To stretch or not to stretch

[Laecaon]

I havent actually seen a stretched tire fall off any more than a normally mounted tire.

 

Stretch is fine, but dont do it just to do it.

 

That Z is perfect though. If the tires where wider, you would have to lift the car more. The tire sidewall follows the same angle as the flare.

 

But finally, get proper fitting wheels, that will allow rubber on the ground. I always laugh at my cousin when he tries to put some 8 inch wide low offset rim on his car, and then has to run a 165 tire, when he could run a high offset 7 wide, and run 205s with out rubbing.

[erichwaslike]

Only an idiot would think stretching tires has nothing to do with tire wear.

its not the stretch that wears it.. its the massive 12 degrees of camber.....

[Juan Valdez]

 

Oh, for sure. I'm going to give them a shot though and see how they look, or if I even like them. If not, then I'll probably just unload them.

 

Turns out the offset is fine. There is 20mm spacer in there that I just didn't see. Went to Bears Tires here in SD today and had some 205/60s mounted. The stretch is just enough to clear the fenders. Here's how they look.

 

 

[ggzilla]

looks good

[metalmonkey47]

Very good!

 

I drive on stretched tires, but I gotta say, well fitting tires are pretty sexy on the right rims

[Ranman72]

that seems only slight stretch looks like the baloon on the sidewall of the tire is about flush with rim or even sticking out past the rim

this looks good

a stretch where the rim exceeds the sidewall of the tire I dont think looks good

[Juan Valdez]

^^right. The area bead area of the tire sticks out past the rim lip just slightly.

[Bradinnes]

Back to the original thread....I too like the widened steelie look. I'm going to be taking my stock 510 13" steelies to a place in Michigan that will do widening or narrowing as you desire. I'm going to have the stock 4" wide rims taken to 6.5 inches in the front and 7 inches in the rear. I'm going to stick with my stock 510 strut tubes for now so maybe a +10 offset in the front and +2 in the rear, possibly 0 offset in the rear. I still have to do the measuring and what not. The real issue is tires available in 13" sizes. Apparently Sumitomo may have some but I've had a hard time finding them any where. On the Tire Rack it says they're a closeout sale. So it looks like Sumitomo may be out of the 13" tire business. Which leaves Kuhmo tires. They have a 155/80-13 tire I'm thinking for the front and a 175/70-13 tire that would work for the rear. It's their Solus KR 21 line of tires. There'll be some minor stretch on the rear. should be hardly noticeable, but the front will get a bit more. I'm thinking with the slightly higher side walls it won't be too visible either. I'm still looking into it and need to do the measurements. I'm going to try and run stock hub caps as well. It's a work in progress. The place in Michigan is Weldcraft Wheels.

[ggzilla]

Lets see: 175 tire on 7" wheel.

I have that on my Datsun.

 

 

Not an extreme stretch by any means, but pretty obvious still. A non-stretched tire will balloon out a bit past the rim edges. None of that here, makes hitting the curb and scratching the rim a real possibility. The normal specification is a 4.5" to 6" wheel for 175 tire.

[Bradinnes]

 Thanks Road Warrior. Those are 14" rims? What side wall ratio are they? I don't mind the stretch on that. But my fronts would be too much for me maybe. Fitting 155/80 on a 6.5" rim might be pushing it. Any one have any pictures of something close to that. Looks like if I try this I'll have to watch the curb side a bit more.

[ggzilla]

Those are 14" Advans 175/60R14

[Bradinnes]

 I stumbled  across a great site for stretched tire reference. http://tyrestretch.com/index.php  After consulting that site I'll probably settle on running a Kuhmo Solus KR 21 175/70R13 on the front 6.5 inch rims and a 185/70R13 on the 7 inch rims for the back. I made the wrong assumption about tire sizing. I thought the tire width was the tread size as well when it's actually sidewall to sidewall and the tread is usually quit a bit smaller. So even running a 175 on the front, the tires will still look a tad stretched. Or that's the way it seems from consulting the website.