Tire size question..?

[Yamajee]

Hey guys,

I'm not sure if this has been asked before but here it goes. I've got OZ Ultraleggera wheels on my car and the specs are:
18x8.5 rears
18x8 fronts

Tires are 225/40/18 michelin pilots in the rear. Looking at pics in here and seeing that some people here running 18x9.5 setups have much wider tires and that gives the car a really nice look when looked at from the rear. Mine has that feeling except it's not wide enough, my question is will bigger tires do the trick for me or do I have to upgrade to 9.5" wide wheels?

Tried to look into other wheels but I'm into the deep-dish look but, the wheels I tried on had too much poke and some required outrageous fender rolling and massive negative camber to make it work which means I'd have to go widebody which I'm planning to do just not now, looking for a temporary fix for this before I go wider.

[Draco-REX]

Your 8.5s can hold a 245 with a pretty square sidewall, and the 8s will hold a big 235 without stretch.

I've been looking into the 9.5s and it looks like getting a set with around a +40mm offset requires coils for inboard clearance up front. Then you get a very slight rubbing at the bumper seams up front and in the rear. Light dremel work clears that up.

[Yamajee]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

Your 8.5s can hold a 245 with a pretty square sidewall, and the 8s will hold a big 235 without stretch.

I've been looking into the 9.5s and it looks like getting a set with around a +40mm offset requires coils for inboard clearance up front. Then you get a very slight rubbing at the bumper seams up front and in the rear. Light dremel work clears that up.

Thank you for the input, so would it make the tires look wider from the back if I go for 245s? even 265s possible?

[Draco-REX]

Originally Posted by Yamajee

Thank you for the input, so would it make the tires look wider from the back if I go for 245s? even 265s possible?

A wider tire will look wider, obviously. But a good offset that pushes the tires out to the fenders will make them look wider also. I have 235s with a +42 offset on my BRZ now and I think they look pretty good under the body.

With your 8.5s a wider 245 will look good and give you some some more meat on the ground. But really, anything will look wider than a 225 stretched on an 8.5. I don't know your offsets, so just make sure you have more than a half inch of clearance both inside and outside the tire if you switch to a 245. Especially if you go to a wider "Extreme Performance" tire (ZII, RS3, AD08, etc).

[Yamajee]

Originally Posted by Draco-REX

A wider tire will look wider, obviously. But a good offset that pushes the tires out to the fenders will make them look wider also. I have 235s with a +42 offset on my BRZ now and I think they look pretty good under the body.

With your 8.5s a wider 245 will look good and give you some some more meat on the ground. But really, anything will look wider than a 225 stretched on an 8.5. I don't know your offsets, so just make sure you have more than a half inch of clearance both inside and outside the tire if you switch to a 245. Especially if you go to a wider "Extreme Performance" tire (ZII, RS3, AD08, etc).

Thank you for helping out!

This is what my current setup is:





I'm running 25mm H&R wheel spacers on the rears.

[bkblitzed]

your 8.5 will fit 255's to 265's.

[Yamajee]

Originally Posted by bkblitzed

your 8.5 will fit 255's to 265's.

Alright thank you! can't wait to go wider

[bkblitzed]

Originally Posted by Yamajee

Alright thank you! can't wait to go wider

just think before you purchase such a wide tire though. Too much tire for an under powered car will make handling worse and slow, unless you're FI. But if that's not your goal, it'll look fucking sick lol.

[Yamajee]

Originally Posted by bkblitzed

just think before you purchase such a wide tire though. Too much tire for an under powered car will make handling worse and slow, unless you're FI. But if that's not your goal, it'll look fucking sick lol.

The car is a week-ender for me so it's barely driven plus it's for show purposes for now, until I hit some really high mile-age then of course, a greddy turbo will be spooling under the hood

[DarrenDriven]

@Yamajee, can you post some better photos of your car so I can add this setup to the Wheel Directory?