Hi guys,

Could anyone let me know if having thicker wheel sidewall than the recommend would cause any issues? The online website tire calculators only tell me the variance but not the risks.

My current setup for 2007 IS250 AWD:
225/45/17 (stock)

The winter wheel specs (from Toyota Camry 2014) are:
215 60 R16
16x7

Wheel calculator comparison:
Diameter 634.3mm to 664.4mm
Speedo error
-4.53%

Thank you in advance!

Cheers,

Jay

 

You should try to stay as close as possible to the overall diameter of your stock wheels.. the thicker sidewall means that the car will not handle as well due to the sidewall flexing more but it will obviously ride better in the cold as there is more tire there to take in the harsh cold winter bumps. Some AWD owners might be able to help you out a bit more but I think that tire size would be ok. You could always contact Lexus and ask what they recommend for a winter tire size.

 

Shouldn't be an issue. Same reason why cars will have 16, 17,18, and 20" wheel options from the factory. As long as you stick with the same overall diameter of the tire you are switching to, there will be no issues. Performance will suffer, but its not like you are going to be hitting the track on your winter tire setup anyway.

If you would like to assistance in ordering something, i would be happy to help.

-Ralph

 

I'm pretty sure changing the rolling diameter of the wheel to be different or in this case, larger than stock (634.3 -> 664.4) causes problems with the AWD system potentially damaging it. Downsizing to a 16" from a 17" I believe the correct tire should be a 2xx/50/16 to avoid potential problems.

 

Rolling diameter (at least a very small difference like this would be) will not cause issues with the AWD. The problems occur when you run a staggered setup and you dont have the exact same size diameter in the front and rear. That will create binding in the transfer case, and cause major problems.

 

Ah, good to know. Thanks for clearing up my misconception

 

Anytime

 

+1 ^.. I have upsized and downsized on the IS without issues, just run a square setup and you won't run into problems with the AWD system (same tire sizes front and back). you can have the rolling diameter different from the original, the only thing that will change is your speedometer and odometer will be slightly incorrect, but you can use an online converter to see the differences between the calculated speed and actual speed

I believe you can run 16s on the 250, but not the 350.. may want to double check that though.. I vaguely remember the owner's manual saying that 16s were an option

 

Agreed, I understand that 16s don't clear the front brakes on the IS350.

 

This was the info I was looking for!

Thanks everyone!