I've been perusing Tirerack for a while now, trying to find a good tire to use on 5" wide rim for autocross purposes. Now, a 205/50 R15 is rated for use on a 5.5" rim. Would there be any real reason not to use that tire? Can 1/2 an inch make that much of a difference? A 205/50 would work so much better, is much more available, and in tons more types an style, and cheaper than the 185/60 that was on it. Like I said for autocross purposes So I don't care much about speedo being off or anything like that. Thanks!


1990 Pontiac Sunbird GT turbo
-TGP turbo
-DSM SMIC turned TMIC
-Injectors

there will be two different types of rim measurments. there will be what the tire is rated on, which is more of a recomended width. there will also be the maximum and minimum width that the tire can be used on. it is highly NOT recomended to go smaller than the minimum rim width. if it was ok for a 5.0" wide rim, then the minimum would be 5.0" wide, not 5.5" wide.

the bigest thing that is going to screw you up is the tire pressure and contact patch. putting that size of tire on that size of rim is going to give you a really narrow contact patch. plus your pressures couldbe so extremely messed up in order to give you a decent contact patch that the tire may not be able to take it and give you more problems than it would have been if you had gone with a proper size.

do yourself a favor and get a good 6" wide rim, that will give you plenty of options for tires available. to be honest with you, i know you dont car about speedo being out, but atleast get something remotely close to the tire size that you should run, it will just save for less headaches in the future.



Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!