My 4th gen has the 18" rims from the 6th gen SE. I see the stock tire size for that car is 245/45R18 but my car has 225/40R18.

Does anyone know what sizes in between these will fit the 4th gen without rubbing at steering extremes? I am considering changing size when I get a new set.


Honestly 245/45 would look really big on my car, too big I think.

 

You can check +1, +2 etc fitment options on sites like Tirerack.com. But prolly someone on here can answer your question.

 

We started off with 245/45/18 tires on 6th gen rims with the 99 model. The tires were too big and would rub the inside of the wheel well area on turns. So we had to add wheel spacers to stop the rubbing. Then we replaced the 245/45 tires with 225/40/18 and found we no longer needed the spacers. Our local tire shops will not mount wheels on a car with spacers. So it started to become a pain with rotations and flat fixes to work around the spacers.

We've had two sets of 225/40/18s on the car over the years.

The tires are Kumho ECSTA 4X II 225/40R18 92W - Purchased on sale at Walmart online $327. So far so good. They replaced Continental ExtremeContact DWS - same size.

 

Thank you for the insight. Fine looking car by the way.


Got the tires, only did the front as the other two still looked good. Intended to keep the same size(225/40).

Apparently I misspoke when I ordered them and now have 245/40 on the front and 225/40 on the back.

And they rub. Just a tiny bit on at full steering angle, and only then if I am going relatively fast to cause some body roll which compresses the suspension.

Didn't notice until well after leaving the tire shop

Wondering what to do now. Should I up the rears to 245/40 when I replace them? Or swap the 245/40 to the back and put the 225/40 on the front?

Or just keep as is and run spacers?

 

Thank you plat. Does your car have the Anti-lock Brake System (ABS)? I see sites list information about how tire size differences can effect ABS operation.

You can see the size difference and revs per mile difference in the following link.

https://tiresize.com/comparison/

I would be tempted to run the larger diameter 245/40s on the rear to see how drives and if it rubs.

 

I don't have ABS. It looks like the back (225/40) is 1.6% smaller than stock, and the front(245/40) is 0.8% larger than stock. Doesn't seem like a big difference, but could it be a problem besides rubbing?

 

I had spacers on the front and rear when running 245/45. I think there have been some members who have run spacers on the rear only. I've never run mixed sizes.