I am getting ready to put new tires on my wifes 99 RX300. It has the Factory rims and "Stock" tires at P225/70R16

I am thinking about going to a P235/65R16 but I'm not sure if that's possible with the Factory rims and clearances.

Does anyone know if this is possible?

Thanks,

Wes

 

Especally if your AWD, you'll need to insure the spare matches the replacement size...

 

Hummmm......good point....

I guess I should stick with same size then unless I want to buy 5 tires.

Would 235's or 245's have clearance?

I'm considering the Yokohama Geolandar HTS tires.

Any feedback on this tire?

Thanks,

Wes

 

My understanding they are good tires and supported by several folks in tire rack. Tires in the North need snow and ice considerations with the tire wear. Here in the desert, I consider hot weather wear resistance and traction on dry pavement. When I lost a tire near the end of tread life, it required buying four tires to keep the physical size the same for the tire pressure indicators and differentials. This is why I didn't buy expensive tires; a simple thorn in a sidewall and I'm buying four more and tossing three good ones.

 

I just checked the tires out for clearance and it appears a little wider would work for the front, however it doesn't look there is much room in the back between the tire and the shock/strut.

With the 225's I couldn't fit my finger between the sidewall and the strut housing.

I can see my hopes diminishing.....

I don't know if I can put a 235 on the factory rims anyway. Maybe I can't do that either?

Wes

 

235's fit just fine on my RX 300 AWD. Try an "Advanced Search" (at the top left of this page) on 235 tires to see dozens of threads on this question.

 

Your odometer and speedometer will be 1.34% too fast. Also your car will depreciate 1.34% faster since for every 10000 actual miles driven, your odometer will record 10134.
Your sidewall is 0.2 inch shorter so you will get a little more bumpy ride.

 

245 will rub without spacers, 235-70-16 works all right, but you should have no problem going to a 65 sidewall.

CrossTerrains work very well.

Make sure you check on the treadwear of tire you are going to buy, for example, there is a big difference between 225 and 235 on CrossTerrains.

 

I've recently purchased a set of the Yoko Geo HTS tires in size 245 for my wife RX300. The 245 width gave her RX a wider looking stance, which IMO a huge improvement in the esthetic department. That said, you will see an overall reduction of 1 mpg with these wider & heavier 245 tires.

We find that the Yoko HTS tires are very quiet on both city & highway (even at 100+ mph ) driving. Very grippy in wet traction, a slight improvement over the previous set of Michelin Cross Terrain SUV for almost half the price.

Best bang for the buck, highly recommended.

 

I have Yoko Geolander as well, pretty good considering I paid just $300 for 4 225/70/16 tires including mounting, balancing, and disposal.
Vuvision, you might get 1mpg less because your tire diameter is bigger than OEM, your odo and speedo is likely to be slower. But you gain from less depreciation and more actual miles out of your warranty

 

The odo & speed should stay relatively the same since I stayed the original 70 rim. I am well aware of the inherited weight penalty in using the wider tire, in this case going from 225 to 245 adds almost 2 lbs of unsprung weight to each wheel ... but the RX300 never looked better with that wider stance .

 

You are correct about adding unsprung weight and indeed you suffer a little on mpg and performance.
Use this helpful calculator, it even has pictures. Put OEM size and your size you will see what I mean.
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCal...?action=submit

 

Spacers are required only when you go with a new rim with shorter off setting dimension. Otherwise, 245 width as is will be just fine on the RX300, I've been running with 245 tires for over 5K with no problem.

 

A friend of mine at the American embassy tried 245s a year ago on a 2001 RX300 and someone also claimed no spacers...they rubbed on bumps...switched to 235s.

 

Hmm ... interesting, but wouldn't adding spacers exacerbate the problem by pushing the tires even closer to the fender? Many moons ago, I have added spacers to to my Audi A4 for a wider stance look, and ended up having to roll the inner lip of the two front fenders to keep the tires from rubbing during sharp turn & bump.

Anyhoo, my guess is those bumps in Mexico are bigger than ones we have here in the States