Ive been looking at fitting some new tyres which are better off road and maybe add some extra ground clearance. Ive looked at general grabber AT2 but as ive got 17" GS alloys that means only 265's with 65 or 70 profile are available.
I know from what ive read on here that theres only about 10mm clearance to the strut so would fitting spacers of 10-15mm allow them to fit ok without fouling any where or touching the arches?

How much would the extra track width effect the car and is the extra ground clearance (0.8 -1.3" depending on profile if my calcs are right??) worth the trade off in gearing and speedo ?

Any other options or opinions welcome.

No chance mate they are way to wide, at the most i would say you can go up by 5mm at a push 10mm. You are looking at putting 30mm wider tyres on this will affect the clearance between the tyre and suspension strut, and could cause problems with the tyre rubbing when on or near full lock.

The general tire website only lists 265 65/70 on 17" yet online shops show other sizes
I was originally looking at a 255 with a 65 or 70 profile untill i checked their size listings as I think a 255 is the widest tyre that will fit on 17" rims ??


lmorris
I know the tyres would hit the struts with out any mods which is why I mentioned fitting spacers of 10-15mm.
I have seen spacers twice as thick offered for the FL2 so would assume with a 10mm spacer, the tyre would sit 25mm further out and this would clear the strut but might foul the wheel arch or rub on full lock/articulation as you said.

lmorris
I know the tyres would hit the struts with out any mods which is why I mentioned fitting spacers of 10-15mm.
I have seen spacers twice as thick offered for the FL2 so would assume with a 10mm spacer, the tyre would sit 25mm further out and this would clear the strut but might foul the wheel arch or rub on full lock/articulation as you said.[/quote]


Mate i am no expert on the matter, i guess that if spacers were fitted to off set the wider tyre it might work, but like i said i am no expert.

unless spacer technology has greatly improved from my use of them in the 80's, your wheel bearings will take a hammering with even something as little as 10mm. I would imagine that wheel bearing themselves are far superior but still not designed for the shift in load geometry. For a free country, it does seem pretty expensive these days.