[Plony]

I plan switching the original AS 235/60 R20 on my iX 50 with 255/55 R20 winter tires (Nokian Hak. R5 SUV) using the original 8.5" wide rims. Any reason to avoid this plan?

[ricerboi]

No, you're fine with that. The ET25 offset on the 20" rims will fit up to 285/50R20 tires without rubbing. You can go 255/55R20, 265/50R20, 275/50R20, 285/50R20. I'm running 275/55R20 (tall 2.8%) for my winter set and there's no issues with rubbing.

[ggalanis]

Originally Posted by ricerboi

No, you're fine with that. The ET25 offset on the 20" rims will fit up to 285/50R20 tires without rubbing. You can go 255/55R20, 265/50R20, 275/50R20, 285/50R20. I'm running 275/55R20 (tall 2.8%) for my winter set and there's no issues with rubbing.

It sounded to me like the concern was more about how wide the tire is for the rim width of 8.5". Most charts I find by googling say that for a 8.5" rim, 255 is the widest they recommend so the OP should be good, but I'd always defer to a tire/wheel shop who knows better than me. Not sure what the effect of going wider than that has.

[ricerboi]

Originally Posted by ggalanis

It sounded to me like the concern was more about how wide the tire is for the rim width of 8.5". Most charts I find by googling say that for a 8.5" rim, 255 is the widest they recommend so the OP should be good, but I'd always defer to a tire/wheel shop who knows better than me. Not sure what the effect of going wider than that has.

For 255/55R20, minimum rim width is 7.0", max is 9.0", and ideal is 8.0". 8.5" is slightly wider than ideal but will work. You can go off any tire manufacturer's website and find a tire at that size and it will have that info.

I generally don't trust tire shops, but if you want the official answer you should defer to the exact manufacturer's website (in this case Nokian) and they should have the specs. I checked Nokian and it's hard to find on there but I just went off the Toyo site for the tire I got and it gave those rim specs. In any case, you're fine.

Going wider than 255 on a 8.5" rim will have a small effect of "bubbling" where the tire protrudes out from the wheel slightly. I actually prefer running wider tires on narrow wheels, giving the wheels more protection from…my wife's parallel parking skills.

[Plony]

Thanks!

[02601_33859]

It's been a while since I bought dedicated snow tires but its been my experience that wider / lower profile tires do NOT work better in winter conditions... Just my thoughts.