Would 285/35/19 on a 10'' rim give me enough shielding against curbs. Not that I hit curbs but no my last car I was SUPER paraniod about hitting a curb because my rims were flush with the tires.

 

Get some curb feelers.

 

i think so yes

 

I think your reasoning might be faulty if you are only considering a wider tire to protect your wheel. If your tire is so wide that it protects the rim, it would probably need to bulge. That look is OK on off-road vehicles (285s on 16x8” wheels), but isn’t attractive on low profile tires. In fact it could compromise the tire’s safety and traction if you go too wide on a low profile tire (but of course, 285mm on a 10” wide wheel is perfectly safe).

A better way of protecting your investment in expensive wheels is tires equipped with a tire/rim protector. The tire’s rim protector is a raised rib adjacent to the bead. However, an “oversized and bulged” tire or even a tire with a well-designed rim protector won’t always save you from scraping if you push hard again a curb. Concrete curbs don’t have any “give.”

I’m thinking that if a guy goes with $3700 wheels, he might want to invest in a couple of “them thar” curb-feelers that David mentions.

Seriously though… It’s just awful when you scrape your expensive wheels. Sort of ruins your day.

--Spike

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I understand what you mean about the tire buldge and I definitely don't want that. I wanted 285's because they are wide but was hoping to get a extra bonus, as in protection. Oh well, it'll just keep me on my toes when it comes to turning and parking.

 

“Curbage” (scraping the wheel rim on a curb) is probably the main reason I have not swapped out my wheels for aftermarket models. I hate the thought of spending that much money and having significant damage happen in an instant. BTW: I have a Redline Performance model that I think would look great with black spokes and polished rims.

I scraped my stock wheel (front passenger-side, which is the usual “victim”), but a local shop did a great repairing this. The wheel looks like new (so much so that I didn’t bother taking pictures and posting the repair). That is making me rethink my avoidance of aftermarket wheels since a polished rim should be repairable.

So, be happy …don’t worry .

--Spike