mrblorry

Perhaps you guys have seen this little calculator:

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCa...p?action=submit

I am ready to replace the POS tires that Carmax slapped on my car right before I bought it--Dunlop FM901s or something like that. Sounds like Bigfoot coming down the road. Well, after a whopping 12,000 miles and two rotations with conservative driving, they're almost done. Like most of us, I want to go a bit wider and still not screw up the traction control and ABS, all the while keeping the stock rims!

What I want to know is, will 235/50-17s rub or cause a problem? Are they too damn big? I guess the traction control will be hosed, but according to the 1010tires site, that size is just barely outside of what they consider is safe.

I refuse to roll the dice and throw tires on a set of rims that aren't wide enough--I know that as the sidewall gets smaller, so does its ability to flex, hence the reason why the tire manufacturers don't recommend trying to squeeze a wide tire on a narrow rim. Anyone here feel that the 235/50-17 is a bad idea?

Dave

I thing the tread width is fine. However, the overall diameter is off quite a bit; 26.3 versus our stock tires at 25.4. Better to go with 235 45 17 as far as matching the stock tire diameter.

Dave

2003 cls six speed
Comptech Icebox

Or go with 225 45 17 if you don't want to push the width too far on the stock rims.

mrblorry

Anyone out there try this size tires on the stock rims? Is that half inch really a big deal? Will the local friendly tire store even mount the tires? Whatever I decide, I'm sure I will buy them from tire rack and have them drop shipped to a Goodyear store near my work. They've done good work in the past. I wonder if that lack of a half inch of width will affect tire wear, seeing that the tread may be bowed?!? I hope not

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Many many many people have this size. I'm swapping to it soon as well. The used 6MT I bought has 225's on it. I also have had 3 sets of 235-45-17 tires on stock rims before.

Also a note on tire rack. They won't sell you any size but stock if you tell them what car they are going on. Cause their computer tells them only the stock size will work on a stock car. It's a liabilty thing.

EricL

Yes, I put Toyo T1S 235/45-17s on my stock 2001 CL Type-S rims and they worked perfectly. I even drove them very, very hard with zero problems.

The only issue I ran into was related to alignment. The Toyos had a very thick solid rim protector and mad certain types of alignment difficult. If do a search you can probably find the info. (There was no way to get anything in between the tires sidewall and the rim [where the sidewall and rim meet] – the fit was really, really tight!)

Every 235/45-17 is slightly different (different rim protectors, loaded radius, actual width, tread with, section width, etc, etc, etc). I believe there was one poor soul that tried to get some Dunlop 9000s on the 17x7 2001 CLS wheels (in the 235/45-17 size) and it didn't work for him.

Humble suggestion: If you'd like to know what will work for sure, try asking the following topic:

"What tire make/brand of 235/45-17 tires are you running on your 17x7" factory CLS rims?"

Hope this helps.

In general, you should be OK. If in doubt, get the 225/45-17 -- the speedo will be a bit off, but you can get some rather sticky tires. Make sure to check the load rating and don't go below 91 (93 or greater is what the factory says you should have).