Fnic99

I have a quick question on tire size. I had a wheel refinishing guy today tell me that a 295/30 tire will not fit on an 18x10 rim. I could understand him telling me that they are not ideal, but he was adamant they don’t fit. He also told me over and over that that 295/30's are an inch greater in diameter than 265/40's that are currently on them. Every tire size calculator I have used says the complete opposite (295/30/18 - 24.97" dia vs 265/40/18 - 26.35" dia).

I started to think that he has no idea what he is talking about because of the diameter issue and took the wheels back. I was going to have him refinish my wheels but was unsure of this guy. All of the research done on this board leads me to believe that 295/30/18's fit fine on 10" rims. I had 285/40's on a 9.5" rim before with no issue and they barely bulged over the wheel lip. Is there something I am missing in this equation? (This would be for the rear of a 91 S4).

76FJ55

Just a quick glance on tirerack says you should be good. 295/30-28 says rim fitment 10-11 and overall diameter is 25".

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....omCompare1=yes

Jim M.

I had 295/30x18 tires on the rear 10" rims for several years. They fit fine, with NO issues.
IIRC tire rack web site shows it is the largest tire you can fit on a 10" rim, but it works just fine. Your right the guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

RKD in OKC

295 will fit fine on a 10 inch rim even though it is at the lower limit for a 295 tire. The overall diameter has nothing to do with rim width. The only thing with running a wider tire on a narrower rim is the pressure range of the tire available to get optimum contact patch. If the rim is narrower the wider tire will bulge in the middle across the tread at lower pressures than a tire on the rim width the tire is designed for. The narrower rim causes the tire to be rounder across the tread area.

If you are not insterested in absolute optimum performance, it don't matter.

FredR

Your tire chap is a little off base I would suggest. I would think for a 295 tyre a 10.5 inch rim section is may possibly be slightly more optimal but a 10 inch will work fine, as it seems to on my wheels and those of other owners.

Regards

Fred

Gary Knox

I've used several brands/types of 295/30's on my 18 X 10 inch rims - for street and track both. NO PROBLEMO ever!!

Gary-

cobalt

I use 295/30/18 MPS2's on my turbo 10" speedlines the rolling diameter is 25" which is perfect the 35 would be 25.9". Just make sure you have them properly inflated.

Fnic99

Thanks for the replies everyone. The part that got me angry was that he didn't even want to entertain the possibility that he was wrong. He was the "expert" and "mounted 1000's" of tires". I am glad that I took the wheels back from him. I could only imagine the refinishing job this "expert" was going to perform.

Cobalt - Where in NJ do you live? I am in Middletown.

Rob Edwards

[piling on] 295-30-18's on 18 x 10 ET 58 [/piling on]

MGW-Fla

My Kinesis are 18x10's with 295s on them, took a little bit of flaring of the fenders due to the offset. But I love the look!

Fnic99

Both pics look great. That was the look that I wanted. I am going to use 235/40/18 tires in the front. Actually got the tires for free with the wheels and they are practically new. Was going to buy the Falken FK 452 for the back. Seem like a great price at $234 each. My car has a factory roll (91 S4) so I am hoping that there are no clearence issues.

pdejong

A question of the same nature: Does anyone have experience with 275x40 tires on 9" rims?

Thanks,

Peter deJong
Charleston SC

'90 GT-twin turbo

Jim M.

275/40x17 tire is to tall at 25.66" that makes the difference of 4% over the front tires. That will screw up the ABS. Now a 275/35 in both a 17" or 18" is just about perfect. The basic rule is you don't want a difference of more than 3% between the front and rear tire diameters.

pdejong

Thanks for pointing that out Jim. My current wheels have about a 2% difference. I was wondering how that worked with the ABS. Will have to pick some front tires to match.

Peter deJong
'90 GT-TT

marinesniper0318

what about 295/30 R19" instead of 18"....?