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Will this wider tire fit?

17K views 15 replies 5 participants last post by  cupic 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm hoping that one of you can answer this question:


Will a 225 width tire (instead of the original 215 width) fit my son's 2014 Mazda3 s-grand-touring hatchback?


I'd like to buy him a set of Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires and they don't make a 215 width for the 18" diameter wheel.


Thanks in advance for any actual specific experience that any of you may have had with this issue.


BillyD
 
#6 ·
No, that's not what you asked; you asked if you could use 225/45 R18 tires versus 215/45 R18, and the fact is, those two tires have a different diameter.

What I suggested will keep the diameter close enough to the diameter of the OEM tires to keep your speedometer and odometer errors to a minumum.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Help me understand how changing the width of the tire changes the diameter?
Got it. The width does affect the diameter. But I really am more interested in whether or not the tire physically fits in the wheel well without rubbing on anything: 8.5" vs. 8.9" vs. 9.3"tire width.

The small effect (+/- ca. 2 mph @ 100 mph) on the speedometer doesn't concern me.
 
#8 ·
Because the aspect ratio (45 in your examples) is a percentage measurement of tread width to sidewall height. If you make the tread wider and don't reduce the aspect ratio accordingly, then the diameter of the tire will increase. As I wrote above, if you opt for 235/40 R18 tires, then you will have a wider tire and one in the same basic diameter.
 
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#10 ·
Most likely, but the only way to be sure is to try them; the tires you're looking at are both wider and have a greater diameter than the OEM rubber. I've been on Mazda related boards for over 10 years now and I think you're the first I've seen to want that particular tire size on a Gen3 Mazda3.

Why are you opposed to the 235/40 R18 size? That tire is very common and has the correct diameter for your car and has a treadwidth of only 20mm wider than stock. Those will fit.
 
#11 ·
I just looked up the Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires and they do in fact come in the 235/40 R18 size.

The above said, what is so magical about that particular tire? Are you going to be driving the car on a race track? If not, then why are you wanting such a sticky/high performance tire?

If you really do need such performance, the Michelin Pilot Sport 4S beats the Continental in pretty much every performance category for about a 15% cost premium, and the Pirelli P Zero (PZ4) also beats the Continental (by a lesser degree), but is typically available for 10% less. Said another way, of the three performance tires, the Continental Extreme Contact Sport tires are the worst performing and more expensive than the second best of the group.
 
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