245s on stock rims!

[orlin03]

Well, the tires finally showed up; Jamie wanted the fattest tire I thought could possibly fit on her rims, and talked me into 245/50-16s (which are rated for 7-8.5" rimwidths) in Kuhmo Ecsta ASX's. I was MOSTLY sure they would fit, but still a bit sceptical... today they showed up, and they fit perfect! Lots of room on the front, even when turned all the way; the backs do sit a little close to the strut body (about 1/4" away), but they haven't rubbed yet, and most likely won't unless we put a few big dudes in the back seat... even so, spacers may be coming in the near future.


I can't wait to see how she handles on a dry day!

[SPF 0]

I'll light a candle for you that this works without incident.

[woa_its_j3ff]

I'll light a candle for you that this works without incident.

yeah exactly what im thinking.
we'll see in a lil bit if they hold up.

[**PoshPepper**]

There should be no issue with 245 width tire on stock rims as there are Gen2ers running dubs with 255 width...

[SPF 0]

In lieu of flowers. . .

[crispone]

I've pinched rubber many times on other apps... so... other than the clearance issue, it's not like they're going to POP off the BEAD or something!!! HA!


On the COUNTER-POINT, you don't "spread" the sidewall enough for the contact patch to carry the correct radius in the optimal location to plant the tread as squarely and evenly as possible... you may actually LOSE a little traction, and will certainly not wear "as well" as the same tires on a wider rim or smaller tires on the same rim. I always noticed a VERY GOOD ride, however, and odd wear was some cupping on the outer radius and excessive wear on the CENTER of the tread contact patch...


Keep us posted.

-crisp

[orlin03]

So far, so good... went all around the county with four adults last night; railroad tracks, bumps, sharp corners... not one single rub! One thing I do need to take care of, however, is the alignment; the stock Michelins on the REAR showed signs of wearing out in the shoulders after only 12k. I'll be making a bit of camber adjustment for sure!

[PXLpainter]

The only thing I'd recommend is keeping your tires inflated at the Max rate to ensure they don't start "cupping" on you (read Crisp's post above) - you may still wear downt he edges faster than the center of the thread, but IMO - I think they look much better than stockies !

[anttarz]

haha you shouldnt have any problems, you'll have a softer ride.

by the way, car looks CLEAN

[orlin03]

I ordered wheel spacers even though I haven't noticed any rubbing; they should be in tomorrow. I think they will help with the appearance of the car, add a little more security, and help handling a tad. After measuring, I found that the rear wheels sit in 3/4" farther from the fender lip than the front, so I ordered 1.25" spacers for the rear (the kind that bolt up and have their own studs). I had a set of 1/2" spacers in my toolbox that I will use for the front; these get simply set in place, so I will install longer wheel studs. If all goes as planned, I will have them on and re-align the car tomorrow night... I'll post the results then!

[orlin03]

Update: I finally installed the wheel spacers last week, and here's a picture of the results. The half inch spacers went in perfectly up front, along with 50mm studs from Ichiba. In the rear, I used 1 inch spacers, as 1.25" was a little much for my tastes (too musclecarish). As you can see, the results are much better than stock; a cheap way to fill your wheelwells at any rate!



This is a great site for studs, spacers, etc: http://store.ichibausa.com/toyota.html
I hooked it up to the alignment rack (no easy feat with rimsaver tires!), planning to add a little extra neg camber, but was surprised to find I had to make no adustments. The front and rear were already set in the position most performance drivers beg for; two thumbs up for Toyota!