185's on a 7" wide rim?...advice needed.

[vinbon63]

I was wondering what peoples's thoughts are about running a 185 wide tire on a 7" wide wheel? I have been looking into it on other forums and keep finding mixed reviews. Any of the club4ag guys say its no big deal, but they are used to much more extreme stretch than the usual car owners lol. Other people say it is going to stretch but not to a bad extent, and others say dont do it. Anyways, I'm interested in doing this for my new winter tires (185/70-14) on a set of 14x7 rims. I calculated that a 7" rim equals 177.8mm, and since the tire is 185mm, seems like it should be ok right? especially since the high sidewalls! Problem is, tirerack says the range for 185 wide tires is like 5"-6" wide rims (something like that, cant find the exact page right now). Just hoping you guys have some advice, or maybe some of you have used a setup like this or similar. My major worry is because it is for winter driving I wouldnt want to be stretching and to be driving on rough icy/snowy conditions and for something to go wrong. Any help would be great, thanks!

[mndude07]

Why do you want to stretch your tires to such excess in the first place?

[Cobalt]

It should be fine, I have seen 205's on 8" rims that didnt look very stretched at all.

[vinbon63]

really the main reason is just because i can get these 14x7 alloy mesh wheels for less than a set of new steelies. but again, i wanted to ask because im not really sure how bad it will be. im guessing you (mndude07) definately dont recommend it then

[djcaz_aom]

You should be okay. Here are few pics:

185/55 R14 on a 14x7








Now this is stretching, 155/55 R14 on a 14x7:



Or this, 145/80 R14 on a 14x7:

[F20A CB7]

dam, that 185 55 looks pretty nice.

[cb7dazz]

185's on a 7" wheel is a super mild stretch

don't worry about it at all

[mndude07]

Do you just like the way it looks or do you need to stretch them to fit?

Stretching instead of a properly sized tire is just going to give you less contact patch with the road. If you're doing it because they won't fit, I wouldn't stretch tires, I would roll fenders and then get the wider tire.

[vinbon63]

Thank you for all the pics and advice guys!!! Yea that helps alot, I wasn't able to find a pic before giving me an idea of 7" in 185's.

It's not even so much that I want to do it for looks or that I have to just to fit them, but rather, I can get these riken mesh wheels 14x7 for less than a set of new steelies, and I'm trying to keep my costs on this purchase down so thats why I'm also sticking with the 185/70-14's. Plus I figured the rikens would look nicer than steelies.