99 COBRA RIMS QUESTION

maddmax1999

New Member
Jul 5, 2007
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I have a 99 cobra conver. with the stock 99 wheels. I was at a tire shop the other day and asked the guy there if I could put size 275/40/17 tires on my wheels and he said no thats too wide. I have seen some cars in mags with that size tires on the same wheels. I'm pretty sure I can. I think he was just trying to sell some of the tires he had there at his shop.
 
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Are you buying new rims, or just new tires?

I have a '99 Cobra Convert, too. She's got 245/45/17's in the front and 275/40/17's in the rear. My rims aren't stock, though, I think they're Cobra R's....? They were on the car when I bought it.

Anyway, I asked one of my tire guys about putting 275's all the way around, and was told that they'd be too wide in the front and might rub. My car is slightly lowered though, so that might be an issue for me...maybe not necessarily for you.

I was also told I'd need different rims if I wanted to change tire sizes. Maybe your guy meant the 275's are too wide for your stock rims, since the stock rims only came with 245's....?

Like 94CobraPace said though, it may depend on which tire you get...some of them tend to stick out. But he's got them on his car, I've got them on mine (well...halfway), and the newer Cobras all came stock with 275's, so you shouldn't have a problem, maybe just need new rims (want mine? I want new ones, lol).
 
The 275s will probably work better with 9 to 9.5 inch wide rims, but you can probably get them on the stock 8s. To get an idea what rim width is recommended, you can take a look on Tire Rack on the spec sheet for your tire or something similar the same size.

If memory serves, the 03s and 04s have a 9 inch wide rim.
 
I ran BFG drag radials 275/40/17's on the stock 17x8's. They had a huge bulge but I like that look (on a car lol). I made the mistake of running them low on the freeway (nailed with a little leak) and the sidewall rubbed on itself and the tire blew out early.

Now I have Mickey Thompson ET Street Radials 275/40/17's that I use for the drag strip and if I take them on the road I make sure they're well inflated all the time. I got caught by the rain once and that was not cool

Keep in mind though that a wider tire does not always mean more traction