# pictures of 225/45/17



## KOBALT (Nov 19, 2013)

Looking at those sizes, I'd be willing to bet the gap difference will be about the same. If you're happy with the gap you have, I'd say go for it.


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## BowtieGuy (Jan 4, 2013)

The stock 215/55/17 is approximately 26.31 inches in diameter. A 225/45/17 tire will be approximately 24.97 inches in diameter. The 225/45/17 tire is 1.34 inches smaller in diameter. Switching to that size, your speedometer (and odometer) will be off by around 5%, or 3 MPH at 60 MPH (Speedometer will show 60 MPH when you are actually going 57 MPH).


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

BowtieGuy said:


> The stock 215/55/17 is approximately 26.31 inches in diameter. A 225/45/17 tire will be approximately 24.97 inches in diameter. The 225/45/17 tire is 1.34 inches smaller in diameter. Switching to that size, your speedometer (and odometer) will be off by around 5%, or 3 MPH at 60 MPH (Speedometer will show 60 MPH when you are actually going 57 MPH).


This, and the wheel well gap will be much larger. Fuel economy will drop, RPMs will be higher on the highway keeping up with traffic. Bad idea. 

The correct size for the 17" rim if you wanted to go wider would be 235/50/17.


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## spoolin' (Jun 29, 2013)

mileage, speedometer, etc all irrelevant. A 235/50/17 is far from a "performance" size and way too much tire for the cruzes 7in wheels. Ya it will fit, but wont perform. Ill be the guinea pig and give the 225/45 a shot and see what kind of wheel gap I get. I want something that handles really well and gets good gas mileage. Not trying to hypermile. Thanks for the info guys.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

spoolin' said:


> mileage, speedometer, etc all irrelevant. A 235/50/17 is far from a "performance" size and way too much tire for the cruzes 7in wheels. Ya it will fit, but wont perform. Ill be the guinea pig and give the 225/45 a shot and see what kind of wheel gap I get. I want something that handles really well and gets good gas mileage. Not trying to hypermile. Thanks for the info guys.


If you want a performance tire, quit using a touring rim. That's really all there is to it. You don't use a 26.3" tire on a 17x7 rim and expect high performance. Go find some 18" or 19" rims if that's what you're after.

Your gas mileage will drop significantly because you will need a higher RPM to maintain speed. 

As for what tire will or won't perform, there's a lot more to it than sidewall. 

Sent from mobile.


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## spoolin' (Jun 29, 2013)

Touring car wheels? 17x7s have proven to perform on numerous Hondas, mazdaspeed protege, Wrx, etc. The factory eco wheel is a good wheel, stylish, forged, and fairly lightweight. There are plenty of 215/45 and 225/45 performance options for a 7in wheel. Would an 8 or 9 wheel be better, yes but the factory wheel is more than capable. As far as 18 or 19s this is obviously pure ignorance. Stuffing a big wheel with low profile tires does not equal better handling or more performance. There's a reason why cars that are equipped with such wheels are tracked with smaller wheels. Show me a cruze track car with 18 or 19 inch wheels. There aren't any, the wtcc winning cruze even runs 17x9s. As far your comment about performance tires are more than just sidewalls I don't know where that came from. I never said anything about sidewalls other than regarding the extra wheel gap. Of course there's much more to a tire than the sidewall but stuffing a big tire on a small wheel isn't a recipe for performance, It will leave you with a poor responding vague feeling setup. Which is what you will get stuffing a 235/50/17 on a 7in wheel. Not to mention a "performance" tire selection in that size is no better than the other sizes I listed. Why you continue on to talk about mileage beats me I already said it was irrelevant.


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## evo77 (Sep 5, 2011)

Chinese Cruze with 225/45/17...


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## prince_bigd (Jul 16, 2013)

tirerack list 43 tires in either Ultra high performance all season or Ultra/max performance summer only in a 225/50/17. Im not sure where youre running into an issue finding a high performance tire in that size. That being said normally i would go slightly lower sidewall height for most vehicles and go 10-20mm wider on the tread width. However this car has such an excellent ride and the 225/50 shouldnt suffer that much sidewall flex during extreme corners, and the slightly taller sidewall pays in spades in ride comfort and mileage. Running a shorter sidewall also changes your slip angles and your at the limit adhesion. With shorter sidewalls you have less of a buffer between grip and loss of traction. Taller sidewalls actually can offer a more progressive and controllable car by allowing you to surpass the limits of adhesion without sudden and total loss of traction. As far as the wider tire on the narrower rim that is really more of a design of the suspension geometry, contact patch size of the actual vehicle, overall sidewall height and cross section overlap of the rim bead than just a universal rule. Some racing teams will actually tune front and rear grip levels with running the same size tire but different diameter rims on the front and back as it alters how the car behaves. Either size you go with good luck and post some pics soon  Ill have my Axis Sport 17s and Kuhmo Ecstas in tomorrow so will post some pics and thoughts on those in a thread myself.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

spoolin' said:


> Touring car wheels? 17x7s have proven to perform on numerous Hondas, mazdaspeed protege, Wrx, etc. The factory eco wheel is a good wheel, stylish, forged, and fairly lightweight. There are plenty of 215/45 and 225/45 performance options for a 7in wheel. Would an 8 or 9 wheel be better, yes but the factory wheel is more than capable. As far as 18 or 19s this is obviously pure ignorance. Stuffing a big wheel with low profile tires does not equal better handling or more performance. There's a reason why cars that are equipped with such wheels are tracked with smaller wheels. Show me a cruze track car with 18 or 19 inch wheels. There aren't any, the wtcc winning cruze even runs 17x9s. As far your comment about performance tires are more than just sidewalls I don't know where that came from. I never said anything about sidewalls other than regarding the extra wheel gap. Of course there's much more to a tire than the sidewall but stuffing a big tire on a small wheel isn't a recipe for performance, It will leave you with a poor responding vague feeling setup. Which is what you will get stuffing a 235/50/17 on a 7in wheel. Not to mention a "performance" tire selection in that size is no better than the other sizes I listed. Why you continue on to talk about mileage beats me I already said it was irrelevant.


Go back up and read. Your very own post said you want something that "gets good gas mileage."

Those wheels work on other cars because the tires are smaller and the cars are designed for the smaller tire. The total diameter of this car needs to stay between 25.9 and 26.3 inches or you will start screwing things up and making it look like it has an enormous wheel well gap. 

Why did I mention sidewall? Because you specifically asked about a tire that is too small for this car as a result of sidewall. The assumption is that you went with 225/45 instead of 225/50 or because you wanted a lower profile tire. 225/50 is the correct tire size for that rim if you want to maintain OE tire diameter of the Cruze 2LT at 25.9". The 215/55/17 is the OE tire size for the eco and is 26.3". Why are you set against sticking to an OE tire size? My only guess is sidewall.

Sent from mobile.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

evo77 said:


> Chinese Cruze with 225/45/17...


Those tires look almost tiny on those cars looking dead on at the side of it. They're just way too small.

Sent from mobile.


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## spoolin' (Jun 29, 2013)

prince_bigd said:


> tirerack list 43 tires in either Ultra high performance all season or Ultra/max performance summer only in a 225/50/17. Im not sure where youre running into an issue finding a high performance tire in that size. That being said normally i would go slightly lower sidewall height for most vehicles and go 10-20mm wider on the tread width. However this car has such an excellent ride and the 225/50 shouldnt suffer that much sidewall flex during extreme corners, and the slightly taller sidewall pays in spades in ride comfort and mileage. Running a shorter sidewall also changes your slip angles and your at the limit adhesion. With shorter sidewalls you have less of a buffer between grip and loss of traction. Taller sidewalls actually can offer a more progressive and controllable car by allowing you to surpass the limits of adhesion without sudden and total loss of traction. As far as the wider tire on the narrower rim that is really more of a design of the suspension geometry, contact patch size of the actual vehicle, overall sidewall height and cross section overlap of the rim bead than just a universal rule. Some racing teams will actually tune front and rear grip levels with running the same size tire but different diameter rims on the front and back as it alters how the car behaves. Either size you go with good luck and post some pics soon  Ill have my Axis Sport 17s and Kuhmo Ecstas in tomorrow so will post some pics and thoughts on those in a thread myself.


Nice info here! There are many options on tire rack but all are just "ok". No pilot sports, pilot super sports, pole position s04, etc etc. Which is why I began the search for a pic of 225. Ill def have some pics up to see once its done. 



XtremeRevolution said:


> Go back up and read. Your very own post said you want something that "gets good gas mileage."
> 
> Those wheels work on other cars because the tires are smaller and the cars are designed for the smaller tire. The total diameter of this car needs to stay between 25.9 and 26.3 inches or you will start screwing things up and making it look like it has an enormous wheel well gap.
> 
> ...


If you read my first post the only reason Im considering a smaller tire is because of the lack of sticky options in the eco size or the 2LT size. If I could get some super sticky rubber in that size id stick with the 215/55/17 size because it fills the wheel gap. There are some slightly better option in a 215/50 which is what I may do if not ill run 225/45/17 BFG Rivals. As far as the car being "designed" for a taller tire it is to an extent. Gas mileage, gearing, comfort are all factors that decide on a tire size for manufacturers. The only thing prohibiting any particular size tire is the vehicles weight. A 2006 wrx came factory with 215/45/17s on 7in wheels and clocks in almost 200lbs heavier than a cruze. So im sure a cruze will handle 225s just fine. Will it get worse mileage of course, will it get POOR mileage I highly doubt it. As far as the pictures looks like a 225 would be doable with a drop. All those cars are at stock height.


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## evo77 (Sep 5, 2011)

The first maroon car is lowered.


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