Hey guys/gals:
Currently I am running factory tire spec Pirelli winter tires 255/35/20 and 295/30/20 on a set of gyrodones here in the Midwest. They are almost shot after a season in the rears. I am going to replace but given the 295 rear tire having only one choice on Tirerack's website, I am curious if anyone has successfully reduced the size in the rear and front (for a smaller footprint in snow) without causing harm. I am aware that the speedo calibration will be off a little, but that doesn't concern me. I am more worried about causing any damage to vehicle by increasing to let's say 40 series in front and 35 series in rear if that is even possible to reduce the MM width on tires? Thanks for your feedback.

 

The 255/295 refers to the width of the tyre so changing the sidewall size won't alter the width, it'll just increase the overall diameter of the wheel tyre combo. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

 

Correct, but I checked a Tire Size calculator and it stated that I could use a 265/35/20 for the rear (with the width of the rim that I have) and that when the speedo shows 80mph it will really be 80.9. Something that really doesn't bother me for accuracy measures. What I guess I am questioning is increasing the sidewall to a 35 series in the rear, will that "rub" in any way. The main purpose of this question to all is that there is only one winter tire available and it is a Pirelli which didn't last for me at all..... So I thought that if I cautiously changed the tire sizes a tad then hopefully more winter tire options may exist.