That is the size of those tires.

 

Why did you go less than stock? Stock is 245/40. I suggested 245/45 to get 1/2" more sidewall.

 

When I bought the wheels several months ago that was the tire they recommended. From now on I wont listen to the salesmen. It was probably the tire he had a surpluss of!! I get better advice here than from the shops.
I wanted the tires mounted on the wheels when they shipped them because I dont have the equipment to do that so I took their recommendation. Bad idea!!!

 

That's too bad. The 245/45 size would net you around 2/3-inch more sidewall height than 235/40. And I'm pretty sure no rubbing issues.

 

Well for now I will have to live with these untill they wear out.

 

A few things.

The OEM wheel size on this car is 18x8 and the tire is 245/40/18.

You have 18x9 wheels with less wider tires with smaller sidewall. 235/40/18

You can go up to 275 to 285 on that (18x9) size wheel, possibly more if it doesn't rub. There is a huge thread on the tire sizes for this car in this section.

My question is why do you care if you can tell the tire is flat or not by looking at it. You would know once you start driving it. Also, if you want more sidewall you would need to go down to a smaller wheel. Then you would be able to get a wider tire with a higher sidewall ratio, increasing the sidewall while keeping the circumference close to stock.

Go here and put 245/4/18 in the first size and put 255/45/17 in the second size. You'll see what I mean.

https://tiresize.com/comparison/

 

I will not be changing the wheels. It took me months to find, then months to get those wheels. That is not negotiable.

I care why a tire is flat because these low profile tires feel like they are flat all the time, so that is NOT a way to determine if they arre flat.
I just dont understand this fettish for low profile tires that ride horribly, wear horrribly, look like hell, and I could go on. Years ago they had iron rim with hard rubber tires glued to them. These low profile tires are no better than those 100 year old waggon wheeels.

 

I hope to go to 285/35R18 (if I can find x10" wheels) on the rear next year.

285/35 actually has more side wall than 235/40, although I'm not sure if it rides better.

If I do this, I'll get a less conservative offset. A thing about this car is that the wheels appear too small in the wheel wells and too recessed. I reckon a +30 to +35 offset will look better.

 

Let me know how that works out.