting is...I upsized my tires last Fall to 235/45R17 tires but I kept my old rims until I could afford new ones. This Spring I should be set to buy new wheels so, the question is, should I worry more about the wheel width? (OEM's have a 7" width, the tires suggest 7.5"-9" width). My choices will put me in that suggested range but my big question is, would I be better off in the long run with better traction, wear, cornering stability and so on, if I went with a wider wheel, say, 8" over a 7.5" wheel?My choices in wheels are quite limited because I do want to make sure I'm within this 7.5"-9" range... It seems the best I can find over an 8" width are mostly 2 piece wheels which are wel out of my budget. Have been looking at Mille Miglia for real nice 8" width wheels (EVO 5 & Impera) but really like the looks of the Moda/Radius R6 or Fondmetal Tech5, these 2 are 7.5" wheels. I've basically narrowed my choices down to these wheels now I'm just hoping I can get advice on whether the width of the wheel will make a difference in every day performance.Thanks in advance!Dave

[MadBill]

From a strictly handling standpoint, a wider wheel will give better sidewall suppport and sharper steering response, but it's also easier to scuff one against a curb. The simplest choice is to go for the width the tire is designed for; in the case of a Conti 235/45, this would be 8", (check http://www.tirerack.com or some similar site for more info), a size which as you found, is widely available in conventional wheels.

[Faultline]

yeah , I just bought some 7x17's...and the largest recoomended size is 225....so I dont know...coulld you find any problems when you went from 215 to 235 on your stock rims? (david)?

[DavidPIL]

Hi Faultline,I didn't notice anything right off the bat, and I'm not sure what I noticed over time was the wheel diameter's fault. Although I had known the wheel recommended widths of this tire, the tire place said I should be fine.The things I noticed wasn't necessarily more flexible sidewalls but it did seem that it took about a quarter second after turning the wheel, at high speed, for the car to actually respond. Was kinda scary at first till I was told that was a symptom of having too much pressure in some types of tires. Hard turns weren't so bad nor was most driving under 45-50 mph or so. (the wandering thig was talked a bit about in another post). It's odd, the car rides more smoothly with the 40-42 psi but just don't seem right. Lowered to 36, they are a bit more slappy over expansion joints and bumpy over slight road imperfections BUT are much more stable at highway speeds.Anywho... back to the wheels... The tires look like the fit the wheel fine. Kinda felt like the original Dunlops looked too small at the tread. These look fine... I think for short term this was an ok thing to do, I'm really hoping the wider wheel will make a difference with a bit more pressure. In my many months of research into the tire/wheel combo, I didn't really find any topics that answered my questions... I know going from 7' to an 8" will probably give me a little more tread contact to the road so I'll probably just go that way with the Mille Miglia's. Since these tires I have now are notorious for having a softer sidewall, I'm hoping to get all the benefits I can from the wider wheel.Dave

[DavidPIL]

Hi Bill,I did a lot of research through them when I was getting new tires for my Truck a few years back. I guess my question is, will I notice a big enough difference between a 7.5" wide wheel and an 8" wheel to warrant getting the wheel that's 2nd on my list. They're both close in terms of what I want Moda R6 and Mille Miglia EVO5, just want to know if I should lean more toward the 8" wide wheel especially with the 235/45R17 tires.Thanks for the input,Dave

[MadBill]

The 8" will give a little sharper response, but unless the price and appearance are pretty close between your #1 and #2 choice, I'd go with #1. (another factor might be weight; obviously lighter is better, short of getting too fragile for life on the street.)