I have 16 x 7" rims on my car and want to use a 185mm wide tire. Is this possible?

 

Why would you want to run such skinny tires on your car? You just reduced your contact patch etc etc ... im sure you heard of all that.

As for your questions, its POSSIBLE to use that size on a 7in however, most manufacturers recommend 5-6.5 wheel widths.. up to you.

 

use 205s

 

Why would you want to do that? You will probably be fine though. 7 inches = 177.8 millimeters which is still smaller than the 185 mm of the tire tread. Still though, get 205...

 

What kind of car (model, year, version)?

 

The 185 in the tire size is not the width of the tread, it is the section width. For most tires, the section width is much larger than the tread width.

 

Thanks for the replies. I have aftermarket wheels (+40) that don't have the correct high positive offset that the Honda's and Acura's require (+45). I have a 195 mm tire on it right now and the car does have a coilover kit on it, so with some hard corning I get rubbing. With the 185 tire maybe it will give me a little extra clearance? It's a '97 civic HX

 

+40 should be just fine on a 97 Civic. Is the car running a camber kit adjusted for less negative camber? This could cause rubbing with +40 16x7s. If so, I'd recommend removing the kit and putting the stock parts back on.

Consider 196/50-16 if you want to run a narrower tire. Otherwise, 205/45-16 and 215/45-16 should work fine.

 

Yes, the car does have a chamber correction kit on it and also the 195 16 50's. I'm trying to get away from putting to much neg chamber on it because of premature tire wear. I guess maybe the only other alternative would be new wheels with correct offset.