I recently tried to purchase a set of continental contiextreme contact 225/45 r17 to replace the craptenza. After I placed the order, the guy at tire rack called me and said that I cant' put that tire on my car because it doesn't meet the weight rating. And he said that it wasn't just that brand, he meant any 45 series tire. Can someone please help me understand this because I could have sworn that I have seen/heard of ppl. putting a 45 and smaller series tire on the stock rim. Please help

 

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you can put them on your stock wheels, however just about any 45 series has a lower load rating than the stock with 50 series. im pretty sure you will be fine with 45 unless you load the car with 5 people and put some bags of concrete in the trunk. i think the stock load rating is either 91 or 93 and the 45 series is a few below. tell him if they wont sell them then you will find someone who will. just dont go looking for anyone to blame if you ever do have a problem.

 

thanks for the info, but is anyone on this site running a 45 series tire.

 

I have seen other people running the 45 series tire with no problem, but they have wider tires which made up for the thinner wall. As a result, they might have the same stock weight rating or even better(more).


~limsandy

 

I currently have 235/45/17. You have to understand that 45 means 45% with respect to the width; in my case it's 45% of 235. This means that 224/45/17 has lower weight rating compared to 235/45/17. If I'm not wrong 225/45/17 is for cars like prelude, etc.

 

on jettas too with 17"...its 225/45, it has to do with the weight most likely

 

yes i understand the percentage and all, I just wanted to know if anyone has had any problems out of a tire this small.

 

Why not just go to the Tire Rack's web site and check out tire specs. They have tire weight capacity listed as well as tire diameter. When I searched for my 18s, I just compared new tire specs to my Potenzas. For example:
225/50/17 Potenzas have a weight capacity of 1433 lbs and do 804 revs per mile. 25.9" tall. I tried to get as close as possible. Here is what I got:
245/40/18 Yokohama AVS ES100s which have a weight rating of 1433lbs and do 810 revs per mile. 25.6" tall. As you see, I got pretty close.

Also, if you don't plan on lowering the car, a smaller aspect ratio (45 vs 50) is going to give you more wheel well gap.

 

One of the problems that my friend had is that his rims are easily damaged whenever he hit a pothole. The tire of less weight rating does not give enough "cushioning" to the rims.