Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Wheels & Tires Need help choosing size of wheels!

I'm thinking about replacing my stock 95 rims with some better looking ones. I want to alot bigger than 15's, my problem is going with 16's or 17's. I know that I'll have to go low-pro on the 17's, but I want to know if going low-pro is worth it? How long to low pro tires usually last under normal driving conditions. How many miles to low-pro's last? I haven't modified my suspension at all. Some advice would be greatly appriciated.

Resol.

Low-pro tires will wear just as long as a "regular" tire. I got 35k out of a set of toyo fz-4's.

Hey I personally would recomend a 17 inch wheel i have three set's of wheel's for my svt my fist prob was stock wheels didn't like to much than I went to 18 inch with 225/35/18 and I warped all the wheel and now I have about 3 grand of garbage now I just got a new set of 17 with 215/45/17 and for me that seem's to work the best and they still drive nice.

98.5 svt contour

imo if you're going to get custom wheels get at least 17's. tire wear doesn't seem to be that big of an issue depending on how you drive.

whatever you get make sure that you are more careful taking speed bumps, and avoid pot holes. rims and tires are expensive to replace. plus its just a pain in the arse.

resol,
Agreed that low profile tires are no more prone to excessive wear than what would be considered "normal" street tires.
However, it is fairly common for a high performance tire to have shorter tread life than an ordinary passenger car tire simply because the rubber compounds are much softer for the former compared to the latter.
Simply research the various types of tires on either www.tirerack.com or www.discounttiredirect.com & compare tread wear ratings. The higher the number, the longer the tread life.
For example, the Nitto NT-450 is a high performance tire yet it has one of the highest tread wear ratings (300) of any such tire, practically equal to most passenger car tires.

Other considerations are whether you want a dry weather high performance tire or an all-season tire as that will determine your selection, particularly regarding tread wear, traction & similar ratings.

I would also agree that for the money, a 17-inch combination would likely be your best bet. Since you currently have 15-inch OEM wheels & tires, a 17-inch combo would equal a Plus 2 upgrade.
The tire size you need to look for is a 215/45-17.

Or if you really wanted a 16-inch, Plus 1 combo, it would equate to either a 205/55-16 or 215/50-16 which are the (2) OEM offerings on the SVT model.

so the wheel size for a 215/45/17 would be what? 17x_? just wondering how you figure that out?

Actually, the tire would be a certain size to fit the wheel not the other way around. A 215 size could be on anything from a 6" to an 8" wide wheel...it all depends on the wheel. I'd bet the wheel/tire in question are about 7" wide.