I ordered Continental ContiExtreme in 234/45/17 from Tirerack.com Sunday night. I just checked my email and had a message from "Gary" who stated they would not ship my order until they spoke with me. Called "Gary" and inquired about the email. He stated that they will not ship me this tire in this size as they recommend this size tire for a 7.5" wheel. Who has ordered these specific models and size from Tirerack and had no issue with them shipping them out? Not very pleased with my first Tirerack experience I must say.

 

Why are you not pleased. I would be grateful that they are looking out for you like that. Not something to get ticked off about. What if they sent you the tires then rolled off the rims...then you would be complaining they never told you.

 

Are you aware of how many people use this same size tire on these wheels? These are the tires I want and the best for the area/conditions I live and most likely the best price you can find for them. I will now be working with a local dealer (Grismer) to have them order direct from Continental for me. Thats why.

 

All they are looking after is their own hind trying to avoid lawsuits.

BTW, I am yet to see the first thread of someone saying their 0.5 inch off spec 235s came off the rims.

 

I have seen it in person. Friend installed 235's on his stock 17's took a corner at about 50 which would have been fine on the 225, left front tire rolled off the side of the rim.
If your not someone to take you cars around corners fast etc..maybe you will be ok. But look up some of the posts.................that extra .5 an inch provide s un even wear and more as well. So its a personal decision.......but one I dont recomend.

 

IMHO, 235/45-17 on stock 17x7's isn't worth it. I haven't had any issues with mine yet, but honestly my car just doesn't feel like it "handles" quite as well on dry warm pavement as my old Potenzas (225/50-17) did. These are Michelin Pilot Sport A/S BTW.
It's just never felt quite as "solid" as the stock size. Next time I'm definitely going with 225/50-17 in another brand, unless I change out the rims.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the subject. First time I read about that, and don't think it's a matter of taking turns fast or not. All it takes is a quick evasive maneouvre (sp?) to test the bead...

I have been strugling myself whether to switch to 235s/get new rims/pony up $800 for a set of Pilots.

 

I don't really get why ppl pay extra just to put 235s on their stock rims unless you really care that much about speedo error. 225/45 do the job too..why not go for that? (the ride quality doesn't suffer much either)

 

I also wouldn't mount a 235 on a 7" rim.

Tirerack was only following the manufacturer's suggestion:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.j...ExtremeContact

Any other width rim would be dangerous.

 

So much for staying within specs. The ContiExtreme 225/45s are rated 90 for loading. That's less than the OEM crappenzas 93.

 

Notice I didn't mention anything about stayin w/in specs earlier. I was just looking at it from a cost/benefit point of view (extra $$ just to get a bit wider). Obviously, the load rating is out of spec, as is the speedo error -- neither of which concern me much. If staying w/in specs is a priority, then might as well stay stock size-wise and pay up for some Pilot Sports.

 

I think this is a bad flame to restart, IMO!

But -- I ride 235/45ZR Proxes 4's on my stock 17" rims. I drive HARD. Very high speed (90+) interstate driving for long periods of time and 50-60 mph or more cornering.

I check air pressure religiously every week. I rotate my tires every 5000 miles regardless. 9000 miles in -- no uneven wear. No tires coming off the rim. Nothing at all unusual. They perform awesome even at extreme speeds.

It really p***es me off that people have the nerve to call someone out for putting a certain tire size on their car when they can't back it up with more than a handful of "i heard from a buddy that worked at a tire store" tales. If I had $800+ to throw away on some Pilot Sports I would have done that -- Instead I dropped $360 on my Toyos and had money left over to do things that some .org members obviously don't have to deal with (paying the bills, buying groceries, taking care of my wife's medical expenses.)

It's great that everyone's a tire engineer and everyone's an expert, but to call someone out and start ripping them when they are victims of Tirerack's overpriced insanity seems kinda wrong to me...

 

We arent calling anyone out, but we are looking out for them.
No I personally with my two eyes saw the tire rolled off the side of the rim, and no two 235/45s are exactly the same..back to back. The tolerances that each tire company holds the sizes to are different. Perhaps my buddy had slightly wider 235s then your 235's.
Ok so you saved some money and used it on other things..........thats great.......but as you tires get more wear on them, and your sidewalls weaken..what happens when by accident a tire rolls of the edge........ruining a rim, causing an accident which in turn injuries you and the wife you so spoke about. So much for cost savings ehh
No we arent tire engineers but guess what the people who write those statements are, they arent tire rack statements they come straight from the manufacture. Such manufactures that do extensive testing on various rims.......they state it for a reason and thats safety! I'd believe that over any maxima.org individual who says he hasnt had any issues. Problem is while your cornering, you got your head out the window watching to see what that sidewall is doing? its more than likey flexing to heck..........on the brink of pushing your safety limits. Like I said earlier do as you please....but I recommend not doing it.

 

Wow... this is also the first I've heard of this actually happening. Not that I've been religiously following this issue or anything (3rd Gen owner here...) You figure this would have been made a bigger deal at some point because this is a known possibility when doing this.


spirilis one possible reason why you didn't like running those 235's is because the tire is mounted on a rim that is too narrow for the size. When you mount a tire on a rim at the lower or lowest end of the fitment range, it bulges the sidewalls out (or pinches the bead in, depending on how you look at it) and the tire becomes more flexible and compliant. When you do the opposite, the sidewalls are stiffer and it will corner more sharply.

 

don't you think that there's a big chance that that particular tire was defected from the factory? I'm pretty sure that if half an inch was that much of a concern people would have major issues with that and so far it was only your friend. So I vote for defected tire/rim. Also, manufacturers do give some specs based on safety and such, but I am pretty sure that they don't state those specs close to the edge. So since you can only step .5" in rim's width, I am pretty sure that those manufacturers considered it and made those tires to be safe even within .5". IMO of course

 

I'm starting to think that's okay, if i remember correctly the 16" (or was it 15") tires that came on GXE's a couple years ago are load rated to 88 or something close.

Plus at 90, if you look at the weight capacity of the tire and do the math - unless you load up your car pretty heavy, you shouldn't have to worry about it. (<- just a guess, don't take my word for it).

 

Your math works well when the car is standing still and the weight is evenly distributed. But hit a pothole (for example) at the wrong speed and the load on that tire will be much higher than the static weight that tire normally experiences. The 90 load index is about 110 lbs lower than the 93. That's 110 lbs closer to the tire's limits when you hit that pothole...

 

Im running 235-45-17 for my 17inch SE wheels on my 4th gen. Ive had no problems so far, but this scares me a little.

 

I've decided to pick up a set of Falken ZE-512 in 225/50/17 from www.edgeracing.com for $95/ea.

 

This subject has been discuss heavily in the past, if you play by the book you would not put 235-45-17 on a 7" wide wheel. I dont alway play by the book, and I have been running 235-40-17 for 2 consecutives years and my car is solid never got a flat tire or anything bad, I' ve been running Ecsta Supra. Anyway I'll be changing the 17" wheel before spring, I want to go with 18 x 8 in front with 245-40-18 and 18 x 9 rear with 255 or 265-40-18

I know wider wheel in the back doesn't give more on FWD car but I think it's going to look sick

Cheers

AA

 

Good point. Nevertheless, much like a lot of people here i did take the risky route. Right now i have 225/40's that are load rated to 88w. So far so good, i don't think the Max needs much more than that in most cases.