- No! No! Not Stretch tires!
Oh my God no! Not the most worst thing in the world!
Oh my God I dropped my script 'cause
it's such a terrible thing to talk about!
We're here to talk about stretch tires
because you guys want to know
what sort of tires you can stretch on wheels.
Now, it is a hot topic, I get it, and I know that
it's something that some people don't usually get, you know,
all super happy about when we discuss.
But, I'm gonna be honest with you,
stretch tires aren't going away any time soon,
and in terms of fitment, stretch tires are a thing that
you like, have to know.
So we are also going to be dropping a video next week
talking about how to actually measure for stretch tires,
but for the most part for right now,
we're just gonna talk about what tires should you stretch,
and what tires are you gonna wanna stay away from
in regards to stretching.
And we're just gonna get started by letting you guys know,
don't forget to subscribe so we can get to 100,000.
And if you're interested in tires or wheels,
check out Fitment Industries dot com.
I'm Alex, and let's just jump right into it.
So the first thing you're gonna want to remember
with stretch tires is two really crucial things.
The first thing that you're gonna want to remember
is that when you're stretching tires,
a lot of it comes down to sidewall strength.
So, sidewall strength is something that a lot of
wheel companies or tire companies tell you about.
They talk about all sorts of advanced technology
and things that they put in their sidewall.
And that does play a role into how strong these
tires are gonna hold up,
especially when you go down a size or two.
But, the sidewall strength doesn't necessarily
come straight from the technology, because actually,
a lot of sidewalls that have a lot of technology in them,
a lot of like, race performance oriented tires
and things like that actually will sometimes have
less sidewall strength overall, than a tire that
just maybe not have as much technology or as much,
you know, thought into the sidewall as a lot of
those higher echelon of tires.
Sidewall strength is super important because when you're
bending it back, essentially when you're tightening it up,
and you're pulling it back, you're gonna put more stress
on the sidewall of your tire and as a result,
what you're gonna end up doing is that if you don't
have a proper tire that has good sidewall strength,
that has good rubber contact, that is,
I don't know if I want to say the word firm.
Because that sounds wrong.
But, you're gonna want to make sure that when you're
looking at tires that you get something
that's gonna have a strong sidewall patch.
Now, a lot of times people want to run, like,
Toyo Proxe r888r's because they have a very
aggressive set up, and they want to stretch them down
so that for some reason you can have a track oriented tire
on a not track oriented wheel.
That's really not gonna work out for you very well,
because those tire sidewalls aren't
meant for that sort of thing.
And the second thing that you're gonna want to remember
is the highest price tire does not automatically mean
that it's the best tire for stretching.
Now, we've all made that mistake before,
we've all thought we wanted to run the coolest,
highest price tires, or we wanted to run some Super Sports
or Pilot Sports or 4S's or something like that,
and then turns out you can't stretch them worth a damn,
because they just don't stretch.
And that's completely fine, but a lot of people
make that mistake because they just think that if they
spend a lot of money of a good tire, that it's automatically
gonna stretch, and that's just not the case.
Tire stretching is very unique in what it does
and what you're supposed to do, and in the most extreme
cases really nothing's going to be able to do
the proper amount of function as
the same tire on a proper setup.
But, in terms of only going down a size or two,
you can still get some performance out of a stretched tire
or a stretched down tire.
For instance, my 315 25's on my car personally,
would be considered stretched down a size.
Now, does that mean that it's terrible and that
I've lost all performance?
Absolutely not, it's just the way that the fender
needs to be set up with the overall fitment.
So I know you guys usually get upset when we talk
about stretched tires, but keep that in mind before
we go into what tires to stretch.
So a couple of our favorites would be the
Falcon 912, the Nexen SU1, the CP672, which is also a
Nexen tire, the Kumho Ecsta, and then you can also
get a couple others under the books.
But those are kinda gonna be some of our favorites.
If you want something a little bit more aggressive,
also a good tire to stretch would be the Federal 595.
And we are going to go into all of these in just a minute.
So, first off, the Federal-
(blows raspberry)
it's not the Federal.
First off, the 912, so the 912 is like, the tire to stretch.
If there was a tire to stretch, everybody's talking about
the 912 on the forums, and in fact the 512 was probably
one of the most iconic stretch tires that you could get.
They could run three, four sizes down and handle
it absolutely fine and hold air and wouldn't break bead,
and it just did a good job,
it was just a chunky tire that go the job done.
Now, it wasn't the most aggressive tire to look at,
but it definitely didn't matter because
that's not what people really wanted.
The 912 ended up replacing it, and the 912 is still
a very good tire, but a lot of people that love the 512
usually aren't jumping up to the 912
because they've switched to Nexen.
And Nexen is another brand that we've talked about.
The SU1, which is an N'Fera
(blows raspberry)
The Nexen, which is an N'Fera tire,
is a really good tire to stretch.
Now, the difference between the 912 and the other one...
The difference between the the 912 and the SU1
is the SU1 comes in a lot wider sizes.
So the 912 is only gonna go up to a 265
whereas the SU1 goes up to a 295.
In terms of what the differences are
besides obviously the tread pattern is
the Nexen does seem to have a little bit more flexibility
in terms of a wider sizes, but Nexen is just a brand that
a lot of people are running now in the current day,
whereas the 912's and 512's aren't
as common as what they used to be.
So, we have a lot of guys here at the shop that actually
run a stretch tire setup, and they run the SU1's.
Now, the 672's are also a great tire to stretch
if you're looking to get something like that.
Now, Nexen has a lot of good tires that you can stretch
but the CP672 is also a good option just because
it's an affordable tire, that gets the job done,
that lasts a while, and stretches extremely well.
So, between the 672 and the SU1,
it's all personal preference, I know a lot of people here
at our own shop will tell you to run the 672,
and a lot of people will tell you to run
the SU1 on Facebook, so it's completely up to you,
but in terms of which one to pick,
they're both absolutely solid options.
In terms of the Federal 595 that's probably a more
aggressive tire setup, it's gonna give you a meatier look
and it's gonna look nice and it's gonna perform well.
One thing you do have to keep in mind thought with
the Federal 595 is that the sidewall is just a little
bit bulkier than most, and a lot of Federal
tires seem to have that bubble.
The Toyo's have that too with the r888r's
where it's just more of a beefy sidewall.
So do take that into consideration if you plan on
stretching the 595, but it's a great option as well.
We've seen people stretch 595's on 13 and 14 wides,
and still hold air just fine.
But keep in mind that with the 595 you are generally
paying a little bit more, and in terms of what you get
out of it, I'd say it's pretty minimal compared
to the price that you're gonna have to pay in comparison
to the SU1, the 672, or the 912.
And probably one of my favorites is the Kuhmo Ecsta.
Now, the Kuhmo Ecsta is not a performance tire,
it's not a summer tire, it's not,
I mean I think they might even call it a summer tire,
but it's not anything too crazy.
But what I do love about the Kuhmo Ecsta is that's something
I ran personally and had an absolute great time with it.
I had a 10 wide wheel with I believe it was 225 50 on it,
and it handled it like a dream.
Over time, had absolutely no issues with it.
And the other tires I've stretched in the past for different
cars that we have done here at the shop
or that we've built in my garage with like one flashlight,
in the freezing temperatures of Wisconsin.
I always put the Kuhmo's on if I had to do a size down for
fender flares or anything like that and it never misbehaved,
it was an absolutely great tire at a great price.
And it's something that I would recommend too,
if you're looking to get into a set.
So if you're looking for something that's a little more,
like, aggressively oriented,
the Federal 595 is a great looking tire.
If you're looking for something that's just going to
get the job done and is what a lot of people are
running right now, the CP672 and the SU1 are a great option.
If you're looking for more of a classic that has
probably the most information behind it,
the 912 is an awesome option.
And finally, if you just wanna what Alex likes,
you can get the Kuhmo Ecsta too.
But let us know in the comments what
you guys want us to talk about.
If this is something you want us to talk about
a little bit more in terms of stretched tires,
and if you're interested in these tires,
we'll actually drop links below in the description
so you can take a look at them.
Of course, If you're looking for wheels and tires,
you can actually check out Fitment Industries dot com.
We have everything that you could possibly imagine,
from your entry level wheels to your AG's
to everything in between, if you're looking for
suspension too, we've got that as well.
Don't forget to subscribe, and on top of that,
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into our Fitment Industries gallery
and drop a link below to the gallery,
we will actually enter you in to win a free
Fitment Industries T-Shirt.
So all you gotta do is add your car to
fitmentindustries.com/add
put the link in the comments section below.
And boom, that's all ya got.
We may even rate it on the review our car series
that we post up on Sundays.
But, I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
let us know if you have any questions below.
We'll see you later, peace.