Quote:

Quote:

the OEMs will drive sizing the manufacturers make to a much greater degree than all of us combined. For this reason, I would look at fitting OEM sizes to my car if I was going to bigger diameter rims.



Precisely. Like Brads70 I'm looking to make the move to 17s or 18s due to the lack of available good performing wide 15s. So 5 or 10 years down the road are we all going to have to switch to 19, 20 or even larger rims to get tires? There is a limit to what these old cars can take.



This is a very real concern. I was one ov the very first muscle car guys (that i saw/knew about anyways) that went to a 16" rim. I put some 16x8" Welds on my 72 Rallye Challenger years and years ago. I got a lot ov grief for that, but i didn't care... the thing stuck like glue. If i could get wider tires than 255/50/16 it would have looked pretty damn cool, as it was it didn't look that bad. I said then i'd never go 17" though. That would just look silly.

Now, decades later, here i am wishing they still made stuff in 17". You can still get a couple models in 315 or 335/17 size, but thats it. 3 years from now? maybe one. Pirelli P-Zero will always come in every size under the sun, but who cares? its not a great tire, and they cost $2700 each. I got into a lovely 'debate' with a well-known used tire guy here over the price ov some used Pirellis. The retard wanted almost $700 EACH... for his very used tires... that had been sitting for a decade in the pile. His argument was that his retail on them was $900+.

Anyways... 17" are now drying up, and 18" is the absolute upper outer limit for what looks good on an old car. Personally... i think 18"s are pushing it. Pretty soon all the customs will be using 19"s, 20"s... to take advantage ov the state ov the art tire tech, and most reasonable prices. What then? I wanted 17"s for my Challenger... but now i have to go 18" because i cant find much used in 17".

Its all relative i guess. Maybe those 50's hotrodders hated the look ov the G60's and N50's... which must have looked like rubber bands to them too. Maybe they said they'd NEVER put a 50-series on the ol' 32 3-window. One bonus though... if the aftermarket continues to embrace this hobby the way its doing, perhaps a new company will step up and fill this need? The more we get railroaded into the bigger and bigger diameters, the more the hobby may backlash, and a demand could truly arise.