…apparently I was wrong.





Looking at the BFG site, I see that 8.5" is the maximum width they recommend. Doh. 225 Hoosiers fit fine on the 15x9s, I guess Hoosier is lying about the size.

So… what to do now? My plan was to put the Rivals on the new 15x9s for the Miata, move the 15x7 Team Dynamics that are currently on it to the Seven, and put new RA1s or RRs on the 15x7 Koseis that are stacked out-of-frame.

Put the Rivals on the TDs? 7" is the minimum width they recommend, ugh. Will RA1s/RRs fit on the 15x9s any better than the Rivals do? The specs on the Toyo site don't suggest that they're any wider than the Rivals are in 225/45R15.

Or should I just get a ClubRoadster sticker, embrace the "stance" and run them?

--Ian

 

A slight stretch is good, whats the problem?

 

My 205/50's on my 8" wheels appear to have more "stretch" than those. They look fine to me.

 

Those are fine, what exactly is your concern.

 

I've been running 225/45/15 Rivals on 15x9 6ULs for about 6 months. They're great. See the last Grassroots Motorsports. Andy's latest tire test indicated that the be the fastest setup for Rivals on a Miata.
I'm running 205/50/15 RRs on 15x9 6ULs also. The RRs are pretty wide for 205s.

 

Hm, really? They look very stretched to me -- enough so that I was concerned about safety/de-beading, etc. The sidewall angle looks like 30 degrees, is that really acceptable?

I have the latest GRM sitting on my desk, haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

--Ian

 

I was expecting something more like this:



--Ian

 

Looks fine to me.

 

Looks fine, the big rim protector just exaggerates the look.

 

Looks perfect. Go run those bitches hard.

 

Looks great to me. The rim protector is exaggerating the stretch.

 

Ha! Apparently you don't read enough around here to see the idiots we make fun of. That is not stretch, it's just an absence of bulge.

This is stretched:





They'll recommend an INCREDIBLY conservative wheel size to cover their ***. Any accident or tire fault with a tire bigger than 8" is automatically not their fault. But rest assured, perfectly safe.

 

I disagree completely. Your Rival setup is obviously unsafe. I'll help you out by PM'ing my shipping address.

BTW, the GRM article is in the December 2013 issue. Pretty sure you have the exact setup that was tested.

 

That's probably the problem, actually. He is so shell shocked by all of the immediate and knee-jerk venom spewed by anyone who even mentions words like "stretch" (in relation to tires) or "drift," that he just assumed they were a product of the Devil. And not in a good way.

 

Codrus. You have perfection and don't even know it.

 

Agreed. It's not stretch/stance, its the rim protector. Remember these were "designed" to fit on a much narrower range of rims. We are definitely outside the manufacturers specs with our 1:1 fitments. Drive it and see if you like it. If you don't like it aesthetically, well, that's CR talk Proof is in the pudding, so to speak. Haters gonna hate, etc, etc.

My 225 RS3 on 15x9 look like that and my 205 S.drive on 15x8 look like that. I'll snap you a pic at lunchtime.

 

On my old E30, the 215/40 RT-615 on 17x8 SSRs looked the same as well. No biggie.

 

OK, I'm convinced, I'll bolt 'em on tonight. Thanks folks!

--Ian

 

I mean, I guess 225 is a tiny little stretched on a 9? All things being equal 225mm comes out to 8.86" treadwidth, but that's literally 0.07" per side. Not sure how precisely tires are measured though so probably does not matter.

 

225 is related to the actual measurement about as much as 949 is related to the slammed crowd.

Which means, not at all.

All 225 tires probably measure within +/- 10mm, which is quite a bit different than all the 225 measurements on a ruler, which are +/- 0mm.