[FLATOUTRACING]

I bought my 1SS used with the standard 1LE sized MMR wheels 20 x 10 with 23 offset and 20 x 11 with 43 offset. I run the standard 305's in back and 285's in front. Want to switch to winter Pirelli 245's in front and 275's in rear. Will these sizes encounter and fitment issues on these rims? Or is there a slight larger/better size to use? Tirerack has nothing in the regular 285/305 setup.

[JimGnitecki]

Just an alert to keep in mind: Winter tires are usually narrow when compared to wide performance tires on performance cars. This is so they will cut THROUGH snow and slush versus "planing" on top of it before running you off the road.

Your neighbourhood tire professional can probably provide some experienced guidance on that.

It's probably unnecessary to say this to you, but you will not be able to use your car to much of its power potential in the winter.

Jim G

[JamesNoBrakes]

Originally Posted by JimGnitecki

Just an alert to keep in mind: Winter tires are usually narrow when compared to wide performance tires on performance cars. This is so they will cut THROUGH snow and slush versus "planing" on top of it before running you off the road.

Your neighbourhood tire professional can probably provide some experienced guidance on that.

It's probably unnecessary to say this to you, but you will not be able to use your car to much of its power potential in the winter.

Jim G

There's a good video on this which shows it's basically in the noise. I've seen others by the same author and their testing seems to be very exhaustive. Wide vs. narrow is far far less important than the actual winter tire and tread pattern. If you are going to be driving through 2 feet of snow, sure you might need a narrower tire for penetration, but if not, it's in the noise and doesn't matter. The results were the narrower tires DO accelerate/grip marginally better on snow and ice during acceleration...but they turn worse and brake worse than the wider tires, so you choose your poison. Also noted that any differences were even smaller on ice, they had to keep re-running the test to pick anything up between wider and skinnier. Overall, extremely small differences that are in the noise compared to winter tire differences overall. Also worth noting that your traction will then suffer on every other surface if you go real skinny 275 width tires are expensive and unless he's going to be driving only on cold surfaces, it would be best to downsize to smaller diameter and width rims so you can fit narrower tires. But that's from a cost perspective, not that he needs to run 205s or anything. If he's got an extra set of rims, it might make sense to go ahead and get them set up.

But to the actual question, there are usually 4 tire widths that fit on a rim, going from "stretched" to "bunched". In most cases manufacturers set it up so their rims have the max size already on them, so for my 11" rims, it's 305, so I can't go larger, but I can go smaller, like 295, 285 and 275. You have to refer to the tire mfr to get the actual correct numbers, but 95% of the time, this is the way it is. Sometimes you find an outlier where michelin for instance says I can run a 10mm wider tire than stock that is already at the "limit" for that rim, but that's rare. For a 10" wide wheel, you could go down as low as 255 safely. In most cases, it won't be recommended to go skinnier than that. Again, check with the tire manufacturer, they will say what the tire will run as far as rim widths.

[fj5gtx]

Maybe consider buying a set of take off factory wheels/tires ready to go, that way you can just swap them out and not have to pay to swap tire around... plus keep your summer wheels in better shape.

[Mark114]

Originally Posted by fj5gtx

Maybe consider buying a set of take off factory wheels/tires ready to go, that way you can just swap them out and not have to pay to swap tire around... plus keep your summer wheels in better shape.

A second set of wheels might save you money in the long run. The cost of mounting and balancing tires back and forth adds up over time.

[JimGnitecki]

Originally Posted by Mark114

A second set of wheels might save you money in the long run. The cost of mounting and balancing tires back and forth adds up over time.

But, a tire shop manager told me that the dismounting and remounting of tires on wheels forces the technician to clean the tire to rim seating surfaces twice per year, which mitigates corrosion and leakage.

Also, to avoid the 2x per year service charges for mounting and dismounting, you need not only an extra set of wheels, but also an extra set of tire pressure sensors. Add that to the cost of the wheels.

Jim G

[2SS Capt]

Originally Posted by JimGnitecki

But, a tire shop manager told me that the dismounting and remounting of tires on wheels forces the technician to clean the tire to rim seating surfaces twice per year, which mitigates corrosion and leakage.

Also, to avoid the 2x per year service charges for mounting and dismounting, you need not only an extra set of wheels, but also an extra set of tire pressure sensors. Add that to the cost of the wheels.

Jim G

Twice as many opportunities for the wheel guy to scratch or screw up your wheels... No thanks...

[WhiteMale]

You can't run those tire sizes you mentioned but you CAN run, and this is what I use, a 275/35 on the front and a 285/35 on the rear. Speedo is off by <1mph because they're pretty close in diameter to the stock sizes.

[JamesNoBrakes]

Originally Posted by WhiteMale

You can't run those tire sizes you mentioned but you CAN run, and this is what I use, a 275/35 on the front and a 285/35 on the rear. Speedo is off by <1mph because they're pretty close in diameter to the stock sizes.

The rear tire, 275 width, WILL fit on a 10" rim. He's looking at 0.2" higher if he goes 35 or about 0.4" lower if he goes 30. The 245 is out of spec for a 10" rim by Pirelli. He could run a 255 front section tire and be fine. See my post above.

[fj5gtx]

Originally Posted by JimGnitecki

But, a tire shop manager told me that the dismounting and remounting of tires on wheels forces the technician to clean the tire to rim seating surfaces twice per year, which mitigates corrosion and leakage.

Also, to avoid the 2x per year service charges for mounting and dismounting, you need not only an extra set of wheels, but also an extra set of tire pressure sensors. Add that to the cost of the wheels.

Jim G

I bet if you add up the service costs over the years its going to take for corrosion to degrade the wheel, likely you'll have enough savings to buy brand new wheels by the time you actually need to clean them because they are leaking.

If you buy new take-offs, they come balanced and with new sensors ready to go.

[KMPrenger]

Originally Posted by 2SS Capt

Twice as many opportunities for the wheel guy to scratch or screw up your wheels... No thanks...

This. It's happened to me, and they had to fix my wheel.

Go with a cheap set of OEM SS wheels with the TPMS and put winter tires on it. Done.