10” Wheel Too Wide for M&H 275/45/18 ??

Interested in what people wiser than me think. Picked up a set of used M&H drag radials in 275/45/18 for my 2012 GT (auto with a tune). On their website M&H recommends a 10” wide wheel so I got a pair of 18”x10” FR 500s from American Muscle.

Once installed I thought the wheels looked little wide for the tires (see the pics). Track personnel at the strip concurred, used the word “scary” and suggested a beadlock. While I don’t think the tires/wheels are unsafe the point is the tires don’t look right for the rims.

Tire performed as expected. Plenty of traction, 60 ft went down, picked up about tenth (corrected to sea level). Will update my post in the drag racing section will all that info.

Again interested in opinions. Hope the pics are good enough. Thanks.

M&H use to run small and those look like the old design, that actually worked on the stock 8 1/2 inch rims. Those tires definitely need a narrower rim. You can either get new tires or new wheels but I wouldn't run on those. Those tires have to be old, I think they changed molds over 3 years ago. I would give M&H a call and see what they say.


Earl

I agree with Earl. I used to run that width of mh Dr's on my stock 17's. Worked perfect. Must be old design tires you bought

Interested to hear if these are the old or new design. I've been tempted to throw a set of these on my stock 8" wheels or get a set of 18x10 oem style but was always afraid of the 10's being too wide.

Thanks for the responses. I do have a question in with M&H via their website as to how determine the build date of the tires.

Have access now to a couple of stock rims. Will have the tires mounted on them when I get a chance and see how they look. Will update this post accordingly.

Sledder said:

Thanks for the responses. I do have a question in with M&H via their website as to how determine the build date of the tires.

Have access now to a couple of stock rims. Will have the tires mounted on them when I get a chance and see how they look. Will update this post accordingly.

Click to expand...

Build date codes are set by DOT

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=11

The 325/40 fits well on a 10". IMO those are too narrow.

Sledder said:

Thanks for the responses. I do have a question in with M&H via their website as to how determine the build date of the tires.

Have access now to a couple of stock rims. Will have the tires mounted on them when I get a chance and see how they look. Will update this post accordingly.

Click to expand...

Look forward to the results on the stock rims. Would be cool for the sleeper look if they fit on the stockers without too much bulge.

About a half an hour after I submitted a question on their website I received a call from John at M&H. I thought that was pretty cool.

What I learned is the information stated here about the older M&H’s running small is absolutely correct. John said that the big change came in late 2008. Prior to that time their tires were built slightly “small” so as to be more marketable to a certain demographic (don’t ask, I don’t know). He also told me that the last four digits of the serial number indicate the build date (I hadn’t read stkjock’s link yet). On my tires that number is 2908, which is the 29th week of 2008. That is definitely the smaller tire. He went on to say at the time those tires were designed for 8.5 to 9” rims.

I will keep those interested advised as this goes on. Again thanks to everyone for their info and observations.

John is great to work with. If you order a set of tires direct from M&H, John will write you a little note on them.


Earl

I've spoken to John as well. Def a good guy. I'm pleased with my 325/40s

Big thumbs up for John!! He's a great guy to talk to in person. He's helped me a lot on my launches at the track. Hell of a guy. He even had his thermometer checking the temp of the Dr's after my burnouts before my runs. After each run he told me to hold the burnout longer or shorter. Helped me get that 11.4 pass I have in my link.

So what are you going to do OP. Switch the tires out? I would not run on those.

Had the tires (M&H Drag Radials 275/45/18) installed on a set of stock rims. These are the stock polished “premium” wheels, 18” x 8”. Definitely a better fit than on the 10” rims.

Great, so you mentioned it improved your 60 foots. What are you getting now?

8"s are a bit narrow, but the work

Bmr4life said:

Great, so you mentioned it improved your 60 foots. What are you getting now?

Click to expand...

Having made 24 “clean” runs with street tires my average 60’ was 2.01 will only three of those runs a 1.99 or better. With the drag radials I made 6 runs with the average 60’ being 1.99 (1.98, 1.97, 1.98, 2.00, 2.00 & 2.01). I am also cognizant of the fact the drag radials are at least ¾” taller than my street tires which works against me. Contemplating a gear change to address that issue.