Nitto 555r Dr. 245/45 Or 275/40???

Jason 302 · Jun 22, 2016

I know the proper size for my 17x8 '01 cobra rims is 245/45-17 but I've heard that Nitto's run small/narrow and I was wondering if it would worth putting a 275/40-17 on there instead? I know its designed for a 9" rim but I could certainly use the extra rubber since I'm putting down almost 500 at the wheels. A little bulge on the sides wouldn't bother me too much, would it bulge too much. What would you guys do? Thanks.

2000xp8 · Jun 22, 2016

The bigger question is are you prepared to do what is takes to prevent rubbing. It's not if it's going to rub, it's more like where...
Do you have quad shocks? Good rear shocks? Good control arms? Fenders rolled, if not are you willing to?
Do you take turns hard?

Sticky tires and that much power is going to exploit every weak spot in the drivetrain.

They will probably fit from a size standpoint on the wheels, my 275 bfg drag radials are wider than the nitto's and they are ok on an 8.5.
So strictly as a guess, i'd say they will fit the wheels themselves.

FoxMustangLvr · Jun 22, 2016

Jason 302 said:
I know the proper size for my 17x8 '01 cobra rims is 245/45-17 but I've heard that Nitto's run small/narrow and I was wondering if it would worth putting a 275/40-17 on there instead? I know its designed for a 9" rim but I could certainly use the extra rubber since I'm putting down almost 500 at the wheels. A little bulge on the sides wouldn't bother me too much, would it bulge too much. What would you guys do? Thanks.

My experience with Nitto's, I had some 17x9 03' Cobra reps with Nitto 255/40 up front and 275/40 on the back. IMO the 275 is not going to get you the same amount of rubber to the ground on an 8" wide rim as it would with a 9" rim. The 9" rim helps the tire have a more square angle between the sidewall and the tread surface. The 8" rim will pull the sidewalls in which will create more of an inward angle with the side wall which slightly decreases your contact patch.

Real question is, at that HP level, why aren't you upgrading to a 9" wide rim? If you stick with 8", I would suggest you go with a 255 wide Nitto tire.

Jason 302 · Jun 22, 2016

FoxMustangLvr said:
My experience with Nitto's, I had some 17x9 03' Cobra reps with Nitto 255/40 up front and 275/40 on the back. IMO the 275 is not going to get you the same amount of rubber to the ground on an 8" wide rim as it would with a 9" rim. The 9" rim helps the tire have a more square angle between the sidewall and the tread surface. The 8" rim will pull the sidewalls in which will create more of an inward angle with the side wall which slightly decreases your contact patch.

Real question is, at that HP level, why aren't you upgrading to a 9" wide rim? If you stick with 8", I would suggest you go with a 255 wide Nitto tire.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering how much smaller the Nitto's run to avoid the contact patch problem you were stating. If their 245 runs more like a 225 or 235, I don't really want that on my car. If their 275 runs more like a 255 or 265, then that would be great. Does Nitto make a 255 drag radial in 17" rim? If so, I haven't seen it.

I would love to run a 9" rim out back, but am stuck with the 17x8 cobras I currently have unless I want to shell out some dough for all new rims.

2000xp8 said:
The bigger question is are you prepared to do what is takes to prevent rubbing. It's not if it's going to rub, it's more like where...
Do you have quad shocks? Good rear shocks? Good control arms? Fenders rolled, if not are you willing to?
Do you take turns hard?

Sticky tires and that much power is going to exploit every weak spot in the drivetrain.

They will probably fit from a size standpoint on the wheels, my 275 bfg drag radials are wider than the nitto's and they are ok on an 8.5.
So strictly as a guess, i'd say they will fit the wheels themselves.

Car is built with 31 spline axles and a tremek TKO so I'm not too worried about running low profile drag radials. A full on slick then maybe. No quads, aftermarket control arms, fenders are not rolled but it doesn't sit very low in the rear. I do an occasional spirited drive but I don't push it too hard.

2000xp8 · Jun 22, 2016

Jason 302 said:
Thanks for the info. I was wondering how much smaller the Nitto's run to avoid the contact patch problem you were stating. If their 245 runs more like a 225 or 235, I don't really want that on my car. If their 275 runs more like a 255 or 265, then that would be great. Does Nitto make a 255 drag radial in 17" rim? If so, I haven't seen it.

I would love to run a 9" rim out back, but am stuck with the 17x8 cobras I currently have unless I want to shell out some dough for all new rims.

Car is built with 31 spline axles and a tremek TKO so I'm not too worried about running low profile drag radials. A full on slick then maybe. No quads, aftermarket control arms, fenders are not rolled but it doesn't sit very low in the rear. I do an occasional spirited drive but I don't push it too hard.

At that width, height may not play a real factor, if you push hard in the turns, most likely they will rub on the inner fender well or on the outer lip. There is very little room for error, one wrong move and you slice a $250 tire (or whatever it is they cost). Even those deep bumps in the road that cause the whole rear to squat will do it.
I saw that you had a trans and on the street I don't worry too much about breaking axles (although it can happen), it's the wheel hop that could be bad.

Mustang5L5 · Jun 24, 2016

Jason 302 said:
I would love to run a 9" rim out back, but am stuck with the 17x8 cobras I currently have unless I want to shell out some dough for all new rims.

You could send out the two rear ones to be widened. I don't know exact cost, but about $200/rim is ballpark.

Sent from my big ass iPhone 6 using Tapatalk

knr1313 · Jun 30, 2016

if this helps i just put on some NT05R on some 17x9 cobras with 275/40/17 everything is still oem quad shocks and all
nothing rolled but i did need to use a small spacer if i remember they are 1/4" not very thick at all
front are 17x8 with 245/45/17
with quads, aftermarket control arms, fenders are not rolled

Nitto 555r Dr. 245/45 Or 275/40???

245/45-17 or 275/40-17

275's are fine!

275's are too wide!

Jason 302

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Nitto 555r Dr. 245/45 Or 275/40???

245/45-17 or 275/40-17

275's are fine!

275's are too wide!

Jason 302

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FoxMustangLvr

I love my Pimp

Jason 302

2000xp8

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

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