Just traded in my 2011 GT for a 2014 CS/GT. Has the stock CS wheels which the other post I saw said are 8.5x19. What's the widest tire I can put on it without any rubbing in front or back? Thanks.

 

255/40-19 is the widest you can go. And not because of rubbing, but because of sidewall angle. If you go to tirerack.com and click on specs for any given tire it will tell you the max and min rim width you can mount it on.

 

Rear tire in the pic below is a 275/40/19 ... that looks good to me, just a little bulging.
Car also has a 1" spacer on the rear (should've done them front and rear, as that front tire looks goofy now, all tucked in)

 

I don't know man, on an 8.5" rim? I'd worry about the sidewall folding in on itself under heavy load or if you hit an abrupt pothole. There is a reason why tire manufacturers set a minimum rim width. At the very least it would feel softer as the sidewall can't support as much load.

 

I agree with 5.MONSTER. If you want to go to a 275 wide tire move up to 9-9.5 inch wide wheel.

 

I can't tell from the angle of the picture which wheels you have. Your signature block says it is a track pack car, which had 19 x 9 inch wheels stock. Most tire manufacturers specify tires up to 275 on a 9 inch wide wheel.

 

The red car is not my car, haha.

Took that from a thread on some other forum I found by googling

 

Thanks for the info. I see on tirerack that the 275's need a min 9" width, so looks like the 255's on my 8.5's are the way to go.

 

The brembo equipped cars came with 255-40-19 from the factory. They are a little shorter and wider than what came on your CS stock, but look good and handle well.

 

With the 8.5" wide wheel I would do the 255/40/19 as others have said.

 

Agree. Agree. I'm running 255 tires on a 8 inch wide wheel, too much tire roll on hard turns for my taste . I'll be going with the factory width tire of 235 next time. 255 tires will work best with 8.5 inch wide wheels

 

Why not pick out some new wheels so you can go with a wider tire? A 9 inch wheel works well with the 255's and gives you the option of moving up to a 275 if you want more traction.

 

I'm sorry EF1 for a reply almost 1 year later . Must have lost track of this Thread, while looking at Boss, GT500 and C/S rear diffusers (got one for Christmas) I noticed this Thread.

I love the look of my Pony Package wheels. The only other wheel I want are the Chrome Roush 5 spoke wheels, but they are around $500 'each' . but they are 9 1/2 inch wide

 

No problem, in the mean time I bought a set of 19 x 10" Apex Racing wheels that I am mounting 275-35/19's on for the track. I was going to go 285-35/19, but got a great price on the 275's. I started getting some sidewall roll on the 275-40/19s with my stock 19 x 9" Brembo package wheels on my last track outing. Depending on use and driving style I would stay away from the widest tire possible for your given wheel size.

 

Any pictures of them?

 

No, I haven't mounted them yet. They are still in the basement in boxes.

 

Swapped out stock tires when I wore them out and moved up to 275/40/19 on my stock California special rims squared. No issues with rubbing, ext. I am not lowered.

 

minimum recommended wheel rim width for that size is 9" (for the few tire makes/models that I checked)

I believe the CS wheels are 8.5" wide

so this is a good example of how you CAN put on tires that are too wide for the wheels; they won't fall off or anything crazy like that; and maybe you like the look . . . but you'd actually get better ultimate performance from a narrower tire that is correctly sized for the wheels, and they would cost less too

 

I also prefer performance over looks from a narrower tire which is correctly sized for the wheels.. I also don't care for the bulged look when it comes to tires that have wider diameters than the wheels, but that's just my opinion

 

This seems like a pretty old thread, but I though I would chime in as a California Special owner with some pretty wide tires. I'm not sure how wide of tires you can fit on the stock CS wheels as I replaced them with wider wheels fairly early on. I am currently running 19x8.5 in the front and 19x10 in the rear. Tire size is 265x35x19 in the front and 305x30x19 in the rear, my car is also lowered 1.5". In the 50k+ miles that I have had this setup, none of it has ever rubbed.