What's the widest you can put on 17" 9" wide wheel?

[Fatandre]

What's the widest you can put on 17" 9" wide wheel?

Pics also well seen

[911SauCy]

You'll reach the limit of the fender well before the wheel.

What car/fenders in question?

[eimkeith]

tread width wider than rim width isn't positive for handling, for what it's worth.

[Driven97]

Depends on the tire. Some can handle a pinch better than others, due to differences in sidewall construction.

For example, the BFGoodrich Rival & Rival-S have a stiff sidewall profiled to handle working on a narrower rim, and they seem to handle it well. A 275 on a 9" is within their recommended range, I've seen as wild as a 255 on a 7" (huge pinch) actually work surprisingly well. Not ideal, but it works.

I wouldn't recommend it at all on tires with softer sidewalls. A pinched tire sets the sidewalls like this:

/____\

Which doesn't support the tread optimally when cornering. Best practice if possible is to match tread width to wheel with. Or better yet, match wheel width to your desired tire width.

Remember, it doesn't put more rubber on the road to have a wider tire. It's not perfectly linear, but how much rubber touches the road is limited by pounds per square inch, which you are likely not changing. A wider tire only changes the shape of that patch.

If you're just doing it for fashion purposes and don't care about performance at all, go nuts.

[Jesse16]

On my 87, 255/40 Falkens have a nice straight sidewall on my 9x17" Fikse's. They just fit and don't hit in my experience. Are very close inside and out.

[msterling]

I have 255/40-17 Hankook RS-3 tires on my 17x9 Euromeister wheels on the rear. 1988 Carrera. No rubbing. Tread width is 9.6". I have room to use 14mm spacers without a problem.

[Fatandre]

I was thinking about going 275 on the rear

[Les Paul]

Here are some 275's

[Fatandre]

And how does it ride?
I want to go with some wide slicks on the back

[Les Paul]

What size torsion bars? Sway bars, struts etc.

[msterling]

275/40-17 would be a pretty tall tire. 25.7" or so. It would change gearing to taller. SC/Carrera rear fenders allow pretty fat tires. I only see a few choices for that size. Bridgestone RE760 is a pretty good tire and they have the sizes to fit the front. 215/45-17 or 225/45-17.

[911SauCy]

FWIW, I have Nitto 255 Rears under the rear of my SC and they fit without issue. I was actually considering a 5mm spacer but don't want to change the studs

[IROC]

Originally Posted by Fatandre

I was thinking about going 275 on the rear

Pretty common. I started running those back in 1997.

[Fatandre]

Originally Posted by IROC

Pretty common. I started running those back in 1997.

You have any pics?

[vansicklenmi]

Almost all tire retailers will list "specs" for tires. Tire have ab acceptable run range as well as a "measuring" rim which is used to determine all the other numbers like section width, sidewall height etc. So how wide a tire??? Depends on the brand but normally around 255-265 section width.

Hope this helps.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by Fatandre

You have any pics?

Not a great pic, but you can get the idea...