sweet928

Thanks. I'm traveling for work this week but will get the offsets this weekend and post here.

sweet928

Worked out a "good will" deal with the tire supplier; They will ship me new tires for free shipping and take back the old ones with free shipping and credit me 50% of the tire cost on the return. I can't reduce the outer lip of the wheels and the smallest replacement tires I can get are 235/40/17. It will save me @1/4 inch in height and width. Maybe not enough, but better than nothing.

My mechanic doesn't like the idea to raise the suspension, but it may come to that. Will try the smaller tires first. Then raise suspension @ an inch front and rear. He thinks I will not like how that changes the handling. I'm not sure it will be so dramatic and it can't as bad as potential fender damage!

Benton

I'd change the wheels before I made the car look like an SUV by raising the suspension. It has a nice stance as-is. Good to hear you can get narrower tires. That sounds like the best option at this point.

sweet928

Dunlop doesn't give tred width specs at all. Makes it hard to work through this issue.

I'm running 245/40/17 now and going to take a shot and replace with 235/40/17's up front.

I just took a broom stick and held it across the wheel. The tire sidewalls stick out a bit beyond the tire width and wheels -- so the extension is not 100% of the following measurment;

I came up with 0.50 inches from outer fender to outer tire edge (side wall not tred width). If one of the previous posts is right and 235 is 10mm narrower than 245; I'm very close to fixing the problem. 10 mm = 0.393700".

sweet928

Here's a better perspective of my situation, helps me to think the 235's will be fairly close to clearing the fender. The side wall puts me out at 0.50" but the tire width is a little more narrow than the side wall width.

Opinions?

sweet928

One more to show the shoulder better.

Imo000

Why take the chance? Just go with 225s. That's what almost everyone runs with 911 offsets.

brutus

Yes "I came up with 0.50 inches from outer fender to outer tire edge (side wall not tred width). If one of the previous posts is right and 235 is 10mm narrower than 245; I'm very close to fixing the problem. 10 mm = 0.393700". " However that is total tire width so you only get 1/2 of that on the outside so it only moves the tire LESS than .20 inches , 5 mm. Not nearly enough to avoid having tire rub unless the actual tread width is much narrower !

Benton

^ Yup. I also agree with Imre, why not go with the 225/45R17 Direzza?

Really, the only other logical option would be to remove all of the tires, sell the set, and purchase a different set of tires. The Euro/VW/tuner crowd knows tire width variations and idiosyncrasies like the back of their hands, as they squeeze all kinds of crazy, goofy tire sizes under those hatchbacks. For them, 3mm makes a difference. Find some of those forums, and I'd almost guarantee you can get some real-world feedback on different tire manufacturers tread width variations for a given section width. Tires also have variations in the shoulder/bead protector, which makes a minor difference as well.

sweet928

Tire rack told me that 225/45/17 would not fit well on a 9" wheel and tire height would not be acceptable next to my rears which are 265/40/17. I don't mind going 225/45/17 if that will work but the conflicting info is making my head spin.

Bill Ball

I have the 225/45R17 Direzzas on my 50mm offset 7" fronts. I still felt I needed to fold down the fender lip inner edge just to be sure although I never experienced rubbing. Note this is not a sharp crease but a gentle flattening of the fender lip that faces in. No flaring of the fender line. I used the Eastwood tool. I think this matches the GT fold. Primarily flattened at the top for about 12", leaving the front and back of the arch untouched. The tool naturally does this as the arc it takes does not match the squared off shape of the arch as you move to the front or rear. You can only see this from below. See the pics. Same tires on 8" rims would protrude less from the plane of the rim, but I think they are too small for 9".

I totally love the sticky handling with these tires.

sweet928

OK, Now I'm not sure what to do.....Checking Tire Rack.com, It seems that there are some more options if I replaced all four tires and sizes. If I go 235/40/17 and 255/40/17 I have a few more options than my very limited current options.

Fuzion ZRi & Sumitomo HTR Z II

Again, I don't know tire width on the Dunlops, but interestingly the above options seem significantly more narrow. Thoughts?

Sumitomo's are 8.2" wide.
Fuzion ZRi's are 8" wide.
Yokohama's are 8.4" wide

Benton

I'm leery of trusting manufacturer measurements. Before dropping the coin on a whole different set of tires (and potentially ending up in the same boat), I'd start some deep digging on the internet, especially the tuner forums, and get some real world experience on actual widths. I don't know much about the Sumitomos, but the Fuzion is definitely a budget tire. The Direzza is a great, sticky tire. If you don't put a ton of miles on the 928, I'd stick with Direzzas if you can make it work.

As far as 225s on a 9" wheel, I jumped the gun there. I would tend to agree with the Tire Rack guy; I forgot your fronts are 9" wide, so that would be pretty stretched. I assume you meant 235/45R17 as opposed to 235/40R17, as a 235/40 would be shorter than a 225/45. You could go with the 235/45 and have someone roll the fenders like Bill's car.

sweet928

I love the Direzzas! They look, sound and feel fantastic. I do want to stay with the Dunlops. I'm going to roll the dice and get the Dunlops in 235/40/17's. If that doesn't work I will get new wheels -- which I believe will be OK with these tires. (Correct me if I'm wrong). But I LOVE my wheels and want to keep them. What sux is that these wheels and my previous tires did not rub. In fairness, they were on their last few thousand miles when I picked up the car but I know the PO bought them new and there's no fender damage.

If (Big IF) I go with new wheels; I will go with 928 type GTS cup wheels OR 993 Cup's (which is what I had on my 928 S4 back in the 90's. I don't like too short of a tire around here in NJ with bad roads, etc. so 18's are not an option. I had them on my 840 and ruined them in a few thousand miles.

Benton

Sounds good, but you want the 235/45, not the 235/40, if the sidewall height was a concern for you. A 235/40 is going to be significantly shorter than your 265/40 rear, and you said you don't want that. Like I mentioned above, a 225/45 is a taller tire than a 235/40, so if a 225/45 was too short for you, a 235/40 most definitely will be. You could run the 235/40 though, and it would give you more clearance in the front, but it will be almost an inch less in diameter from your rear tires.