A family member is leasing a new Infiniti EX35. I think she'll be very happy. It comes with 225/55R18 Dunlop All-Seasons, which obviously aren't anybody's top choice. Her current car is a Trollblazer with 255/55R18 Nokian WRG2s that she installed on my advice about 3000 km ago. (They're fabulous tires.) In a perfect world, she could put the "old" tires on the new car and live happily ever after, but I don't think the size jump from 225 to 255 is going to fly. Am I right?
(Depending on the answers to this question, a nearly-new set of Nokians may be showing up on the Classifieds soon....)
Depends. If it's an 8 inch wheel, I'd say do it. If it's a 7" wheel, I'd say no.
Of course, this is no where near my specialty, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
mith612
New Reader
3/31/10 9:34 p.m.
We get this sort of question everyday at work (although with much more mundane tire sizes) and almost invariably the answer is no. That's about an inch and a half difference from stock, so there will probably be rubbing issues.
Tommy and Mith: good point! I had thought of the (presumably negligible) effect on gas consumption from the increased frontal area, and the wheelwells LOOKED OK to the eye, but rubbing on stuff on the other side of the wheel hadn't occurred to me yet, for some reason. Thanks!
Aside from being wider that's also a taller tire, so the speedo will be off.
Depends on the rim width. I doubt the factory would put 225s on anything wider than a 7 or 7.5" wheel - usually 8s will come with 245s. 255s are about "right" on a 9" wheel, a little sloppy on an 8, and not recommended on a 7.
In reply to ReverendDexter:
Mazda puts 225/45/18s on an 18x8 for the RX-8.
To the OP: I'd be a lot more worried about the rubbing issues than the tire fitting the wheel.
I'm convinced. This whole "perfect world" thing only seems to work for people who find mint E28s....
Everyone needs to use this awesome site
http://www.willtheyfit.com
HERE is what itshows for those sizes. Looks significantly taller but doable.
That's a very cool tool. However, knowing my sister as I do, I think that giving her a 4.47% underreading on her speedometer is not a good plan, and might have financial consequences that are less pleasant than just buying a tax-deductible set of good tires.
