I was looking for some new rims maybe, or a whole new set of rims and tires. anyhow, if i just look at my tire size, can i tell how big the rims are, and do i need a certain width of rim to go in a certain tire. my back tires are 275/60/sr15 and the fronts are 225/??/r15. i can go check it tomorrow when i get my car back. thanks a lot.

 

I think stock 15 inch rims are 7 inches wide. Roughly matching a rim width to a tyre width is a good thing, although a bit of leeway either way is allowable - people run wider tyes than rims without any problems, though 275 (almost 11 inch) on a 7 inch rim would be really pushing it - the sidewalls would be bulging out far to much I suspect.

People have gone the other way and fitted narrower tyres to rims. This is usually the preserve of the hot hatch crowd wanting the "German" look, I believe it's called.

Mark

 

well my wheels aren't stock. thats why i was wondering what size they might be. anyways, i dont have the car right now, but i will have it later today (just a mechanic check up). so i will get maybe pictures or something.

 

Typically, you want the wheel width to be about 75% to 85% of your tire section width. The upper range of that is best, 85%.

So, if you have 245/50R16s,,, take 245mm divide by 25.4 to get inches. 245/25.4 = 9.6" therefore the rim width should be between 7.2" and 8.2".

My IROCZ came with 245/50R16s and 8" wide rims.

 

Tire size won't tell you, and measuring rim width with the tire installed is tricky at best. Remember that rim width is measured across the part of the wheel that you can't see with the tire mounted, from inside one tire bead area to the other.

Tire makers will tell you what width rim their tires are designed to work best on. For best performance (and that's what we're after), always select a tire that is designed to work with your rim width. Big fat gumballs are tempting, but on too narrow a rim will not bite as well as a properly fit tire, and won't last as long either.

You don't want to come off looking like a poser.

 

you could probably make an educated guess if I knew what tire size was on the there and could see them to see how they fit on the wheels... also many wheels only come in 1 or 2 sizes that would fit an 3rd gen correctly...

 

For your rear tire at a section width of 275mm, you will want a 9" or 9.5" wide rim. For your front tire, you should have a 7.0" or 7.5" wide rim.

I have a '99 Camaro SS. The stock rim width is 9.5" with 275/40R17 tires.

I use to have an Eagle Talon AWD, I run 225/50R16 all around and 7" wide rims.

The above combos gave a proper footprint and did not overload the shoulder or the centerline of the tire.