Up Sizing the Rubber

I am an enthusiast but in no way an expert when it comes to outfitting my cars with after market rims and rubber. I usually tend to shy away from 18 inch rims simply due to the poor road conditions in my area due to the winters and such. I do like outfitting a 17 inch tire with some 225's mind you and I question if doing so has any negative impact on the vehicule (ie camber) which would cause for improper fitting of the tire (ie not sitting flat and wearing either on the inside or outside of the tire).

I had a set of 225 / 45 / 17's on my two previous cars (both Subaru Impreza's = an 03 and 06) and the tire wore something fierce on the inside of the tire and I always question if the Camber was impacted with the position of the 225 on the car? Does anyone have any input or insight how a 225 / 45 /17 would behave no the MAZDA5? I am a rota fan and these were a perfect fit on teh impreza without hub centric rings - Can anyone with Rota's on their MAZDA5 confirm if rings are required?

Trevor.

changing the tire width will not affect wear.

jeebusm3 said:

changing the tire width will not affect wear.

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But lowering will...Were your cars lowered as well?

ForceFed said:

But lowering will...Were your cars lowered as well?

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No - neither of the two were lowered (03' Impreza and 06' Impreza) but the wear was something sick on the inside of the tire and I still cannot understand how and why it wore so much. Maybe Over or Under Inflation?

One tire had so much wear - that a hole had started and the wire thread was apparent. I did not race or track the vehicule. Odd....

Trevor.

thampel said:

No - neither of the two were lowered (03' Impreza and 06' Impreza) but the wear was something sick on the inside of the tire and I still cannot understand how and why it wore so much. Maybe Over or Under Inflation?

One tire had so much wear - that a hole had started and the wire thread was apparent. I did not race or track the vehicule. Odd....

Trevor.

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poor inflation, poor alignment from the factory, etc.

Did you rotate your tires? How fast was the wear? I had an '04 STi and the tires wore pretty evenly. I had an '06 Forester XT on WRX struts and STi springs, I had -1.5* camber and 0* toe dialed in and got almost even wear, with a "touch" more inner wear. Oh and on my Forester I was running 235/45/18 vs the stock 215/60/16

^^My wifes Forester (04 2.5X stone stock) wears out tires in a similar inscrutable fashion. The inside edges of both front tires wear away before the rest of the tread, always have. Multiple checks of the alignment have turned up nothing, I figure it doe's something wierd in compression and rebound that isn't apparent on the alignment rack. To answer the OP question check out the Tire Rack I believe they have an up-sizing calculator that will answer all of your questions.

slvrsleeper said:

^^My wifes Forester (04 2.5X stone stock) wears out tires in a similar inscrutable fashion. The inside edges of both front tires wear away before the rest of the tread, always have. Multiple checks of the alignment have turned up nothing, I figure it doe's something wierd in compression and rebound that isn't apparent on the alignment rack. To answer the OP question check out the Tire Rack I believe they have an up-sizing calculator that will answer all of your questions.

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oddly enough, a lot of stock foresters wear on the outside of the front tires. I had a good race shop do my alignment after I dropped it 3.5". It was the best $80 I ever spent.

I've been happy with the 215/50/17s I put on it last year..

MD5 you went with the Bridgestone G009s correct? How do you like them in the rain versus the OE Toyos? Also how are they wearing? Any additional noise over time? Sorry for all the questions but, I have the G009s on the wifes Forester and like them a lot, but that car doesn't bear comparison to the 5. I'm trying to talk myself out of a set of Continental ExtremeContact, which I know handle great but are really noisy as they wear.