I recently transferred my stock 15's onto a new set of Rota 15 x 7's. I realize that my stock tires are about 10 mm narrower than the rims, yet I thought, "hey, it will be ok, no biggie." I got these put on Saturday, drove around for several hundred miles over the weekend without a problem. Adjusted the air pressure to 37 PSI, retightened the lugs to proper torque, even spit polished them with wheel wax...Fast forward to this morning...Taking an easy right to get onto the highway to go to work, all of a sudden , "screech, thud, thud, thud". The little box that could is suddenly drifting into a ditch at 30 MPH helplessly out of control. Lucikly, within several seconds I regain control of the box and bring it to stop. I proceed to rush out of the vehicle to take a look at the damage. The drivers rear tire had slipped off the rim inward torwards the vehicle. Needless to say my brand new Rota wheel had suffered some major curbage and now looked to be missing about 1/4 inch of aluminum.

Now, I realize this is probobly my fault for putting stock tires onto larger than stock rims. At the time it didn't seem that it would cause problems due to the small size difference. Has anyone else tried doing this? If so, has anyone had similiar experiences?

 

Sorry to hear of your bad luck but glad you posted about it as I am in the process of wheel/tire shopping.

 

Ah that sucks! Never had that happend to me before 'cause I don't like to stretch tires, but I've seen this happen to a few other people. Those Rota wheels should have a minimum of a 205 width tire mounted on them. On a 15" x 7" wheel, you can put 205/55-15 or a 225/50-15 to keep the speedometer & odemeter accurate. A 15" x 6.5" wheel can take a 205/55-15 nicely, but a 225/50-15 tire will bulge out too much.

 

185s on a 7" rim are a stretch, but not a big stretch. 185mm is about 7.25", so the section width is still a bit wider than the rim. Look around and you'll see some people running 185s on 8" wheels.

Did you check the tire pressures right after the tires were installed? Just the stretch alone probably wouldn't cause a separation. I'm guessing the pressure in that tire may have been low, or you hit some debris, or there was some defect in the wheel or tire that combined with the stretch to cause the separation. Problem is, both the tire and wheel are trashed, so it may be difficult to pinpoint the exact problem.

Regardless of setup, everybody should check tire pressures regularly. Tire shops usually crank 40psi or more to seat the beads, but often don't bleed them back to normal when they go back on the car. Colder weather (and time) will reduce tire pressures, so it's good to check them every couple months.