I just bought all new michelin :D tires for my 96 accord. By looking stuff up on the web my current wheels are 15x5.5 . And i would like to spring for these 98 alloy wheels that are 15x6. My question is dumb but with my tires could they fit an a rim thats half an inch wider? or would this require all new tires?

 

All things being equal, if your new Michelin rubbers are either 205/60-65 you can go ahead and make the change. If they are 195's, you can still do it - but it may look a little 'wierd' what with the sidewall being wider than the tread. Either way, it may make a 1/4" difference on the overall width of the tire (at the sidewall), but won't cause a problem.

 

ill hafta go home n check the tires to see what i got exactly, but thank you for the info

 

I ran sizes 205/60, 195/65, and 195/60 on both the 5.5 and 6 inch wide rims and it looked fine either way. There's barely any noticeable difference between the two rim widths.

 

X2.

I've done similar with 15" wheels for Civic. 0.5 difference in width on the same tire. The only downside for this was that I had to pay for new valvestems, mounting , etc, etc.

 

Was runnin 205/55's on the stock ex alloys back when I had my boosted accord. Wanted a lil more meat all around.

 

Nearly all the tyre manufacturers seem to specify 6" as the ideal rim width for a 195 tyre, with 5.5" being the minimum permissable. 7" is usually the maximum permissable rim width for a 195.

When the manufacturer says "ideal" (or words to that effect) they mean their suggested best compromise between comfort and steering / handling response of the tyre, because the tyre gives a softer ride on a narrower rim, but is more responsive (but stiffer riding) on a wider rim.

Fitting a tyre to rims that are wider than the tyre manufactureres recommended max rim width is dangerous. Fitting to a rim under the min rim width may cause poor steering / handling because the sidewalls lose stability the narrower the rim is (and it may be dangerous in more extreme cases). A 205 tyre is too wide for a 5.5" wheel rim.