Hi guys! I see I missed a lot here, somehow I forgot about the forum a bit but I'll try reading back later...
First of all, my Ibiza is still going strong so that's pretty good...
Second, I need help.
I'm planning on getting my steelies banded/widened from 6j to 7j in a couple of weeks. Problem is, I don't want to buy new wider tires as they're quite expensive for me and I like the stretched look and I just had new front tires... My tire size is 185/60HR14 (and I'm running Blackstone CD2000 tires, which are about 85 bucks for 2, so very cheap tires).
So I've been looking around the web for a bit and been asking some people about stretching tires and everyone has been telling me different things. I work at a tireshop in the weekends and I think my boss doesn't have any experience with stretching tires over a wider rim...
(btw, 185 tires are 7.2 inch wide, as you guys don't meassure in mm like we do?!)
First I asked him if it's possible for me to go from 6j to a wider rim with the same tires and he told me "well you can go to 6.5 but not to 8 otherwise it's dangerous"... So I looked up some stuff and I was like, well 1.2cm is a bit of a waste of money, but a full inch wider would be good. So I asked him, and he said it would be dangerous, and I said I've seen loads of people with stretched tires on the web. He then said "then do it and we'll see"...
So about a week later I asked my dad if he could ask my boss(as he was going there anyway) how and where it would be best to store the Ibiza with no wheels while they're doing my steelies...
Apparantly, the previous owner of my Beeza(who was also at the shop apparantly) and my boss told my dad it was super dangerous and all that to stretch tires over an inch too wide... I was like what the hell? Why are people running 225 tires on 10J then, that's a full 1.2 inches too wide. and that is apparantly not dangerous? So I texted that to my boss and I got nothing in reply as of yet.
Also, I've been hearing mixed opinions about whether or not you need to take drastic measures to get a tire to pop the bead on a wider rim, some say you do(using brake cleaner and fire...) and others say you can just do it with a regular tire machine that ever tire shop uses...
I assume the shop where I work apparantly has never stretched tires before, or even know about the millions of people that have them, and therefore assume it's dangerous?
Plus, something I just thought about, is it the J shape of my rims that make it more dangerous, as other rim shapes cannot loose the bead of the tire as easily and are therefore safer to stretch or something?
What my question with this thread is: What are your thoughts on stretching tires? Can I go an inch wider without buying new tires? And can I fit those tires on an inch wider rims at my regular tire shop(which is where I work ) without having to mock about with fire, bicycle innertubes or any of that odd stuff that seems pretty silly to me? Or do you think it's just smarter to go to a different tire shop to get my tires fitted, if it isn't all that dangerous after all?! Or to not widen my steelies more than half an inch?...
I really need help with this, I really like the stretched look, and I think Suj here has/had stretched tires aswell, so I assume he has some experience with it? I think I can trust you guys a bit more than my boss as I assume my boss has never stretched tires before...
First of all, my Ibiza is still going strong so that's pretty good...
Second, I need help.
I'm planning on getting my steelies banded/widened from 6j to 7j in a couple of weeks. Problem is, I don't want to buy new wider tires as they're quite expensive for me and I like the stretched look and I just had new front tires... My tire size is 185/60HR14 (and I'm running Blackstone CD2000 tires, which are about 85 bucks for 2, so very cheap tires).
So I've been looking around the web for a bit and been asking some people about stretching tires and everyone has been telling me different things. I work at a tireshop in the weekends and I think my boss doesn't have any experience with stretching tires over a wider rim...
(btw, 185 tires are 7.2 inch wide, as you guys don't meassure in mm like we do?!)
First I asked him if it's possible for me to go from 6j to a wider rim with the same tires and he told me "well you can go to 6.5 but not to 8 otherwise it's dangerous"... So I looked up some stuff and I was like, well 1.2cm is a bit of a waste of money, but a full inch wider would be good. So I asked him, and he said it would be dangerous, and I said I've seen loads of people with stretched tires on the web. He then said "then do it and we'll see"...
So about a week later I asked my dad if he could ask my boss(as he was going there anyway) how and where it would be best to store the Ibiza with no wheels while they're doing my steelies...
Apparantly, the previous owner of my Beeza(who was also at the shop apparantly) and my boss told my dad it was super dangerous and all that to stretch tires over an inch too wide... I was like what the hell? Why are people running 225 tires on 10J then, that's a full 1.2 inches too wide. and that is apparantly not dangerous? So I texted that to my boss and I got nothing in reply as of yet.
Also, I've been hearing mixed opinions about whether or not you need to take drastic measures to get a tire to pop the bead on a wider rim, some say you do(using brake cleaner and fire...) and others say you can just do it with a regular tire machine that ever tire shop uses...
I assume the shop where I work apparantly has never stretched tires before, or even know about the millions of people that have them, and therefore assume it's dangerous?
Plus, something I just thought about, is it the J shape of my rims that make it more dangerous, as other rim shapes cannot loose the bead of the tire as easily and are therefore safer to stretch or something?
What my question with this thread is: What are your thoughts on stretching tires? Can I go an inch wider without buying new tires? And can I fit those tires on an inch wider rims at my regular tire shop(which is where I work ) without having to mock about with fire, bicycle innertubes or any of that odd stuff that seems pretty silly to me? Or do you think it's just smarter to go to a different tire shop to get my tires fitted, if it isn't all that dangerous after all?! Or to not widen my steelies more than half an inch?...
I really need help with this, I really like the stretched look, and I think Suj here has/had stretched tires aswell, so I assume he has some experience with it? I think I can trust you guys a bit more than my boss as I assume my boss has never stretched tires before...