lil chris....tire question

[camaro1991]

well i have a question on tires...i have p245/50/r16 on it now..
i want wider tires....can i put 45 40 series on it..i have a 1991 camaro with iroc z rim on it

[camaro1991]

it's 16 * 8 rims...
i want somethin wider.....a lot wider to be honest

[Juglenaut]

265/45 will get you close to the the exsisting tire roll out so the speed should be almost the same, Unless you are using tires other than stock size, and this may not fit in the wheel well and may hit the front valance.

According the a few searches looks like 245 is the widest tire you can use but not sure.

[camaro1991]

i have 255/50/r16 on front
i want bigger than a 245/50/r16 on the back

[pwmin]

you have taller tires on the front than the rear? i have 255's on my 8's, and they fit fine, but i'm not sure what the offset of my wheels are (on my 3rd gen)

[3100 MPFI]

the 255 is the WIDTH, not the HEIGHT.

255/45R16 = WIDTH/ASPECT RATIO (which is the % of width, not height) R rimsize.

a taller tire is effected by the 45. Meaning the height is 45% of 255. A 245/45R16 would be a width of 245 with a height of 45% of 245.

If you increase the first number, the tires get WIDER. If you increase the second number, they get taller and vice versa.

If you want a wider tire and your stock size is 245/50R16, then you need to go to a 255/45R16. That is a PLUS SIZE in WIDTH, but a decrease in ASPECT RATIO so that it does not get TALLER at the same time. A 255/50 would not only be wider, but also TALLER than the stock 245/50 (since the second number is a PERCENTAGE and not height).

Sorry for the lesson, but it is a kinda NEED TO KNOW in order to do it right.

General rule of thumb when plus sizing the width is for every size wider you go, the aspect ratio goes down by one (width is done in multiples of 10, and aspect ratio is done in multiples of 5). For every 2 sizes wider you go, you will need to skip one aspect ratio.

STOCK 245/50R16

wider
255/45R16
265/40R16
275/40R16
285/35R16
295/30R16
305/30R16
315/25R16

That is the general pattern. That is the rule we used when I worked for pepboys (that job sucked the life out of me, but at least I learned 1 decent thing about it).