squarehat

For those of you who saw my bent rims thread below, you know that I'm considering replacing all four rims with new ones of higher quality, provided I can reuse my almost-new 215/50-R17 Sumitomo HTR+'s.

Currently, I have them mounted on 7" wide rims, on which the sidewall looks perfectly squared off. What about putting them on 7.5" wide rims? I know Tire Rack recommends 215's for the ES on 7.5" wide rims (like the SSR GT1's I was looking at). And Sumitomo's web site says that 7.5" is acceptable for a 215/50-17 (although the maximum width). However, I don't want the sidewalls to look stretched, or "undersquare"--one, I'm not a big fan of the "diagonal sidewall" look, and two, more importantly, I don't want to leave the edge of the rim even MORE vulnerable to pothole damage and curbing.

Brandon@TR, I'm looking in your direction...Have you seen 215's mounted on a 7.5 wide rim? How do the sidewalls look? Anybody else on here run this setup (I'm guessing ES or IS guys, LS/GS/SC would tend to run much wider tires than 215...)

Captain Bone

You may have better luck trying to PM him.

-Anthony

squarehat

Thanks, now that I've decided on putting my stock 15's back on for the winter (after having the beads/valvestems resealed), I've got a few months to figure out if I want to get all new 17's, or just replace the pair I bent.

Brandon@TR

This will very from tire to tire and is very hard to describe over the phone or online. I suggest we send you a single wheel and tire and you have a look. The difference in section width when you increase the wheel width 1/2 inch is 1/8th over all. It's not a very noticeable difference.

squarehat

Thanks for the info, Brandon. I've heard that some brands have more curved sidewalls than others, which would have a different effect when changing rim widths. I'd go out and look, but my ES is in the shop having some engine seals replaced, and I've got an '02 ES sitting in the garage for the moment

I still prefer the way my '96 handles, though. Hopefully these engine repairs won't break the bank...