Not a total newbie but i could not find any information regarding how wide in inches a 205/40/17 tire is. I bought these D+C rims off craigslist which had new lexani/nexen N3000 tires on them(205/40/17) and now one of the rims is cracked another is bent and so on... I assume they are 17x7 but the rim doesnt say. I have looked all over the internet and cant find these rims for life of me, thus not being able to find out the exact size. found another set of rims which i dig but they are 17x7.5 and am trying to find out if the tires i have will fit. Does anyone know what "205" translates into inches? I apologize for my ignorance... hopefully someone can help

thanks.


GREEKROCKSTAR

If you are running these on a Jbody

You should be running tire size 215 45 17 or even better 225 45 17

D-Mac wrote:If you are running these on a Jbody

You should be running tire size 215 45 17 or even better 225 45 17

JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

its an '03 cavi.... what would be the advantage of those sizes?


GREEKROCKSTAR

225/45/17 is the correct size tire for a 17inch wheel on 3rd gen j-bodies






Edited 1 time(s). Last edited Wednesday, June 17, 2009 9:23 AM


JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

so lets say i go with that size tire... how would i go about knowing which ones will fit a 17x7 or a 17.5?


GREEKROCKSTAR

it will fit both without a problem.



JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

i guess that means i got to buy new rims and tires... thanks for the info


GREEKROCKSTAR

no problem any time



JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

im going to get new rims and tires but can anyone tell me why its a bad idea to use 205/40/17 tires? What is the advantage of using 215/45/17 or 225/45/17?


GREEKROCKSTAR

those two tires sizes are the closest to the stock tire size... with a 17" rim. that and you will have a bigger foot print. your size would be way to small for the jbody.

so heres the deal.... i was talking with a guy from victoriatire.com and he was trying to tell me i shouldnt go with the 225/45/17 that i should stick with the 215/45/17. i tried explaining that the 225 should fit then he told me he would put those on but he doesnt think they will fit right.... is he nuts or????


GREEKROCKSTAR

Go some where else.

225's fit without any issue at all. Hell thats whats on my car right now.



JGM T-SHIRTS!!!!

In Loving Memory of Phil Martin December 14 2005
Alexis: Dustin, you're ghey, lol. I am better. I have tits, and tits rule all.

haha people run 225s on jbodies all the time.. crap im running 225 rite now also

well i ended up ordering em with the 225, im not using hub rings with the current setup wondering if i should with the new set. I have heard people say i should and other say they dont so.....? i would like to think that i only need them if im getting vibrations or anything like that, is this true? is there any other reason i should be using them?

thanks.


GREEKROCKSTAR

john karouzos wrote:so lets say i go with that size tire... how would i go about knowing which ones will fit a 17x7 or a 17x7.5?

Just to answer your original question, and so that anyone else not familiar with the p-metric tire system can understand, just divide the 3 digit number by 25.4 to convert to inches. A 205 tire is 8.07 inches wide, sidewall to sidewall (called section width). A 225 tire has a section width of 8.86 inches. Remember that the bead width is lower than the section width on a properly sized tire/rim combo. There is usually a rim width range given by the manufacturer, but as a rule of thumb with low profile tires, you can pretty much use a rim that's an inch narrower than the section width to a half inch wider. As the profile gets taller, the range increases. Although I've got a set of 225/45/17's on a set of 17x6.5 rims right now, and the fitment is fine, anything narrower than that and you run the risk of too much bulge, which ends up making the tread area slightly rounded, so you lose contact area when driving. Anything too wide and you end up stretching the sidewalls, causing bead stress, and a potentially dangerous situation under any agressive driving. If you've ever seen a good action shot of a car being driven hard into a corner, you will see major sidewall deflection, pulling away from the outside rim on the wheels. When the tire is too narrow for the rim, you are already having major sidewall deflection, so in a real hard corner, the outside bead can actually pop off the rim.

john karouzos wrote:well i ended up ordering em with the 225, im not using hub rings with the current setup wondering if i should with the new set. I have heard people say i should and other say they dont so.....? i would like to think that i only need them if im getting vibrations or anything like that, is this true? is there any other reason i should be using them?

thanks.

I would definitwely run centering rings, I didn't on my first set of 17's and I snapped studs rightand left from the wheel not centerin gon the hub correctly. I've got them on now with my new wheels and I haven't had any problems. Better be safe than sorry I think...they aren't expensive at all.

with 205s, your speedo will be out of wack by a lot. But the will fit. But of course it all depends on your stock engine. (z/gt 2.4 or base 2.2)

My speedo is off by 3 mph with 205/40/17

Twisted Cav(sdwndr2) wrote:My speedo is off by 3 mph with 205/40/17

Thats not too horrible... i had 205/40/r16s on my stock 96 gt rims, and the speedo was way off. Speedo would say 75, and i would only be going like 68 or something lawl

I don't even pay attention to the difference anymore, I just drive with the pace of other cars and go by what my speedo says.

Twisted Cav(sdwndr2) wrote:I don't even pay attention to the difference anymore, I just drive with the pace of other cars and go by what my speedo says.

Same....

225/45/17s if you go with a 17x7.5 wheel. 215/45/17 if you go with a 17x7. If I remember right 215/45s are closer to stock size, but 225s will give you more sidewall to protect the rims.

Shadowfire wrote:225/45/17s if you go with a 17x7.5 wheel. 215/45/17 if you go with a 17x7. If I remember right 215/45s are closer to stock size, but 225s will give you more sidewall to protect the rims.

If your going with 17" rims the right tire size for speedo is 225, it gives better traction too because of more tire being on the ground. Check the tire guide at the top of the page. It tells all. =P

Thanks to everyone for your help. The guys at victoriatire sent a set of hub rings and new lugs with the rims/tires even though i didn't order the ring and lug package so i guess i came out on top. I couldn't be happier with the 225's. I live in chicago and the streets here are terrible, in some cases its almost impossible to avoid potholes, bumps etc. The 225 gives a nice ride and can take some hits without concern of bending or cracking the rims. Now time to lower the girl(maybe 1" front / 1.7" rear), pop in a new intake and exhaust. Any suggestions on which to do first seeing as cash is a little tight? As soon as i get off my lazy ass ill post some pics and add one for my sig.


GREEKROCKSTAR