Stretched/undersized Tyres... Your Thoughts?

[NZM.031]

hey all..

after much reading etc. on here and other articles.. i had almost decided it was worth it to flare my guards to accept a proper width tyre for my new rims.. rather than stretching skinnier tyres on there.. i have read alot of good comments about response and stiffness.. and alot of negative about excess weight of the wider wheel, incorrect fitment, etc, and so on and so forth.. .. so a i pose a quick question to the haters and negative nancys about stretching...

if its not good.... why do the multi million dollar wrc teams do it for tarmac?? they are the elite of road handling cars... driving on regular road surfaces that you and i can drive on... and using a P-Zero semi slick tyre... which are road legal and obtainable to the normal joe blow with wads of cash.

for a track car that has a properly prepared track surface free from road irregularites it might be a different story... but if the wrc cars do it... obviously they have a good reason and are advantageous over running full size tyres for tarmac rallies..

so what are some thoughts on the stretching?? any articles to or for it?? and whats an acceptable stretch??

cheers

Linton

[djr81]

hey all..

after much reading etc. on here and other articles.. i had almost decided it was worth it to flare my guards to accept a proper width tyre for my new rims.. rather than stretching skinnier tyres on there.. i have read alot of good comments about response and stiffness.. and alot of negative about excess weight of the wider wheel, incorrect fitment, etc, and so on and so forth.. .. so a i pose a quick question to the haters and negative nancys about stretching...

if its not good.... why do the multi million dollar wrc teams do it for tarmac?? they are the elite of road handling cars... driving on regular road surfaces that you and i can drive on... and using a P-Zero semi slick tyre... which are road legal and obtainable to the normal joe blow with wads of cash.

for a track car that has a properly prepared track surface free from road irregularites it might be a different story... but if the wrc cars do it... obviously they have a good reason and are advantageous over running full size tyres for tarmac rallies..

so what are some thoughts on the stretching?? any articles to or for it?? and whats an acceptable stretch??

cheers

Linton

Um how did you arive at the conclusion the WRC teams do it? In rally Ireland (the last round) they used wets mostly & then the thinner softer (basically snow tyres) because it was so bitterly cold & wet. As far as I can remember only Henning Solberg used slicks (or cut slicks) on the final day. You can be assured the rim width is matched to the tyre width rather than stretched to try & take compliance out of the side wall.

Basically people only used stretched tyres because they are either too cheap to pay money for proper tyres or they have been hoodwinked by all the drift hype.

[DAS KAMU]

Ive done a few stretches

driven for over a year with a 195 and also a 205 on 16 x 10's

[NZM.031]

it was obvious on the tv footage on sunday, of the ireland rally, that sebastian loeb's tyres were stretched.. and yes some were using wet weather tyres with deeper grooves, others were using a dry tyre.. which the pit guy said was a p-zero, and the tread looked very streetish... not a cut slick. id try and find photos, but my work has blocks on that sort of stuff.

[djr81]

it was obvious on the tv footage on sunday, of the ireland rally, that sebastian loeb's tyres were stretched.. and yes some were using wet weather tyres with deeper grooves, others were using a dry tyre.. which the pit guy said was a p-zero, and the tread looked very streetish... not a cut slick. id try and find photos, but my work has blocks on that sort of stuff.

What you are looking at are wet/snow tyres designed to increase the tyres bearing pressure & hence avoid aqua planing. Not that it helped Atkinson. Then again he should consider not driving like a Muppet. Just an idea.

[Weapon]

Well i had 235's stretched over my 10's and while it allowed me to fit these under the guards i wouldn't do it again, if your doing street driving then keep your sidewall there as it also aids in protecting the rim a little incase you come to close to the gutter, if your tracking it then get some decent semi's and keep the sidewall on them aswell as they are beefed up to handle all the extra cornering loads exerted during high speed cornering

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

or you could be CAREFUL around gutters

i run 235's / 245's on 18 x 9.5 and have NO probs with it as a daily...

prolly wouldn't run it on 10's or more tho

[cas.cc]

I like the look of a slightly stretched tyre...

I have 18x8.5 225/40 Front and 18x9.5 235/40 Rear...

Sorry about the dark/dodgey pics...

Cas.

[donut_kng]

have run 20 x 8.5 with 225/30s for years, only thing you have to watch is tyre pressures as you can pop it off the beed pretty easily i hear, but it makes sense to have a bit of a sidewall if your loading the thing up around quick corners..

[Drift Motorsport]

Can be cool or necessary depending on what you are doing it for. Drift, Track or just to tuck them in ever so slightly is OK in my opinion.

It can also look pretty ghey.....

Stretch the Canvas!

FAIL

EPIC FAIL

Nice

Vids:

Strech a space saver on a rim using flames

[NZM.031]

im a big fan of stretch, and have done it before, and loved the results.. that was with bridgestone potenza s03's.. i have just noticed alot of people telling others its not good.. so was wondering exactly why it isnt good..

some of those pics are nuts..

cheers

Linton

[scathing]

if its not good.... why do the multi million dollar wrc teams do it for tarmac?? they are the elite of road handling cars...

if the wrc cars do it... obviously they have a good reason and are advantageous

Don't WRC cars also run anti-lag?

If they can do it, what possible long-term harm could come of it for people who don't have multi-million dollar budgets?

[FineLine]

Its indicative of so many of the flatcappers in imports. Cant afford the right size tyre for the rim so just cheap arse it with something they found in the bin at kmart tyre centre that doesnt fit and looks like a punk with too much butt crack showing.

Then try and convince the rest of the world how "foolly sik" it looks.

[NZM.031]

Don't WRC cars also run anti-lag?

If they can do it, what possible long-term harm could come of it for people who don't have multi-million dollar budgets?

thats completly irrelevant.

Its indicative of so many of the flatcappers in imports. Cant afford the right size tyre for the rim so just cheap arse it with something they found in the bin at kmart tyre centre that doesnt fit and looks like a punk with too much butt crack showing.

Then try and convince the rest of the world how "foolly sik" it looks.

is that why the top secret s15 in d1 runs stretched tyres... and ken maeda, and hibino tetsuya in the hachis.. and the apex rx7, and kazamas s15, and tanaguchis altezza.. definatly cheap arse kmart tyres thrown on there.

[FineLine]

thats completly irrelevant.

is that why the top secret s15 in d1 runs stretched tyres... and ken maeda, and hibino tetsuya in the hachis.. and the apex rx7, and kazamas s15, and tanaguchis altezza.. definatly cheap arse kmart tyres thrown on there.

Yes, That is excactly why. They ae all mudcrabs. One day they will evolve and go straight in lieu of sideways.

[krzysiu]

You buy wider rims for more traction... now what is the point of putting little tyres on it then, defeats the purpose...

Awww i got 10 inch wide rims but only 8 inches of the tyre is actually touching the road... how mad.

[ashneel]

ppl do it more so for the looks.

and yes they are fully sick but also there is a limit of strecthness. some f the pics posted are just crazy stupid stretch. but say 265 on a 10" rims looks nice and not overly strecthed.

[NZM.031]

Yes, That is excactly why. They ae all mudcrabs. One day they will evolve and go straight in lieu of sideways.

haha... mudcrabs... i like it.. "back in 10... gone mudcrabbing.".... "no officer, i wasnt drifting, i was imititating a mud crab"

the point there, is they are all using a street tyre... not a full race slick.. so why do drifters require no sidewall flex? to keep it tight and responsive and feel what the car is doing... not rolling around on tyres... i guess it comes back to grip vs handling and the two being completly different areas.

traction is only one part of bigger wheels.. bigger wider wheels make for lower profile tyres and more and a wider wheel track, effectivly changing the roll centre. i had 215s on a 14x5.5" rims once.. traction was great... handling... pfft forget it.

i may only have 8" of tyre on a 9.5" rim... but the profile is lower/tighter, stiffening the sidewalls reducing sloppiness, so the body on its $4000 stiff as coilovers and alignment arms is not losing it all through a sloppy tyre... that may well grip.. but can give an uncertain feeling as it rolls around.

[NZM.031]

also... does that mean, its ok for drifters to have stretched tyres... because they drift... but for anyone else... its just cheap and uneffective??

[FineLine]

Or, you can set your suspension up correctly and use the correct width tyre for the rim and still have a good stiff sidewall simply because there are lots of tyre makers these days who build both street and track tyres to those specs.

There are some who may find it neccessary to stretch but in the main its just a cheap way of putting rubber on a fat rim.