I have a 2007 Audi A4 2.0T (if any of that matters). I was curious how wide I can go on the rear tires? 235/45R17 is what I'm running currently.

 

curious to replies as well...

I never had a problem going up another 10mm on stock wheels.

I imagine a tire guy could tell you what is safe for your rims.

 

That's a good point because I'd like to keep the stock wheels.

 

I know of guys running 10" in the back, but that's not on the stock wheels. So as long as you find something less than that that fits your wheels, you should be good to go.

 

You can go many ways with tires. They can hang over or stretch back as long as they don't rub you are fine. I run 225/40/18 in the front of my GTI on 8.5 inch wheels. I run 235/40/18 on the rear on a 9.5 in wide wheel. Looks wide and fat in the rear but FWD can get away with mismatched tires.

If you are AWD you need to be careful to keep your tires at the same height to keep from screwing up your AWD system. Here are 2 good size links.

http://riverviewtire.com/Tireheightchart.html General tallness chart

http://www.rimsntires.com/rt_specs.jsp GREAT INTERACTIVE CHART that allows tou to put all aspects of your rim in too.

 

That chart is very useful. I'm thinking about going up to 245's on the rear once the tires I have need replacing.

 

You will want to be careful if you have a quattro for sure. Also you will no longer be able to rotate your tires, hence shortening their life.

 

just a FWD here.

 

I'm curious on specifics for "hang over" and where that starts to affect the performance and/or "feel" of handling.

"Stretch back" is kind of a drifter move, right? and subsequently would look even exponentially gayer on a FWD, yes?

 

Stretch was a matter of preference for me. To fit the 9.5 inch wide AMG wheels on the rear of my GTI and give it that slightly staggered look the rear tire had to strech in slightly to clear the inside fitment and sinch the tire was about level with the fender, the outside stretch pulls it in for suspention travel and does not hit the fender. Plus my GTI is lowered. It looks Good. Not Gay. Keep in mind the tire alone is before lowering but you can see how clearance on wide wheels would be a problem. The whole car shot is lowered.