Hi everyone,

My current tyres are 215 45 17's on standard 17" rims on a hawkeye. The fronts are unusual Chinese with almost no grip in the wet and interesting sudden understeer in the dry. The rears are Potenza RE 050's with only 3-4mm left.

My question is can I put 225 tyres onto these rims, or do I need to stick to 215's. I basically I want more grip, but my wife will probably not let me buy new wheels. I know I don't want to go to 18's as more than half my driving is in London and I spend enough with my chiropractor as it is.

In an ideal world I would like some 225 17" STi gold wheels (pre 05 with a PCD of 100), but we live in an imperfect world.

 

An extra 10mm wider tyre won't necessarily give you more grip. Wider tyres don't give you a larger contact patch, only weight on the tyre and pressure in it change the size of the contact patch. Wider/thinner tyres only change the shape of it and how much the sidewall deforms.

Although you can then get RE070s in 225/45/17 which are one of the best tyres I've had on a car.

 

so can this be done then?

 

yes mate
ive got Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta on my wrx with the standard rims and can report no issues at all.
i didnt do it for the extra grip.its just that i couldnt get the Vredestein tyres in the correct size.
i emailed Vredestein uk to check the 225 was ok it fit to the 7j rim and they confirmed it was.
very happy

 

cheers mate

wasnt sure if they would cause more flex in the sidewalls due to wider rubber with less alloy support????

 

cannot say ive noticed any adverse effects.if there is any its very small.
the Vredestein's are ment to be quit stiffed walled anyhow.will probably give you a better answer when the coilovers go on!

 

My pal "KojaK" did this and he reckons he has more wet weather grip....

HTH

dunx

 

anyone else done this? is it common to put 225 tyres on 215 rims??

 

I have done this too. I have the Asymmetrics on mine and have had no issues at all apart from the fitter moaning about getting em on the rims! LOL
Well funny.
Do it!

 

I have 225 eagle f1's on my wrx wheels for the winter but run the wider sti rims with 225 re070's in the summer.

 

Eagle F1's for winter????
Why didn't you buy winter tyres?

 

As they came on a set wrx rims, tyres only done around 1k miles, and only paid £100 for them! Will probably end up getting the tyres swapped onto my 2nd set of STi rims or used on a trackday. Impreza is generally not used much in the winter anyway as use the wifes Forester XT (which has all terrain tyres that have been great in the snow!)