I am thinking of running these in a michelin pilot a/s. they are a bit pricey but its better than taking a chance with the 235/45/17. im not knocking anyone that has that size on stock rims, but id rather stay within the spec and the 235 does. curious if anyone else is running that size in whatever brand on stock 17x7? any impressions?

 

Do you mean 225/50? The width of 235 is not recommended on a 7" wide rim, regardless of aspect ratio. 235/50 17" tires will also cause speedometer error as well.

 

there would be like no speed error if you go with the 235/45/17 but that's not recommended. Also the 235/50 should be very very expensive, because no one uses them. why just not go with the 225's?

 

I wanted the Blizzak LM22 snow tires and didn't want to buy 16" rims. So, I ended up with 235 45 17 Blizzaks. If I have to do it again i would go with the Toyo since the Bridgestones tend to lose the top layer quickly.

I like t get some Pilots but then I will put the Potenzas to waste.

 

That is not correct, StrongIsleMax. Aspect ratio makes HUGE difference. In fact, the acceptable rim width range for 235/50R17 tires is 6.5" to 8.5". So they will fit properly on our 7"-wide OEM rims.

But only by 1.5% . . . well within the recommended 3% error range.

Good find, sloppymax! Given that Tirerack.com sells them for only $10.00 more per tire than the 225/50s, I can't think of a single reason not to go with the 235/50s.

PS: It may get better yet. According to Tirerack.com, the 235/50R17 is also available in the Pirelli PZero System Asymmetrical and the Pirelli P6000 at $184.00 per tire.

 

i made sure to check the specs for the rims first. i know some oldsmobile, the intrigue maybe runs 235/50/17 on 17X7. i would be willing to pay the extra 10 bucks a tire to have a better tire and a little more grip with no worry of the tire being to wide. a little bit of speedo error would be alright too espically if i could use it for a plea of improper equipment in court.

 

Well it's GREAT to have another alternative to the Nitto 450 and the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S that will fit on our OEM rims. I don't know how the Pirelli PZero System Asymmetrical and P6000 are rated, but I imagine they're pretty good tires. They cost a bit more than the Nittos and a bit less than the Michelins, so that's good too. Now if we could just get Kumho to make an ECSTA 712 in either 225/50R17 or 235/50R17 . . .

 

has anyone been in an accident with the 235/45/17s? or find any unusual wear or have blowouts from the 235s? because if not, this tire size may have a high chance of being my next tires.. I have a feeling Nissan Made a agreement with Bridgestone, so the replacement tires would almost always have to be the RE92s, just think, if our maximas came 235/45/17s..

 

Yup. I just found out that the Lincoln LS comes with 17" by 7.5" rims. There'd be no problem in putting 235/45R17s on those rims. But on our stock 7"-wide rims, it's not a good idea. If you want to know why, use the search function. There's enough info on this topic to choke a horse! Besides, there are now five high performance tire choices besides the RE-92s that would work fine with our OEM rims . . . the Nitto 450 in 225/50/17, the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S in 225/50R17, the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S in 235/50R17, the Pirelli P6000 in 235/50R17, and the Pirelli PZero System Asimmetrico in 235/50R17. One of those ought to fill the bill.

 

How does a higher aspect ratio allow you to run a wider tire on the given 7" rim? I can understand that the aspect ratio does allow for greater width on SUV's but those tires also have allow alot of sidewall flex. I was just assmuing that since the Sport A/S are high performance tires the sidewall is stiff and all the lateral forces are focused on the tire to rim contact area.(don't know what its called) and may cause the tire to come off the rim in extreme cases.

 

I believe you'll find your answer here, StrongIsleMax:

http://www.dunloptire.com/tiretech/?...tire_width.txt

 

I think you guys are going overboard on this wheel width thing. I have run 235/50's on a 17X7 wheel before, and had no problems.. These were Zr rated tires, and there was no major problem . I put about 40,000 miles on the tires. Just my opinion !

 

But for the safety of others, and just to be safe, its better to tell people to get the size recommended, also, just my opinion.

 

I agree, AznWontonboy. It's always better to run the tire size that the car was designed for. But if you ARE going to upsize and retain the OEM rims, the only sensible choice is the 235/50R17 for the following reasons:

1. LOAD RATING: The 235/50R17 tire typically has a higher load rating than the 225/50R17.

2. RIM WIDTH: The acceptable rim width range for 235/50R17 is 6.5" to 8.5". Thus they can safely be mounted on 7"-wide rims.

3. SPEEDOMETER ERROR: The speedometer error between the 225/50R17 and 235/50R17 is less than ± 3.0 percent.

I, for one, would not hesitate to run 235/50R17 tires on my OEM rims. And I very well may given the fact that arguably the best tire choice available for the 5th Gen Maxima with OEM rims . . . the Pirelli P6000 . . . is manufactured in size 235/50R17 but not in size 225/50R17.

 

I have a question here Y2kse, its bad to run 235/45/17 but its ok to run 235/50/17?

 

The 45 has less sidewall height over which to accommodate differences between design wheel width and the width of the wheel you're mounting the tire on. Granted, the difference isn't much, but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

Car mfrs in general - not just Nissan - tend to mount tires on wheels closer to the narrow end of the acceptable width range for ride quality purposes. Marketing-based reasons like that usually win out over hardcore performance logic in the meetings where such decisions are made.

Norm

 

Norm makes a good point. Unfortunately, I've never been in the meetings he refers to. So I have no idea to what extent marketing factors into decisions such as tire selection. My suspicion, however, is that the Engineering and Purchasing Departments have at least as much influence as the Marketing Department when arriving at these kinds of decisions.

The only thing I know for certain is that neither auto makers nor tire manufacturers are involved in establishing criteria for parameters such as acceptable rim widths. That criteria is established by national and international standards bodies. In this country, the governing standards body is the Tire and Rim Association of America (T & RA). For more information on the T & RA, check out:

http://www.tirestyres.com/assn/tara.html