My 215/55-16 summer tires are worn out. Put the snows on yesterday.
When I get new tires, I'm thinking "bigger"
235/50 is essentially the same outer diameter as 215/55, 245/45 is a little bit smaller, but not much. The 245 is about an inch wider though.1: will they fit on the stock Saab alloy's that came with the 9-5? I assume they will, even though they're an inch wider.
2: will they rub on something?Anyone put 235/50 or 245/45-16 tires on their stock 9-5 alloys?
Bill:
I had talked with my 'tire expert' at the local Saab dealership, since I was doing something similar. 235 is about the widest you want to go - the 245's will almost definitely rub on bumps and turns.
You could also send a note to the guys at
I think you are thinking the wrong way about this. Unless you just want to look kueler, you should approach this from a handling/ride perspective. That is, you can generally increase handling by going to a shorter sidewall tire. You can increase ride quality by going to a taller sidewall tire. Generally that requires changing wheels to do either correctly, but there is a little leeway.
What are your goals ?
I'm approaching this from a "get more rubber against the road" standpoint, and wanted a wider set of tires on the car. Sure I could jump up to a 17" tire (like the Aero has) which I'd love to do but I'm not too interested in buying wheels AND tires. So, wider tires is the next best thing.
But I do agree with you that this trick will NOT change the height of the sidewalls.
You should understand that changing tire size does not put more rubber against the road. Since the weight of the car is fixed, a narrower tire will have the same contact area as a wider tire. The only thing that changes is the layout of the contact patch. It will be slightly wider with the wider tire.
If you don't change rim width or offset, the new tire will be distributed equally to the left and right of the centerline of the old tire. This might be good or bad. Most of it comes down to bearing loads and clearance issues. However, you should know that a 235/245 has a minimum rim width of 7.5" - 9". I don't think you are close to that with the stock wheel.
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