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215/50/17 vs. 225/45/17 on OEM GSX wheels

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PieEyedPiper

DSM Wiseman
5,580
65
Nov 13, 2004
North Bay Area, California
I'm going to be buying new tires very soon and I need to decide what size to get.

Currently, I'm running 205/50/17 Bfg g-force tires. They may be me narrower than stock (they don't make them in stock size) but they served me very well.

This time around I'd like to get a wider tire, at least the stock 215/45 or 50/17 or hopefully 225/45/17.
The aspect ratio is perfect for my needs I'm just worried about the extra width being a detriment rather than a benefit.

I know that 225's will fit on the wheels, but would I want to make that purchase? Will I be loosing significant sidewall rigidity by using an over sized tire?
Does anyone have pictures of a 225 on an OEM GSX wheel?

I'm weary to just buy the stock size and not maximize my capabilities. Besides the 225/45/17's are cheaper :shhh:

Thanks in advance.
 
I don't have any pictures but as long as the sidewall is somewhat stiff you will be fine. You will notice a night and day difference going from the 205 to the 225. I noticed the drastic change when I had my GS-T Spyder. Just go to the 225 and don't look back. I am running 255/40/17's on my stock BBS wheels on my STI with no ill effects, The sidewall of the RT-615 is just so stiff that is does no harm having over sized tires.
 
Thanks! I'm going for it!

Continental ExtremeContact DW

I'm going through Discount Tire/America's Tire or whatever they call themselves. They said no problem fitting the 225 on the 6.5" wheel. The guy I spoke with refrained from saying it'd work out "great", since these are really new tires and there isn't much feedback out there yet. He's only sold one set and mine have to be specially ordered. But he had no issue with mounting the tires and he gave me a great deal too!

And the best part..if I think the ride is lame and mushy because I picked the wrong size, they'll happily swap them out within 30 days to whatever tire I want so long as I pay the labor for the replacements.

I love winning.
 
Awesome :thumb: You'll be happy with the 225's over the 215's
I'm also a fan of America's Tire. Great customer service.
 
Well I hope that's not the case, as I'm not thrilled to go 215/50/17 after being used to less sidewall. Time will tell.

I saw a 245 on a 7" wide rim at the shop, looked absurd, but mine shouldn't be as bad.
 
He'll be fine. Only issue would be if he were to use tires with too soft of a sidewall. I also have a set of Kumho 255/40/17's mounted on my wife's 98 Lexus GS400 on the stock 17x8 rims. All positive reactions!
 
almost no tire you buy in a 225 45 17 is going to have a soft sidewall, its a "performance" vehicle size

It will be a little over a .5 inch shorter than what you have now. it comes in at 24.97 overall diameter the stock size is 215/50R17 its OD is 25.46 the 205/50R17 you were running is a 25.07 OD

If it was my car i would go with 225/50R17 on the stock wheel your right at the edge of it working with our wheel widths. If you went to an after market wheel I would go 235's i hate going down in OD size because I would rather have the the taller tire to fill the wheel well and for gearing reasons.

you can get a few different conti tires in that size like the DW, the DWS, the BFG sport Zgforce also. that was taking a quick look through the warehouse.

so here is an overview on tire diameter for the 17 inch wheels

Stock
215/50R17 25.46 inches
aftermarket
205/50R17 25.07 inches
225/45R17 24.97 inches
235/45R17 25.32 inches
225/50R17 25.85 inches
 
almost no tire you buy in a 225 45 17 is going to have a soft sidewall, its a "performance" vehicle size

It will be a little over a .5 inch shorter than what you have now. it comes in at 24.97 overall diameter the stock size is 215/50R17 its OD is 25.46 the 205/50R17 you were running is a 25.07 OD

If it was my car i would go with 225/50R17 on the stock wheel your right at the edge of it working with our wheel widths. If you went to an after market wheel I would go 235's i hate going down in OD size because I would rather have the the taller tire to fill the wheel well and for gearing reasons.

you can get a few different conti tires in that size like the DW, the DWS, the BFG sport Zgforce also. that was taking a quick look through the warehouse.

so here is an overview on tire diameter for the 17 inch wheels

Stock
215/50R17 25.46 inches
aftermarket
205/50R17 25.07 inches
225/45R17 24.97 inches
235/45R17 25.32 inches
225/50R17 25.85 inches

I've used a few calculators and I arrive at similar numbers. I found the Miata calc isn't actually very accurate for things like sidewall height.

I'll take pictures so everyone can see the final product. Don't get me wrong, I went with a 45 series because I knew I was pushing it with the width and I'm crossing my fingers that the shorter sidewall will help keep the tire from floating all over the rim, I'm no low-pro whore.

Another thing is that I hope to upgrade to evo8 enkei's or similar in the future, so if I find a good deal, I can swap the tires over to a more matched wheel width.
 
Isnt the stock tire size 215/45/17, where are you finding the 50 from?

Original Equipment Sizes for 1997 Eagle Talon Tsi AWD
Description Size
Original Equipment Size: 215/50-17

Our POS, fitment book and tire rack
 
Here is a pic of a 225/45/17 on a facotry gsx wheel on a 1st gen. Sorry i dont have any better pics,i just brought this gsx but haven't picked it up yet

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I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. After reading this thread I went to discount tire to order 2 BFGoodrich KDW's in 225/45/17. They will be mounted on the factory wheels from a Dodge Avenger, 17" x 6.5" that came with 215/50/17's. Anyways discount tire said the wouldn't work. They said that the tire would be to wide and would wear down faster in the center and also wouldn't help out with traction.

Has anyone else used 225/45/17's on 17x6.5 rims? Did you experience uneven wear? Did you gain/lose traction? Thanks in advance.

On a side note do the discount tires you shop at match online prices? When I bought tires for my truck in Arizona the one there matched an online price and saved me like $60 per tire. The one I went to here said the wouldn't match online prices and again the tires are like $50 bucks cheaper online.
 
America's Tire price matched everything for me. Paid less than I would have with tirerack pricing and a reasonable installation fee. I'm sorry I never got back with the pictures. I'll do it, I swear! The lady friend happened to smash the lens in on the digi so it's a work in progress.
But here are my experiences:
Awesome. Simply Awesome. There is a noticeable improvement in grip. I can tell that the car used to be more nimble before but I was also running undersized tires, 205's. Not only that, but I switched tire manufactures too so really it's not admissible to the argument. Nonetheless, I've experienced no excessive tire wear, nor a lack of improvement in grip. I went from spinning all 4 to not. - and back to the tire swap thing, I've purchased a very comparable tire to the tire I was running, just saying. Did I mention there is no bulge and that the sidewalls are perfectly flush and flat?
Once I clean up the paint jobs from hell on my set of evo8's I'll regain my agility lost from the old tire setup by stretching the 225's onto that 8 inch rim and then I'll feel really good about myself.
 
Just an update, I finally got some 225/45ZR17 BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDW's for the front of my 1g (mounted on 17x6.5 rims). Haven't had a change to test them out yet due to winter weather but I will in the next couple of days. I'll also be posting some pictures, the tread on these tires looks sick!
 
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Interested in pictures, I have 225s on 7" wide wheels and the sidewall bulges out a little.
 
ive got 225/45/17's on my stock gsx wheels and theres really no bulging. I can get some better pics if anyone wants them.

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I run 225/45-17 Sumitomo htrz 2's on the gsx wheels. There is very minimal sidewall bulge, and will def be a handling improvment from 205 or 215's. I wouldn't try to put anything wider on these wheels, but the 225's seem like a perfect fit imo.
 
Interested in pictures, I have 225s on 7" wide wheels and the sidewall bulges out a little.

Here are my pics: 225/45ZR17 BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDW 2's on 17" x 6.5" Dodge Avenger rims. I love the way the tread looks! I haven't been able to test the performance yet but I'll update this when I do. Enjoy:

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