Replacement tire questions
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Replacement tire questions
2013 sh awd 6mt. Wife's 2009 TL fwd 17s we put Michelin defender 2s which are 80,000 mi rated. Wanted to get these tires for my 2013 but they were not available in the OEM size so I had to go with this. According to the tire calculator they are only .66% difference in size. Basically 3/8 of an inch height and width difference. They kind of recommend 3% or less but this is close. At my retirement age from driving big brown trucks for 32 years in East Central Florida I'm not putting the car sideways on roads because everything here is flat and pretty much straight. 99v oem versus 95h. The number is the weight and the letter is the speed. I'm not hauling gold bars. New law in Florida they will put you in jail for going 100 miles or crazy over the regular speed limit here. Just trying to keep up with traffic between 75 to 90. Don't want to get hit in the ass end. Like I did at a stop and got hammered at 45 mph in my cl- s .
245-45R18 vs 225-50R18 - us Sizing | Tire Size Calculator https://share.google/97e1ZaxYkCGhHYCLx
245-45R18 vs 225-50R18 - us Sizing | Tire Size Calculator https://share.google/97e1ZaxYkCGhHYCLx
Last edited by asb32952; Oct 7, 2025 at 09:48 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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From: Space Coast, FL
the tires will be narrower so easier to curb the wheels and will look a bit odd, not sure if that's worth the mini-savings you get...
The difference is under 3% which will work, but beware that your speedometer will read lower than your actual speed. (going 62 it will read 61).
Go to tirerack.com and look at reviews for tires that are 245/45/18 rather than the 225/50/18. You'll find comparable tires like the Conti 54 that's around the same price but will not cause any issues.
Another example is the Pirelli P7 A/S 3: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...ance%20Package
It's cheaper and has an $80 rebate. You can go to local discount tire (owned by tirerack) and they have a policy that you can return the tires if you are not happy with them.
Also, a lot of tires with the "80K" tread life are very hard and end up dry-rotting before you get the mileage out of them so it might not be worth it to have tires with such a high warranty on it. Plus with SH-AWD, if you need a replacement tire you will need to replace them all or get them shaved to avoid damaging the diff and transfer case. Getting a size that's not commonly available might end up biting you in the butt!
Get the right size so you don't have to worry, esp on a road trip or if you hit
The difference is under 3% which will work, but beware that your speedometer will read lower than your actual speed. (going 62 it will read 61).
Go to tirerack.com and look at reviews for tires that are 245/45/18 rather than the 225/50/18. You'll find comparable tires like the Conti 54 that's around the same price but will not cause any issues.
Another example is the Pirelli P7 A/S 3: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...ance%20Package
It's cheaper and has an $80 rebate. You can go to local discount tire (owned by tirerack) and they have a policy that you can return the tires if you are not happy with them.
Also, a lot of tires with the "80K" tread life are very hard and end up dry-rotting before you get the mileage out of them so it might not be worth it to have tires with such a high warranty on it. Plus with SH-AWD, if you need a replacement tire you will need to replace them all or get them shaved to avoid damaging the diff and transfer case. Getting a size that's not commonly available might end up biting you in the butt!
Get the right size so you don't have to worry, esp on a road trip or if you hit
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