That’s the everyday response when asking any main tire or vehicle producer about rubber in that diameter. Vehicles actually haven’t been constructed with 15-inch wheels in a long time.
So why are we so excited a few new, extra-wide Tremendous 200 tire, Nankang’s newest 275/35R15?
As a result of many people nonetheless race these older vehicles–suppose Miatas, golden-era Hondas, E30-chassis BMWs, Toyota MR2s …
Historical past Lesson
Again when GRM was known as Auto-X journal, the primary cowl automotive was a 240Z sporting 13-inch wheels. Again then, 175/70R13 tires had been a factor. That was a high-performance fitment in 1984.
Quickly thereafter, 185/60R14 was cutting-edge, adopted rapidly by 195/50R15, 205/50R15 and finally 225/45R15. Matching wider wheel widths adopted every of those sizes, with 15×9 being the widest to assist these 225s.
As Hoosier entered the R-comp revolution, it pioneered even wider 15s: 245/40R15, 275/35R15 and even 295/30R15. Wheels adopted go well with: 15×10, 15×11 and even 15×12. Fenders had been lower and flared, and considerable grip was had by all.
However when SCCA moved to avenue tires for many of its lessons, the widest obtainable fitment in a 23-inch-tall tire was reset again to 225. Opponents clamored. Ultimately, Nankang, Falken, Maxxis and BFG all responded with 245/40R15s, however nothing extra.
This was sufficient to fulfill most of those underpowered automobiles till the introduction of the XS and Max classes in autocross and time trials, respectively. These characteristic high-powered, run-what-ya-brung equipment, restricted solely by means of a avenue tire. All of a sudden, calls had been heard for even wider 15-inch avenue tires to place down the massive energy these beasts might produce.
Over a 12 months in the past, Nankang lastly heeded these calls by including the 275/35R15 dimension to its Sportnex CR-S V2 line. However simply as the brand new tire was prepared, the marketplace for it disappeared–as a consequence of a debilitating importation scenario that saved new inventory out of the U.S. for nearly a 12 months. That’s all been repaired now, and recent Nankang rubber is as soon as once more obtainable on the regular shops, together with within the new dimension.
[Tested: How does the new Nankang Sportnex CR-S compare?]
For our check, we additionally lined up a set of 245/40R15 Nankangs in addition to a set of 225s, the latter already having some put on because of a earlier check. They’d been correctly saved, although, whereas the numbers mentioned that they had been nonetheless of their prime.
From left to proper: 275/35R15, 245/40R15, 225/45R15. {Photograph} by Andy Hollis
As we’ve proven in a number of earlier checks, wider tires are not often faster with out wider wheels, so every tire was mounted on an optimum wheel width for that dimension: 225mm tires on 9-inch-wide wheels, 245s on 10s and 275s on 11s. These final two fitments may be particularly difficult to put in over massive brakes and with out rubbing fenders. Offset and barrel design should be good.
[Wheel width: Is wider always better?]
Enter Good-Win Racing. The corporate has been doing Miata components improvement and retail gross sales for many years. Particularly, the parents there have turn out to be consultants in fitment of varied wheel-and-tire combos from a number of manufacturers. For every era of Miata, they’ve accomplished the homework to indicate what can match with numerous ranges of wheel effectively and brake mods. In lots of instances, they’ve labored straight with a producer to supply a wheel with dimensions that present the best extensive fitment.
In our case, each the 15×10- and 15×11-inch wheels are unique Good-Win choices constructed by Konig. Whereas designed initially for the NB era, these two Dekagram fashions have huge brake clearance that permits them to suit over the Brembos on our Triple Threat ND Miata check mule.
{Photograph} by Andy Hollis
We did should roll our rear fenders to accommodate the 275s, although. The consequence? Hella flush when cornering.
Each units of recent tires got the same old preliminary warmth cycle with six monitor laps of accelerating depth, bookended by freeway drives to and from the monitor. Whereas the 245s felt pretty regular on the highway, the 275 steamrollers tramlined fairly a bit, following each freeway rut and undulation. Dealing with was additionally darty, requiring fixed consideration to the wheel.
{Photograph} by Timothy Harper
Take a look at day at Harris Hill Raceway dawned within the low 80s and would climb near 90 whereas we labored underneath the partly cloudy skies. The monitor was in nice form, having hosted an SCCA Monitor Evening in America the night earlier than, however we nonetheless did a apply session to dial in our driving. After a brief espresso break to let the tires cool, we turned on the lap timer.
We ran by every set of tires at 30-minute intervals, finally circling again to the leftover 225s, hoping to see comparable tempo on the finish.
*Costs present with Tire Rack as of June 24, 2025.
As all of our tires had been the identical mannequin, you may count on them to have the identical warmth traits, however tread depth and age performed a significant position right here. As we’ve seen in earlier check tales, most avenue tires achieve each tempo and session consistency because the tread wears down.
Certainly, our year-old 225s used as a bracket tire had been extraordinarily constant in the course of the second session. Throughout the opening effort, nonetheless, we noticed an elevated tempo because the laps progressed. What occurred? The monitor was cleansing up a bit extra throughout that point. Finally, they served their position as a bracket to confirm that the core check–245 versus 275–was legitimate, as we demonstrated comparable final tempo.
In contrast, our recent, full-tread 245s and 275s might solely do two flyers earlier than slowing a bit. Their taller tread blocks merely generated extra warmth–a big issue on this scorching, early summer season day.
The massive takeaway, after all, was to place a tempo improve worth on the inch of additional tread width by upsizing from 245 to 275. And that quantity was a stable six-tenths. Knowledge logs present the rise got here by way of two avenues: greater mid-corner velocity in a number of sweepers and earlier nook exit throttle-up down every straight.
The info present the place the 275mm Nankangs (purple hint) maintain the benefit over the 245mm Nankangs: within the turns.
Becoming wider wheels and tires may be fairly the problem, particularly when the sizing will get to be this massive. Fenders want massaging, steering might should be restricted and spacers should be dialed in. It may be a whole lot of work. Is it price it? Now you’ve got the information–and the costs–that will help you resolve.
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