My gf has a 1990 Z24 with the newer Z24 wheels on it the 15" ones. Anyways I put some sprint springs on it and the car is literally on the ground the tires are barely clearing the finder wells. I was thinking about putting some 205/50ZR15's on it. what is the widest tire size I can go on these 15's with a 50 sidewall. I have a feeling that I am going to have to go to a tire shop to get an answer to this one. Cause I think that the width changes in relation to the height of the sidewall. So I guess a 205/50 is going to be wider then a 205/60...? I don't even know if I am going in the right direction could someone help me out here.
Thanks
Tee
from what i think, a 205 is a 205 no matter what the side wall size. and im not sure if you can add a wider tire to a stock rim....that you'd have to ask about, but i'm sure 205 stays the same no matter what
i had 215/60/14 on mine... no problems what so ever.
but it was not lowered.
you can roll the handle of a base ball bat on your tire and inner fender well to roll the fender up to pervent rubbing... no creases and a real clean tuck
...
205 is the width (in mm or something) and 50 or 60, whatever the second number is, is the side wall, they side wall is 60% of 205 or 50% or it. Basically the second number is the sidewall by percentage of teh width. so a 215/60/14 is taller than a 205/60/14 by a little bit. These cars come factory with 215/60/14 on the Z24 and GT cars. but if you get into a taller tire it may not fit.
Um.....Don't hate me if I'm worong but...I used to work in a tire shop and I'm almost possitive.
205/60R15 means...
Tire is 205mm tall, (sidewall determined by wheel size)
60 means that the sidewall is 60% of the width of the tire
R stands for radial
15 means 15" rim.
You can usually go 2 sizes over from stock and be safe....and almost always one size over. 60 to 65 would be one size.
Your best bet would be to ask a "real" tire shop what will fit on your car, just stay away from wal-mart and fleet-farm...places like that will ususally only install stock sized tires for leagal reason's, plus there morons, and will tell you you can't run a wider tire. (at least from my experience).
Quote:
Tire is 205mm tall, (sidewall determined by wheel size)
60 means that the sidewall is 60% of the width of the tire
R stands for radial
15 means 15" rim.
Thats what I was trying to say about what the 60 was for, I only disagree with the 205 part, I still say its the width. Thats why when the width is bigger the tire gets taller cause 60%of 205 is less than 60%of 215, so in a way the 205 does determine teh height and I can see were your comming from.
also check out this site
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Ya, the only problem is when the tire height changes, it also changes everything else, exept for the wheel size. Your right. If you drop 205 down to like 200 on the same size rim, sunddenly the sidewall is smaller and if it's still 60% of the tread width that means the tire will be narrower too. So if you go to a lower sidewall, you need to go with a wider tire such as 200/70R15 for example (if thats even a real tire size). Your basically looking at a dang algebra equation on your tires, thats why your better off just going to a tire shop....unless you know from past experience what fits. There's also another methode used mainly on trucks that measures the tires on there actual dimensions. It's something like tire height X tread width or somthing like that. It's been awhile and I don't own anything with tires measured that way.
I've seen trailer tires and sutch marked like that, were they give actual measurements, either wy that site I gave you should help out with your spedo anyway, if your worried about it being off
ill explain it all for you using my tires, p205/40/zr17
p- means passenger vehicle tire. a pickup may have a p or LT (light truck)
205- the sectional width- the distance between the sidewalls at their widest point of an inflated tire not under load.
40-aspect ratio- the relationship between a tire's section height and its section width. it is a percetage of your sectional width (in this case, 40
z- the speed rating of the tire. not all tires have speed ratings on them, mostly just performance tires
r- radial tire
17- the wheel size
so a p205/40/zr17 tire would be 205mm wide, have a 41mm tall sidewall and ruse 17" wheels
check out this link for lots of info and a tire calculator
http://www.1010tires.com/tech.asp
I have an 88z24 and I asked a similar question to a local tire shop. I think we have beat to death that its width x height x rim so I will press on to how big you can go. I know that you can get an 18" rim in those wheel wells without any problem, with that being said I also know that the widest you can go is about 225. So on a 15" rim you can probably go up to a 225/60R15. I hope this helps!!
<a href="www.russelspc.com">
<img border="0" src="http://russelspc.com/jbody2.jpg">
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Sharkey, do you know how the speed rating thing works? I know very little about it and they changed the rules in the class I race in that were not allowed anything higher than an H rated tire, just curious how the speed rating thing works now, like alot of tires I have say things like "86T" or something.
I've got H-rated tires.....how fast is that?
I know that load rang H would be 16 ply but thats something different.
I'm getting out my tape messure and scientific calculator, and going to messure my tires.
H rated is like the 100 zone... passenger tires are normally only rated at like 80, and Z is anything over 120.
the first digit is the Tire Width from Bead to Bead.
...
Q = 99 MPH, 160km/h
S = 112 MPH, 180km/h
T = 118 MPH, 190km/h
U = 124 MPH, 200km/h
H = 130 MPH, 210km/h
V = 149 MPH, 240km/h
Z = 149 MPH, 240km/h and over
W = 168 MPH, 270km/h
Y = 186 MPH, 300km/h
h is usualy the lowest rating they mark on tires, anything below that is rarly on the tire. i know stock, j bodies have S rated tires, hence the 108mph speed limit (lets not get into an argument were it is on "X" car). here is a load index chart aswell
Load Index Pounds (lbs) Kilograms (kgs)
60 551 250
61 567 257
62 584 265
63 600 272
64 617 280
65 639 290
66 662 300
67 677 307
68 695 315
69 717 325
70 739 335
71 761 345
72 783 355
73 805 365
74 827 375
75 853 387
76 882 400
77 908 412
78 937 425
79 964 437
80 990 450
81 1018 462
82 1047 475
83 1074 487
84 1102 500
85 1135 515
86 1168 530
87 1201 545
88 1234 560
89 1278 580
90 1323 600
91 1356 615
92 1389 630
93 1433 650
94 1477 670
95 1521 690
96 1565 710
97 1609 730
98 1653 750
99 1708 775
100 1764 800
101 1819 825
102 1874 850
103 1929 875
104 1984 900
105 2039 925
106 2095 950
107 2149 975
108 2205 1000
109 2271 1030
110 2337 1060
111 2403 1090
112 2469 1120
113 2535 1150
114 2601 1180
115 2679 1215
116 2750 1250
117 2833 1285
118 2911 1320
119 2999 1360
120 3080 1400
121 3197 1450
122 3308 1500
123 3410 1550
124 3528 1600
125 3638 1650
