305's on an 11" rim

[72Duster440]

Does anybody have a set of 305 tires on an 11" wide rim, preferably a 17" diameter? I have 315's on them now, but looking to go taller, and it appears I have to go to a 305/45r17 to gain a little height. Just wondering how it'll look, the 315's almost look too narrow, nervous a 305 with be way too narrow looking.

Current look with 315s.

 

[72bluNblu]

I haven't run that size on an 11" rim, but I think you'll be fine. The recommended range for a 305/45/17 goes all the way up to 11.5", so you're fine there.

In general the tires will look better if they're on a rim that's closer to the minimum recommended. That's especially true with the larger diameter rims because you get a little bit of sidewall bulge back. But I think the taller tire will actually have a bigger effect on the look than losing a little bit of width.

 

[72Duster440]

Agreed, I like the sidewall bulge on a tire, it gives it a better look. The 305 is 12" wide, as is the outside of the 11" rim, so I'm hoping it doesn't have too much of a ricer look not having a tire bulge. The slightly taller sidewall should help with that too I think. My other option would be a 345/40, but that might be too wide, the minimum rim size is spec'd at 11.5" for that one. I'm just trying to find a 28" tall tire that fits my wheel.

 

[33IMP]

I can't reference a 17" situation specifically, but I am running a 315/60x15, on a 12" rim. Looks great, works fine. I have heard of the 315s on 14" rims.
305s on an 11 will work, and look, fine. Especially if they ad some height and you have room. (315s on the left)

 

[AJ/FormS]

If it helps, I have run 325/50-15s on tens. Looks great but to wear evenly the pressure has to be down at less than 24psi. Which means I had to slow down for the turns. I compromised with 295/50-15s only because 305 -15s were recently discontinued and unavailable old stock, anywhere in Canada , back in the early 2000s.
I though about 17s but only for a couple of minutes.

 

[33IMP]

M&H makes a 28" tall , 11.3"tread, 325/45x17, recommended rim 11".
Do you have room? (Treaded drag radial).
Theoretically, less than a half inch wider section than your 315s.

 

[72Duster440]

I've seen those, a little more expensive than I was hoping for. They would fit though, I ran a 28x13.50 ET Street years ago.

 

[33IMP]

I've seen those, a little more expensive than I was hoping for. They would fit though, I ran a 28x13.50 ET Street years ago.

Yep. Summit wants $484 for em, Google search found em as low as $429. Still, a bunch of money for a short life tire. My 315 dr pros were $249 when I bought em, now $360. Same tire, with bidenomics added.
I have almost $1300 in the custom bs torque thrust custom shop wheels, 315s, and m&b.
Pretty sure that would be $1800 or $1900 purchase today.

 

[72Duster440]

I'm right there with you, I paid $334 a wheel for custom backspace torque thrusts back in 2016, now they want $556 each, which is a sale from the regular price if $618. I'm leaning towards the 305's, they are still $372 each for MTs, the Nitto are $314, still hard to swallow knowing what I paid for the last set. The 345/40's are $257 a tire. I'm not trying to pinch pennies here, but damn, I gotta be able to afford groceries for the family too.

 

[AJ/FormS]

They say your Duster has the Same wheel tubs as my 68 Barracuda.
I was able to install those 325/50-15s on 10s into my tubs with only some minor smashing, I mean reshaping on the inner walls, and rolling the lips of the outers, moving the axle back a half inch, and trimming the sheet-metal down by the rockers. Of course to fit my nostalgia wheels of choice, I had to narrow the rear end and offset the Springs.
A 325 has a section width of 12.8 on a checking rim of 70% (IIRC) or, on a 9 incher. Each inch wider rim will increase the Section Width by about .7 inch. So then the section width of a 325/50-15 on a 10incher comes to about 13.5.. I think mine was just a tad larger, but that was 20 years ago....
Now, 13.5 inches calculates out to 343 mm ...... but you can hang the outer sidewall out past the body line a tad, if you raise the back up for clearance. My car is lowered so that was not an option. Consequently, that wheel/tire assembly was a really really tight.

After I had that worked out; a 295/50-15 on a 10 was sortof easy.
A 295 measures 11.6 on a checking rim of 8 inches, so on a 10, gains about 1.4 inches, and equals ~13.0 inches and change, which calculates to a section of 330mm, so, I just pushed the wheel out with spacers and cornering is now a non-issue...... even down to 20 psi.

The point is this, whatever tire you install, it will only be the branded size, on the checking rim/wheel. If your wheel is different from the checking wheel, you will have to re-calculate for your wheels.... before you order them!
IDK the checking rim size of every tire out there, but I bet @72bluNblu has you covered.

 

[newguy]

Did you ever mount the 305/45r17's? I am having a hard time deciding on 315/35r17 or 305/45r17"s. I like the 28" diameter tire and a little more sidewall but you lose almost 2" treadwidth (nittos) to the 315's

 

[AJ/FormS]

2 inches? 10 mm is 10/25.5= about 0.4 inch.. I realize that this is a profile measurement, but how can the 35 series to 45 series possibly translate to 1.6 more inches? Ouch!
28s are too tall for the front, and "almost" too tall for the rear.
28s on the front;
You will not be able to align the front to any A-body factory alignment specs. and yur gonna run into clearance issues while turning, hitting either the frame in the back or the strutrod in the front and the fender for sure. If you set the front ride height down, you will get into;
lack of caster/bumpsteer/and scrub radius issues.

28s On the back
The front edge of the rear tire will try to wrap up into the body on acceleration. The axle will likely need to be moved back. I only had about .25 inch room on the threads of my front perches. but it was just enough.

 

[33IMP]

Did you ever mount the 305/45r17's? I am having a hard time deciding on 315/35r17 or 305/45r17"s. I like the 28" diameter tire and a little more sidewall but you lose almost 2" treadwidth (nittos) to the 315's

How do you figure 2" loss? Theoretically, the 305 should be less than a half inch narrower in section width. Is the tread that much narrower on a nitto?
Personally, if i have room for the height, I'll take the taller tire every time!

 

[72Duster440]

Did you ever mount the 305/45r17's? I am having a hard time deciding on 315/35r17 or 305/45r17"s. I like the 28" diameter tire and a little more sidewall but you lose almost 2" treadwidth (nittos) to the 315's

I did, they fit great.

These are Nitto 555Rs.

 

[newguy]

How do you figure 2" loss? Theoretically, the 305 should be less than a half inch narrower in section width. Is the tread that much narrower on a nitto?
Personally, if i have room for the height, I'll take the taller tire every time

Yeah, hard to believe but that is what tire rack shows for treadwidth.....

 

[33IMP]

Yeah, hard to believe but that is what tire rack shows for treadwidth.....

Interesting. Paper summit catalog shows the mickey ss 305 45 17 at 10.5 tread, the 315 35 17 at 11.3. So, 3/4" difference. Again, more than I would expect.... but not two inches!