Belmont

If you do it right, they do fit, it's just at the upper echelon of the recommended tire sizes for a specific rim width.

2IS808

As far as stretching goes. The more you stretch the wider the rims u can run and tuck under the fender. However (and thats a HUUUUUGE however) The more you stretch; the less comfort your tires offer you, the less rim guard, pot hole guard, road surface grip they offer you. Plus they are illegal (In hawaii at least) due to the reduction in sidewall support that tires are required to now have. Stretching has been around for quite some time and people like the way it looks. A little stretch is nice IMO but keep in mind if your running stretch usually its for a certain look, and its definately not for performance...because in fact you loose performance.

GB Packfan

VW rims pokin' out....
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=2234638&page=1

Belmont

I agree with 2IS808, but I don't think there's really all that much of a loss in performance when there's mild stretch going on.

And IMO, anyone who is that concerned with performance purchased the wrong car.

VF84

if done properly, say within the recommended rim width, u can reduce sidewall flex. for some at the tracks/autox, this is a big issue. for others, it is for looks.. the front tire on our cars looks a little stretched.. and comparing the old s-03 with re050 tires of the same size, the re050 look like the tread is narrower with a bit of stretch look..

but something like this?


that's just looks .. and legal requirements in europe

ReLexin

i have a slightly stretched tire on my rims in the back im running 20x9.5 rims with a 245/35/20 tire. i like it a lot and they are more noticeable because of the slight measure of the barrel of the rim poking out.

tt061880

off topic: is 235 is 10mm narrower than 245? I'm running 245/30 up front but I want to run 235 to stop the rubbing. HOw much less rim protecion is it?

15951

I like that the OEM Dunlop tires have a "lip" that comes out and protects the rim from curb rash. Stretching tires would seem to give you worse ride quality, stress the tires, expose your rims to greater forces, and make it look like you don't know how to buy tires.

Awesome mod!

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

IMO 10mm is more than enough stretch. But to each its own.

sincityIS

The way the tires sit on a BMW 3 series with sport package is as much stretch as anyone should run. It looks great and isn't to the point to diminish handling, it improves it by reducing sidewall flex. Anything that is extreme, doesn't make much sense to me.
I am running 235/35/19 front on 19x8.5 and I am running 265/35/19 on a 19x9.5 wheel. The front and rear have similar amounts of stretch, but nowhere near enough to adversely affect handling or put my wheel in danger of anything an OEM setup could handle.

Gernby

iTrader: (1)

What's all this about reducing performance by running a wider wheel? That hasn't been my experience at all since wheel width has a direct impact on the width of the contact patch. Steering response is also increased since there is less sidewall flex. The only negitive regarding performance that I can think of is that they will be less forgiving if the driver makes a mistake.

Belmont

You'd be right, except you're wrong on just about everything.

I'll give you curb rash, but really, if you're banging up your wheels on curbs maybe you should be driving a Civic.

15951

The only reason people even started stretching tires was to meet local regs overseas calling for tires to be within fender lines. It became more popular here when people wanted their tires to appear to have less sidewall before low profile tires existed. Guess what - they exist now, and they're already on the car, so this is a useless waste.

The ONLY benefit to this (in my opinion) is that it will allow you to squeeze a larger tire/wheel combination on a car that's slammed. In that case, I'm betting that the Lexus that falls victim to that stupidity rides like complete crap.

Just my opinion - you obviously disagree, so live it up.

Belmont

Well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion. However, your statement above is still inaccurate.



I also agree that excessive stretch has zero benefits, and IMO doesn't look good at all. For a point of reference, I consider that VW above to be way overdone.