But the F-430 build is done so that's nice.
If you wanna go check that out,
you can check out Branded Title Co.
Anyway, when we're looking at fitment,
one of the easiest ways to control that fitment
is your tire size.
You don't have to go to far for people to understand that.
People do it all the time to either sync-in
their set ups, whether they wanna pull a fender,
to lift fitment photo
or just because they didn't know that 215/35 on a 10Y
will result in a stretchy boy, which by the way,
we need to stop making these rookie mistakes.
Now every once in a while, it's one of the most
commonly asked questions on the Facebook formed groups
and your own mother Karen is wondering "uh, honey, can you
drive on those tiny tires safe honey bear,
I just don't think it's safe."
I don't know anybody that talks like that,
but I thought it was a pretty good impersonation,
and I don't do good impersonations.
So I'm Alex, Alex.Fi on Instagram,
and today ladies and gentlemen we'll be talking about,
if actually driving on stretched tires is a good idea.
Well that, and probably a few other small
side rants along the way, well let's get into it.
And if you are looking for after market wheels, tires or
suspension, be sure to check us out over at
fitmentindustries.com
where we literally have everything
you could possibly imagine, including a gallery,
so that you don't mess up your fitment
and it has over 30,000 after market vehicles
and if you want to add yours,
you can go do that at fitmentindustries.com/add
and then we got an airlift giveaway,
the description link will be below, it's pretty awesome.
Starting back at the beginning,
is driving on stretched tires actually a good idea?
And the quick answer is actually pretty simple,
its, it depends.
Driving on stretched tires is like asking if Taco Bell
makes consistent steak (fart) stuft burritos.
I don't know if I've ever had consistent anything
at Taco Bell before, there ain't no (beep) way,
okay, you can put your life on that statement.
Dakota wouldn't even put his life on that statement.
The more aggressive you get with stretching tires
the higher you risk something going wrong.
Now that can be down through like debeading
or blowing a cord, or loosing tire pressure,
or just increased risk of hydroplaning.
These are all things that commonly happen as you stretch
a tire more and more and more.
Which is essentially, if we don't know what
stretched tires are, it's when the tires gets stretched
on a wider wheel for a smaller sized tire,
and it's really just not something most people
in the older community do.
Each of these things are pretty real things
that people run into and stretched tires,
you know, when you own them ,
or when you have them on a set up you wanna be aware of.
Now debeading happens with more excessive tire stretching.
It's something that, is pretty consistent
and can happen to you at least once or twice
if you're new to the tire stretching game.
You'd see this happen with more heavier cars
running like a stage-three-plus tire that would cause it,
or there's a chance that you just messed it up
when you mounted the tires on yourself,
with a can of gas and a match and it didn't sit right.
Now, one of the things that you have to remember is,
heavier cars with a stretched tire,
you're gonna have debeading occur more often
because of the weight that is actually doing that.
Now, you can also blow a cord,
which is almost always due to weight and improper load
index on a stretching tire with a thin side wall.
Now this happens a little bit more than anything else
and there's a reason those Sears Auto employees
look at you all angry when you try to have them mount those
tires you found on craigslist to some VMRs.
I don't know why I keep using this example as a reference,
and I think Sears is actually out of business now,
and nobody actually cares about them,
but, that happened to me, and I will never not,
remember that moment in my life when that middle-aged man,
that was very upset with me that I even dared
ask to do that.
But, that and some tires I built
specifically for Sidewall Flex to occur
during normal or heated driving conditions
because your tires, they shake their booties
when you go around corners fast and that flex is what
maximizes your traction path when the world
and gravity is telling the tire to get the (beep) out.
When you're looking at that,
that flex is essentially no longer there,
because the flex is built into the stretch.
So when you stretch a tire, it removes that portion
of your tire being able to do just that.
That's another reason that a lot of times there is safety
concerns associated with stretching your tires.
Now, hydroplaning is pretty common on stretch set-ups too
depending on how bad or how excessive
the stretch actually is.
Now, in case anybody didn't know,
hydroplaning, welcome to Science class,
is when your tires encounter more water than it can scatter.
What, then happens, is your tire becomes separated
by wee little (whining sounds),
and then you slam uncontrollably into a tree,
and you blame everything else besides,
your 195 Milekings that you bought.
Add a stretched tire with some camber,
and your contact patch just goes straight out the window
and when that contact path becomes smaller,
the ability to actually evacuate water,
becomes less and less and less.
So if you're driving through a rain storm
sometimes you can have a bad time.
Now, these are all reasons that a lot of people think that
stretching tires can be deemed unsafe, improper, not right,
that you're the spawn of hell, a lot of different things.
And sometimes people get very very, what's the word,
energetic, about talking about stretch tires.
But does that actually inherently mean that
driving on stretch tires is a bad idea?
Well, sure, if you're looking at just the technical,
but there's a lot more to it than just that,
and that's why the answer would also be no.
A lot of times when people talk about stretch tires,
people almost always assume the worst.
They imagine that one BRZ with the crazy camera on the
15 wides or the Lexus, and assume all stretched tires
are just like the worst thing in the world,
and that their 195 are on 14 wides.
And that's not inherently true,
a lot of times you'll actually see most people,
especially in the after-marketing running some set-up
that is probably stretched.
There's very few after-market set-ups
that people will actively run that's a "midi set-up",
you know, like a stage one set-up is actually something 70%
of enthusiast run without actually even knowing it.
And let's be honest, if you saw what the odium tire size
was for your wheel, especially your after market wheel
you'd probably want to run a stretch set up too,
because a freaking 205 65 18 look (beep)
ain't gonna look good on that car.
In addition, super shallow stretching really doesn't
do anything in terms of negative performance,
or really, negative driving experience,
and this is where it gets a little crazy.
We don't wanna say, that all stretching is okay,
as you go down to the excessiveness,
there are some things that can happen.
But, a great example is going from a 45 or a 40 series
on a 225 is pretty minimal, it won't affect your siping
that much, or your channels and your tire treads,
and it will only make it look a little bit better
because you're gonna have a smaller side wall.
Now tire stretching isn't anything new either,
it's something that has existed overseas
for decades upon decades upon decades.
It's been there a lot longer than it's been here
and the USA was probably one of the last ones
to pick up the style, and that's exactly what it is really,
its a style.
I don't think many people remember
that stretching tires are to usually make a fitment set up
work, or to to give the car a certain aesthetic.
And there's really not too much function aesthetic
or benefit to it, if at all, I mean,
when you're stretching a tire it's mostly for looks.
And if you're spending your Friday nights
arguing about the functionality of the whole thing,
you may not have a good time,
and there's why a lot of people that don't
like stretch tires have a tendency to sit in.
If you spend your time arguing about how,
it's the end of the automotive world as we know it,
you're probably not going to be very fun at parties either.
And I would argue, to everyone's point,
that we've probably all done something to our cars
that doesn't help the car out, at all,
alright, I see you, all right.
Under glow, wheels, under glow or
radio, stereos, subs and things like that.
So, what do you think?
Let us know on the comment section below
and of course, if you're looking for
after market wheels, tires or suspension
be sure to hit us up over at fitmentindustries.com
We have pretty much everything you could possibly imagine
and of course, if you're looking or have questions
on that sort of stuff, check out our gallery.
You're gonna end up seeing a lot of people running really
good set-ups in the gallery, and we don't really judge
if you want a stretched set-up or you want a midi set-up for
your Camaro, we pretty much have all of it,
anyway, we hope you guys enjoyed,
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries, we'll see you there,
sorry about the really exciting background,
this is what happens when you're stuck at home,
and have too much coffee, we'll see you later, peace.
(music)