Low Profile Tires

I have a 2004 Accura TL that has low profile tires. By 20,000 miles they needed to be replaced and the replacement tires were very expensive and had no warranty. They told me to expect no more that 20,000 miles on these tires. Can I switch to regular tires (which last longer and are cheaper)?

Try Costco

Try Tire Rack too. Do a search on your tire size to get a list of tires in that size by type; High Performance, Grand Touring, Touring, All Season, etc.

www.tirerack.com

Ed B.

If you go to www.tirerack.com and enter the information for the make, model, and year of your car, it will show you all of the acceptable tire sizes for that car. Once you select a tire size, then you can look at the tires that they have available in that size.

I am going to guess that you can mount a higher profile tire, but that is purely a guess (actually a hope, since those ultra low profile tires are an expensive joke, IMHO). However, don’t go with my guess or anyone else’s. Go with the authority of Tire Rack.

I agree with hitting Tirerack up about this. It seems to me your car uses 40 or 45 series tires on 17 or 18 inch wheels and these tires are very low profile.

It’s unlikely you could use a higher profile tire on 17 or 18 inch wheel rims as the outside diameter of the tire assembly would increase dramatically. This could lead to the tire wedging or rubbing on the fenders, struts, etc.
The only way around this would be to drop down to a 16" wheel rim and this could possibly allow the use of a 50, 55, or 60 series tire which is taller; and generally much cheaper.

With any wheel change the wheel offset and backspacking has to be considered and Tirerack should be able to clear every bit of this up for you.

(This is just my personal opinion here but I do not care one whit for a 40 or 45 series tire. I prefer a 60 series which generally wears well and rides better while maintaining good handling.)

That’s awful. I have low-profile tires which I got from Tires Plus and they are warranteed to like 40 or 50 thousand miles (can’t remember which).

At Tire Rack: The 17" tires start at $102 and the 18" start at $92. Only 2 of the 17" tires have a treadlife warranty; none of th 18" tires do. Since the low profile wheels are OEM, I’d stick with them. Look at Tire Rack and see if they have something you like. You can have your mechanic mount them or Tire Rack can provide information about someone in your area who will do it for yu. If youprefer to buy tires locally, find a couple of tires you like on line and then find them locally. The tire manufacturer’s web site often provides dealer informantion.

That sounds about right. My Mustang has 245/45/R17 tires ( 275/40/17 drag radials on the rear only for when I go to the strip. But they aren’t usually on the car). I get about 20,000 miles out of a set of BFG g-Force KDWs. Rotating every other oil change.

According to Tire Rack, that car comes with either 235/40-18s or 235/45-17s. If you have the 235/40-18s now, you should be able to switch to the 235/45-17s without any problem (but double-check with your dealer). I bet you could easily trade wheels on craigslist, since many people want to go the other direction.

I have a 45 aspect ratio (215/45x17) and have found the same problem you have. I did finally find some at a respectable price ($125/each), but it took some searching.