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Wheels and TiresNeed help with wheels or tires? Got fitment issues? Have questions about tire performance and handling? Ask all of those questions here!
Ive read 225-55-16 tires are the same height as our stock 245-50-16s just an inch or so narrower. Have any of you guys ran them and do they look bad? Is it even noticeable? Would love to see some pics of em on Third Gens if anybody is running this size.
Yes, you can use the 225-55-16 in place of the stock 245-50-16.
But your mindset of "cheaper tires" is not one to use here, you should be pondering the dozens of choices in that size, not picking it only due to tire cost.
First of all if your car is the Trans am WS6 or GTA, you should stick with the factory tire size option or you can and will get problems.
Also if you want to go for a smaller tire just because a better tire is $30 more expensive 'which is chump change' on a nice car like this which drinks more then $30 on gas everytime you take it for a spin, then you are simply only going for as cheap as possible.
Here is my 1986 WS6 running 245-50-16
And here is back when i bought it running 225-55-16's which were to thin, to high and looked pretty silly.
Long story short, going for 55 high tires will make your car higher, your speedometer will read lower speeds then you will actually drive. So drive under speed limits or the tickets will pile up fast. And will have less grip
NOTE: these are pictures before the full rebuilt. This isn't how my Trans Am looks right now or when its done. Its going to be better then new.
Also here shots of the wheels themselfs before and after. These are late 1986 WS6 rims, not the GTA rims. They are not the same as you can see on the lace patern. These are two piece welded alloy rims.
Long story short, i would never ever put on 225's on it ever again.
I've run 4 different tires on the car over the years.
245/50/16
Goodyear Gatorbacks
Goodyear GS-D3
Michelin Pilot Sport (all season)
255/50/16
BFG Sport Comp2 (summer)
The width of the tires all vary. Each brand and even style of brand will have a different width look. This is all with the same size.
Gatorbacks
GS-D3
GS-D3 (245 next to a Firestone Wide Oval 295)
Continental DW vs BFG SportComp 2 (same size, but the BFG is definitely wider looking)
Michelin Pilot Sport (all season).....these sure looked narrow on my car.
Michelin Pilot SuperSport (same 245 as the all season above, but look way wider)
BFG Sport Comp2 (summer tire, 255 width)
Save
My current BFG 255 are probably the same width as a 275 "any other tire brand." My old GS-D3 were similarly wider looking than other brands.
Of course all this is moot, since everything except the BFG has been discontinued in 245 sizes. When I bought the BFG in 2016, I had 4 choices:
245
Hankook Ventus all season
BFG all season
BFG summer
255
BFG summer......These are a tad taller than the stock size. Something like 0.4 inches. It's noticeable for a week or two. After that, I don't notice the difference. I went for this because a) the car scrapes even at stock height on the steep local roads. b) the taller higher profile is "slightly" softer. But not really. c) It's 10 mm wider.
Did I consider the 225/55/16? Absolutely. And for one reason. You can get the Continental DW tires in that size. There is no option for 245 or 255 (in 16" wheels) with the DW. And those DW tires are well regarded for being smoother over the bumps while maintaining good performance and wet handling. There is a constant debate in the BMW world about Michelin Pilot SuperSport vs Continental DW. Both sides swear their tires are the best tires ever. Many of these people have had 4-5 different tires on the car and say the search is over (DW or SuperSport)
Will 225/55/16 look too small? Maybe. Maybe not. They probably will for a week or two. But you've typically got a month to return tires if you don't like them and get something else. My BFG are very good in terms of performance and surprisingly good in the rain. But they are loud tires. My concrete highway commute is about 50/50 in terms of exhaust noise (GMMG catback) vs tire whirring sound. If you have blacktop highways, the noise shouldn't be an issue.
There is so little difference between a 245-50-16 sidewall and a 225-55-16 one that your eye should not be able to pick it up.
Now not all tires are created equal - BFG is known to be larger than the width spec, Michelin is right on spec. Tread width oat a certain size varies by tire selection.
The issue is that 245-50-16 tires are on the extinction path right now, but a 225-55-16 IS a replacement and there are more options than any other size you can fit.
While it would be nice to have a 245-50-16 on a 3rd gen, those days are coming to an end. If you think that manufacturers won't discontinue the size, ask the early Viper owners that had 335-35-17 tires and how all of them had to move up to 18" wheels due to no tires in the OEM rear size.
Originally Posted by Danny_VXH
First of all if your car is the Trans am WS6 or GTA, you should stick with the factory tire size option or you can and will get problems.
Also if you want to go for a smaller tire just because a better tire is $30 more expensive 'which is chump change' on a nice car like this which drinks more then $30 on gas everytime you take it for a spin, then you are simply only going for as cheap as possible.
Here is my 1986 WS6 running 245-50-16
And here is back when i bought it running 225-55-16's which were to thin, to high and looked pretty silly.
Long story short, going for 55 high tires will make your car higher, your speedometer will read lower speeds then you will actually drive. So drive under speed limits or the tickets will pile up fast. And will have less grip
NOTE: these are pictures before the full rebuilt. This isn't how my Trans Am looks right now or when its done. Its going to be better then new.
Also here shots of the wheels themselfs before and after. These are late 1986 WS6 rims, not the GTA rims. They are not the same as you can see on the lace patern. These are two piece welded alloy rims.
Long story short, i would never ever put on 225's on it ever again.
There is so little difference between a 245-50-16 sidewall and a 225-55-16 one that your eye should not be able to pick it up.
The issue is that 245-50-16 tires are on the extinction path right now, but a 225-55-16 IS a replacement and there are more options than any other size you can fit.
I agree on the 245/50 tires disappearing. When I bought mine last year, I didn't even bother signing up for the Discount Tire warranty. Because I figured if I needed to use it in the next year or two, there probably wouldn't be any tires available. Either that or I'd have to get a Hankook all season as my replacement for my BFG summer (which didn't sound too appealing, assuming that the BFG was discontinued.)
https://tiresize.com/comparison/ This is a handy little percentage, sizing, graphic tool for comparing tire sizes. The 225/55 when viewed from the side should be identical to a 245/50. A tiny bit narrower when viewed from the back (7%). I suspect that difference would be negligible to the human eye.
I went with 255 all the way around. Figured it would make rotating them easier if I choose to. No problem with the 255 up front. No rubbing.
Raising the front end up that teeny tiny bit was what I was after. Houston is a flooding city, so every driveway and parking lot is up from the street. I still scrape a couple times a month. But I figured it couldn't hurt.
I have no idea how new Corvettes manage to survive around here without scraping their ultra low front ends.
Yeah same heighth just .7 inches inches narrower I don't think its going to be a problem at all.
As stated before. Less grip, and no longer an accurate speedometer. And you will see the difference first hand when mounted. Saying it isn't so simply isn't the truth.
Less grip because they are less wide
Less wide look because/obious. So it will look less good IMO.
Speedometer won't be accurate because the entire wheel is about 8 to 10% taller in size. So you will have to ride quite a bit underneath the speed limits to avoid tickets.
Keep in mind the wall of the tire is bigger all around. Giving it a more balloon like look. Just look at the pictures i posted.
Width doesn't give problems that much and can differ when it comes to brands. For example the width of my current new 245 tires is 260 when measuring it. However the tire wall height is always what it reads on the tire. Hight will give problems as i mentioned.
Overall 25.74 in vs 24.65 in. so 4% difference not a big deal. At 60 mph a speedometer would read 59.77mph. And a .7 in width difference isn't going to be a game changer either. So no Danny_ VXH not a big deal. But thanks for the pics anyways. Nice car you have there.
It's actually 4.5% based on the circumference.
That'll be less than 4 mph at 75 mph though. Around here, you're not likely to get pulled over although with the photo radar we have, I have a ticket for 110 kph in a posted 100 kph zone. That amounts to 6 mph over and it cost me 160 bucks.
My speedo is way off due from going from a 2.73 rear to 3.73s. Havent got around to fixing it but my GPS shows me running 60mph when my car reads 80mph so I go by that on the hwy.
I drive via GPS too although I have to say I find it difficult to maintain a steady speed. The lag between adjusting the gas pedal and the GPS reacting has me constantly modulating the throttle.
Thanks man. Currently fully rebuilding it and started paint prepping a few days ago. Also found the built sheet underneath the rear seats lol.
I'm just saying it because it got me quite some fines when i first drove it with 55 high tires for just a couple of mph above speed limits while driving just exactly at the correct speed according to the speedometer. Didn't know about the correct size tires of this car back then. Read it later on an old label i found in the car. Then again they are quite strict where i live. And it bugged the crap out of me.
And one last thing i forgot to mention, is that because these rims were designed for 245 tires from factory. 225 tires will round up a little bit because the rim simply is wider then the inside of the 225 tires. Here on this picture you can see that the 245 tire and up will have a nice flat surface. Where as the 225 has a rounded profile.
These 225's where really 225 wide. They weren't wider as most 245's and over are.
And these are 245's which clearly are tiny bit wider then that.
After painting, i'll get these tires off as well. These only have an R speed rating, the new ones i've laying here have a high speed ZR rated. And even though they are rated as 245's, they are 260 wide. And will have raised white letters from Tred Wear.
Thats mostly because i like speed. And thankfully my 1986 WS6 has the 9 bolt borg warner posi rear end with the 2.77 gears.
GM placed the 245-50-16 tires on those wheels, they were not designed to fit a 245 - in fact they are a bit narrow for them. BMW puts 225 width tires on 8" wheels - has been for a long time. Now GM should have used a8.5" wheel for the 245 they used, but being GM, they went the narrow wheel route.
Tire "roundness" is due to tire design, not the function of putting a 225 width tire on an 8" wheel.
Most tires exceed their rated width (as marked on the sidewall) when you measure them...
Originally Posted by Danny_VXH
Thanks man. Currently fully rebuilding it and started paint prepping a few days ago. Also found the built sheet underneath the rear seats lol.
I'm just saying it because it got me quite some fines when i first drove it with 55 high tires for just a couple of mph above speed limits while driving just exactly at the correct speed according to the speedometer. Didn't know about the correct size tires of this car back then. Read it later on an old label i found in the car. Then again they are quite strict where i live. And it bugged the crap out of me.
And one last thing i forgot to mention, is that because these rims were designed for 245 tires from factory. 225 tires will round up a little bit because the rim simply is wider then the inside of the 225 tires. Here on this picture you can see that the 245 tire and up will have a nice flat surface. Where as the 225 has a rounded profile.
These 225's where really 225 wide. They weren't wider as most 245's and over are.
And these are 245's which clearly are tiny bit wider then that.
After painting, i'll get these tires off as well. These only have an R speed rating, the new ones i've laying here have a high speed ZR rated. And even though they are rated as 245's, they are 260 wide. And will have raised white letters from Tred Wear.
Thats mostly because i like speed. And thankfully my 1986 WS6 has the 9 bolt borg warner posi rear end with the 2.77 gears.
Has anybody put 225-55-16 tires on 9 inch rim?
Currently I have 225-55-16 on 8 inch rim at front and 245-50-16 on 9 inch rim at rear, but here in Japan it's impossible to find 245-50-16 any more.
So I'm thinking about putting 225-55-16 at rear too.
I haven't took any of em yet I will though. Really no noticeable difference from the side just maybe a lil from the back of the car if you were really staring. For the availability and price I'm happy with moving to that size tire "0" issues here.
I haven't took any of em yet I will though. Really no noticeable difference from the side just maybe a lil from the back of the car if you were really staring. For the availability and price I'm happy with moving to that size tire "0" issues here.
Could you take some pics and post them? Especially from the front or rear to show how they fit on the rim. I know they're not "stretched", just curious how they look.
A couple of years ago I priced a set of new 245/50-16 tires because mine were approaching baldness, but I never did buy any since these days I only occasionally drive the IROC to car shows and such. When the day comes I really do need new tires, I wouldn't hesitate putting on 225/55's if that's all that was economically available. The difference in height is negligible as far as speedo error is concerned. And being a bit narrower, they probably would look great on the 8" rims. I don't care for the bulgy NASCAR look.
Tire "roundness" is due to tire design, not the function of putting a 225 width tire on an 8" wheel.
Putting a less wide tire on a wider rim does effect the roundness of a tire, especially the edge where the profile nearly ends. Thats why a stretched tire looks stretched and a to wide tire looks overly bulgy.
OP asked and i delivered him what he asked for. Higher tires do give minor speedometer problems as well, however OP's speedometer wasn't accurate to begin with he later replied. On my pictures you can clearly see the 225 looks narrower compared to the 245s as obvious, fill up the width of the fenders with groundeffects just a bit less smooth and aren't the best choice for these rims/car combination. Doesn't mean you can't drive with them though if you really want to go cheap and spare a couple of bucks. And it doesn't look bad or anything, Its just that it should be obvious there are some downsides. Saying there isn't, would be ignorant. Its something you have to accept when you want to save a little cash on rubber.
If you are really into making it look as authentic as possible IMO the 245-50 tires are the way to go. I for example want my car to look at least as good as when it came from the dealer in 1986. And would get annoyed at seeing 225's on my car when it was supposed to have 245's. Then again i'm always quickly thrown off when something's bothering me and always feel the need to get it perfect according to what i want it to be.
If you don't care much about very small details and little things then 225's can be used for sure. Like OP says now that he has those 225/55's. It looks good however they are a bit less wide which was obviously they would be.
Nobody but very picky people would notice the difference. Then again, i am very picky when it comes to my own Trans Am. Maybe a bit to picky, but thats just me.
At this point in time, it has more to do with availability of tires to fit - there are 7 to 9 245-50-16 tires out there (almost all are all seasons) and probably 45 to 50 tires in 225-55-16. While we would all love the manufacturers to have more choices in the OEM size, time has shown that they are willing to let the size move toward extinction. This is fact.
Keep in mind also that a 225 tire on a 8" wheel is by no means stretched - the tire is over 8" wide (close to 9"). Many tires have a bulby (or bulging) profile - part of their design; others are perfectly flat (many michelins for example).
Originally Posted by Danny_VXH
Putting a less wide tire on a wider rim does effect the roundness of a tire, especially the edge where the profile nearly ends. Thats why a stretched tire looks stretched and a to wide tire looks overly bulgy.
OP asked and i delivered him what he asked for. Higher tires do give minor speedometer problems as well, however OP's speedometer wasn't accurate to begin with he later replied. On my pictures you can clearly see the 225 looks narrower compared to the 245s as obvious, fill up the width of the fenders with groundeffects just a bit less smooth and aren't the best choice for these rims/car combination. Doesn't mean you can't drive with them though if you really want to go cheap and spare a couple of bucks. And it doesn't look bad or anything, Its just that it should be obvious there are some downsides. Saying there isn't, would be ignorant. Its something you have to accept when you want to save a little cash on rubber.
If you are really into making it look as authentic as possible IMO the 245-50 tires are the way to go. I for example want my car to look at least as good as when it came from the dealer in 1986. And would get annoyed at seeing 225's on my car when it was supposed to have 245's. Then again i'm always quickly thrown off when something's bothering me and always feel the need to get it perfect according to what i want it to be.
If you don't care much about very small details and little things then 225's can be used for sure. Like OP says now that he has those 225/55's. It looks good however they are a bit less wide which was obviously they would be.
Nobody but very picky people would notice the difference. Then again, i am very picky when it comes to my own Trans Am. Maybe a bit to picky, but thats just me.
I'm widening some rear GTA wheels right now to run a big drag radial on and might consider these 225's for my front wheels. No front sway bar, big drag bar on the rear, and a spool... it might drive nicer with the smaller 225's up front on my car.
Yes 225 55 16 all way around. May go with 245 50 16 on the rear next time but not if I still get these at half the price and such a tiny difference in width you don't even notice it really. Wider tire on rear and the 225s up front would look good I'm sure on your car.
02-07-2017, 10:48 AM
