Tread width question

Years and Years ago I read that in general it's best to keep the tread width very close to the wheel width. This allows the sidewall to have a little bulge giving more comfort as well as having the ability to handle lateral forces as designed. Keep in mind I read this long before tires came in anything lower than a 60 aspect ratio, a 50 series tire was cutting edge forget about 40 and 35. Given the fact that most tires shoulders are rounded my standard has been fitting a tire with a section width about an inch or so wider than the rim width figuring the tread width would be very close to the wheel width.

Example

225 section width = 8.8" which should have a tread width of a little over 7" on most tires.

My '79 T/A was a WS6 and had 8" snowflakes, a 255/60/15 BFG radial TA measured IIRC exactly 8" of tread width and to my eye looked perfect, the sidewalls had a nice rounded profile and the car just looked mean sitting over them, at least to my 17yo mind

So lets talk about street driving. Take autox off the table we're not trying to fit the widest tire possible on a stock rim. I like some sidewall to aid in compliance and I kinda enjoy feeling the car move around on the sidewalls a bit. But now all the cars come with 17"+ wheels and low profile tires. Hell even my wife's econo box has 45 series tires on it.

So does my line of thinking hold true with low profile tires? Or should I just assimilate and put some 215's on a 9" rim?

keep in mind that for a-x ... the idea of "fitting the widest tire you can get under the fenders", is pretty much relegated to R-Comps ... ( the Hoosiers will tolerate that type of fitmemt ...)

as far as street tires are concerned (I can really only speak for a-x, since for the street, I pretty much just run OEM sizes) ... it's still the rule of thumb is to keep the tread width and rim width as close as possible ...

and again a-x comes to the rescue for info ... the best handling (and I'd have to assume comfort also) will come with the adherence to the width to width rule ... pretty much ignoring the aspect ratio ... go with tread width

Long story short, every tire manufacturer publishes a recommended rim width range for every size of every tire model they produce. No math, thumb rules, or assumptions necessary. As long as you stay within that range, the tire will perform as intended by the manufacturer...Which is all you appear to be asking for. Typically, I prefer to keep tire fitments between the "measured" rim width and maximum recommended rim width. Note that as the aspect ratio decreases for a given tire section width on a given model of tire, the recommended rim widths typically increase, resulting in a naturally less 'meaty' sidewall appearance. So with low profile tires, you can compensate by going a little narrower within the recommended range if you want, without degrading functionality for street use.