What are the largest size of street tire you can put on a 99' alero?

You might be able to squeeze a 245mm tire in there (provided you have wheels of the proper width and offset), but it'll be very tight. Out of curiosity, why? Are you having traction/grip issues? A bigger tire = more weight = you go slower.

Naich has 235 on his lowered alero and has said that it nearly touches. Btw, this shouldn't be a 2.4L specific question.

EDIT: much better

moved:


and btw you can actually fit a 255 on the rear if you chose to, (the green osv has 255's on it) and same goes with the front. But dont expect to turn in the front.

I believe someone said that the OSV was modified to be able to fit those tires. 245's should be fine in the back, but as mfuller said, make sure you get the right wheels. In the front, if you are going to lower the car, then don't go any wider than 235's. If you don't lower, you may be OK with 245's. Hopefully you are going to lower the car though.

one the 2001 OSV it wasn't modified to fit those tires. they fit. but not driveable though. the front is about even with the fender and has 1/2" gap all the way around. the rear just fit. it is a whole backspacing issue.

i have the sixteen inch wheels with 225/50r16 tires and when i turn all the way to either side i have around 3/4 of an inch between the tire and the side of the fenderwell. I'd go with no more than the 235's

I hear the major problem with wide tires is they can hit the spring perch... if you get cheap coil-overs, such as the ones sound sells, you can probably fit 255 tires without much issue... although they'd probably rub a bit inside the fender if you were turning sharply and the suspension was "compressed" a lot at the same time

Also, to whoever asked why get wider tires? For better cornering grip? Ever wonder why a corvette has 265 series tires, and not 215 or 225 on the front? Better cornering grip... but if you do get wide 255 tires, be sure to have a spare set of rims with 215 or 225 snow/all weather tires for the winter, because your 255s would most likely be a summer tired... and driving with those wide puppies in snow would be quite... entertaining.. :ph34r:

Well to answer your question, mfuller, ... " Why would I want bigger tires?.... Traction Problems? " It is common sense for better grip while conerring, just as "Final- Reality" said , and no you don't necessairly go slower at all, think of it this way... on a track course you can go faster through the turns with better tires, and therefore possibly get better ETs. And thank yall for all of the input, I now have a couple ideas on what to do.

It's not the extra 1cm of tire tread width that adds weight, thats very negligible... its the extra 1/2" or so of rim width that adds weight... if you can afford it, get the widest forged aluminum rims you can squeeze in there

I was thinking about putting 235's on my new rims, but I stuck with the 225's. Putting 17's on.

Bigger wheels do change the gear ratio, but if you get lightweight rims and a racing tire you should be ok.

18's are the biggest I've seen on an Alero but I did see a GA with 19's. You always have to remember the sidewall size too. I wouldn't go much below a 40.

I don't know what you are trying to do but my suggestion is to stay away from chrome. Chrome rims are very heavy, they slow you down, and hurt the transmission. If you want the shine, get polished, same shine, less weight.

Bigger tires do NOT change the ratio... gees people, somebody needs to do a writeup to explain this..

As long as you lower the aspect ratio so the sidewall is shorter so your tires are the same (or very close) to the same circumference as the stock tires, it doesnt change your driving ratio or knock off your speedo or anything like that...

Only 'plus-sizing' as it's called does that, where the circumference of the tire is noticeably larger than what came on the car from the factory

Your right about the size being the same if you plus size correctly, but a bigger rim will weigh more (or less if you got a lightweight set)

This is where gear ratio will change, slightly.