As a relative old-timer, I really knew nothing about stretched tires until a few minutes ago. Questions about “stretching” repeatedly and frequently pollute your otherwise kick-*** forum and, after seeing some photos, I was mostly just curious about the method of mounting/inflating. So in my attempt to learn, I naturally journeyed over to Youtube and searched “stretched tires”.

I learned three things:

1) How they do it – brake cleaner, matches
2) Why they’re doing it – aesthetics
3) Who’s doing it – kooks, many of whom are in the UK, which I find especially surprising since Englishmen (I think) basically invented the nimble, well-handling roadster and seem to have a general affinity for motorsport.

I’m intrigued by most varieties of car culture but this trend seems needlessly dangerous, it does not look correct at all, and I’m surprised tire manufacturers haven’t motioned to implement laws against such blatant vehicular impairment.

Are there any documented cases of Darwin-style population correction as a result of mounting tyres using this method? That would be ******* awesome.

In terms of sheer retardedness, this is approaching the donk box bubble trends I’ve seen in Oakland and the Dirty South.

Anyway, here’s how it’s done in case anyone was wondering:

 

Yeah, it just looks retarded. Buy wider tires, you cheap bastards.

 

Idiotism 101!
What a waste of wide wheels.

 

i dont know what's worse: the music or the tires....

 

The tires

 

They will claim that it eliminates sidewall flex giving more direct feel and cleaner transitions from grip to drift... how do I make the hand making the "jerkoff" motion?

 

Chucker, as a full blown member of the old timer club I thank you for that info. I too had no clue regarding how they went about it.

Many thanks.

 

I saw the same procedure on the discovery channel a little while back. Its nothing innovative.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/331287/fixing_a_tire/

 

hey guys, I just got the new dashboard confessional album...does anyone have a clove?

 

what the ******* fuckhell? so sad. i've seen this on quite a few boosted cars nowadays :(

 

Maybe that's how the shadetree mechanic does it, at a shop with normal tire mounting equipment and a Cheetah it would be easy.

 

the worst stretch i had was 205s on 8" wheel. which wasnt much of stretch actually....

 

I have yet to see this in person on a car. What would he be putting those fugly 14" wide wheels on?

I had to mute the vid, too. The music was by far worse.

 

Stretching has been popular since ricing out sport trucks with no suspension in them was popular in the late 80's early 90's. Take a 185 and stretch it onto an 8" wheel. Makes your 50 profile look like a 35.

I noticed stretched tires came into popularity about the same time as the gangsta sagged pants. I didn't think either one would last. God was I wrong. While finally going away I still see the occasional idiot with pants past their *** "trying" to walk. Problem here is the rain. The pants dragging the ground weight about 30 lbs with all the water they soak up. Boy those guys look cool to me. I really like watching them try to walk up and down stairs!

I know I'm pissing on a lot of younger guys that used to wear that crap. But those sagged jeans made the wide leg/ bell bottom horrible fashions of my day look reasonable. Can't wait until you guys are in your 40's and 50's, look back and say "what the hell was I thinking wearing those pants!"

 

there are morons in the vw world putting 205's on $4000 9" wide bbs rs301's.

 

its not that. its for the feel. a tire that is stretched will be stiffer. therefore the car will be give better feed back on higher speed corners while drifting.



my 205 azenis are flush on my 8"s my 195 50 dunlops stretched!!!!

 

When I worked at the tire shop I did some ridiculous setups, but I had the equipment. We didn't have to use brake cleaner and matches!!! lol

My 205's fit my 8" wheel and sit pretty flush as well. I really like the idea of having to inflate the tire with the flamethrower method. My first tire I ever dismounted from a wheel on the tire machine still had all the air in it....that was a ******* boom and a half. First and last time I ever did that!

Vash-

 

The brake cleaner & matches technique has been used for years among the 4-wheeling crowd. Running aired down a bunch, you'll occasionally lose a bead on the trail and need to re-seat it out in the middle of the woods. In that case it's acceptable. In your back yard, it's a bit tacky.

 

Guilty of that one myself what a surprise that was for me...

 

I almost had a heart attack dude. I had my face right above that **** when it blew up. The shop manager was like..."WTF are you serious?" lol I never forgot to pull the valve stem ever again after that.

Vash-