I am in need of some new tires and I have heard nothing but good things about Nitto 555's, but I'm still on the stock 17" wheels (for a 2009 GT).

The stock tires are 235/55/17, but the only 555's that I'm finding available are 235/45/17, 245/45/17 and 255/45/17.

Will 45 size tires look funny or small compared to the 55 that are currently on the car? I'd love to move into some 18" wheels to offset the reduction, but that's just not something I can afford right now.

I was thinking about going with the 245s to have a bit more width than I currently have, as the 255s might be pushing it on the 17" wheel size (and dont really seem to be worth the price increase).

What are your thoughts?

 

IMO you probably wouldn't be happy with any of those sizes, as they are all shorter than stock, some by a pretty large margin. The ideal size for a wider than stock tire for the 17" wheels whil maintaining the same outside tire diameter is 255/50-17. Here are the diameters of the sizes in question:

235/55-17 = 27.2" (stock size)
235/45-17 = 25.3"
245/45-17 = 25.7"
255/45-17 = 26.0"
255-50-17 = 27.0"

The 255/50-17 is available in three different tire models from Nitto, the 555, Invo, and 450, and is approved for use with wheel widths of 7" to 9", so your stock 8" wheels would be fine with the 255/50. Discount Tire shows 4 Nitto 555's in stock at their Texas warehouse in the 255/50-17 size.

 

Oh, wow, thanks!

I had no idea the diameter would be that significantly reduced with the 45 size tires.

I was originally hoping that if I stuck to tires similar in size to the OEM pirelli's that I could just replace the back two. Since this is my first RWD car I failed to realize I'd need to be rotating more often (also...possibly burnouts may have effected the rear life? ), so my front tires are still pretty healthy.

If I go with 255/50's will I be able to keep the old ones up front for a while? That way I can also keep my tires in a nice "replace two at a time and then cycle the old ones up front" pattern that'll be a little easier on the wallet.

 

It won't be ideal, but if you are aware that the handling of your car will change, and are willing to take it a bit easy until you learn what those changes are, it will probably be ok. You'll likely get more understeer since your new wider tires in back will grip better than your older stock skinny front tires. It depends a lot on how you drive, if you don't push it very hard in the corners, you may not even notice it that much.

 

Buy some GT 500 wheels and tires...........

Thats what my kid did. 285's look sick on the rear.

 

Try this site, it's great for comparing rim/tire changes

http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp

 

Ended up going with the 555 255/50/17's and they finally arrived yesterday. They fit great and I can really feel the difference in traction for acceleration, I cant wait to get two more for the front in a couple of months.

Thanks for all of the advice and input!