Pizza Cutters.

[KezR33]

Hey guys,

Just a quick question. I've been looking around at rims and am wondering how effective high quality tyres can be on narrow rims. I notice on websites like tempetyres, stgeorgetyres, etc that most of the rims are like 7.5-8.5" wide. A lot of the JDM wheels I like too are ridiculously expensive at the wider widths.

This doesn't phase me too much as a) the rims are cheaper and b) the tyres will be cheaper.

Will narrow high quality tyres out perform cheap to average wider tyres?

Cheers.

[_Ryan_]

car

weight,

power,

track/ roads,

suspension,

width,

rubber.

[mystery_kid]

less width = less grip

pretty simple

i ror at the local cheapy 17 x 7's people put on skylines and what not. they look shit and usually have shit tyres

[HEKT1K]

i'm interested in this as well.

i would have thought a much better tyre would outperform an average one if the difference is only 20mm or so

can anyone else shed any light on this?

[alr33x]

wider tyre is more grip more stable not to mention how sh!t such narrow rims would look on a supra. decent rubber is not that expensive if you hunt around the kumho's are quite popular and i believe are very good ku36? someone else will have more info than me though.

[_Ryan_]

wider tyre is more grip more stable not to mention how sh!t such narrow rims would look on a supra. decent rubber is not that expensive if you hunt around the kumho's are quite popular and i believe are very good ku36? someone else will have more info than me though.

I love my KU36's. wet I have had no issues and done prob 500kms in serious rain, more again in damp. In the dry they are great.

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

ok, you can get cheaper rims that are wide.... for a supra i'd look at lenso d2r....

as for tyres, i run a narrow tyre for my power figure, but i run nitto NT05's in 245 they are around $500 a corner retail (clearly i dont pay this), so not cheap, but grippy as all f**k...

with 300rwkw, low low low on stiff coilovers, camber, pineapples and a mech diff my 245's are insanely grippy

send me a pm kez and i can get you some good prices...

[scathing]

Will narrow high quality tyres out perform cheap to average wider tyres?

Yes. All else being equal, the width of the tyre is irrelevant to the size of the contact patch. All that changes is the shape. This can have a marginal effect on traction, but not to the same extent that a superior tyre type will.

When I went from 245 width all round RT215 S-Comps all round to 255 front / 285 rear width FK452s I noticed a big drop in grip. Even after mentally telling myself to go easier on the brakes, I'd get the tail to step out while trail braking. And I used to run 235 width R-Comps and, when hot, they had more grip again.

If you can afford to run a softer tyre that wears out more quickly by going to a narrower width (and even a lower wheel diameter), then on purely performance reasons I'd suggest it. But, aesthetically, it wouldn't look that crash hot. And, if you're talking about wheels you use every day, how they look will be a factor.