i'm looking to buy some BFG T/A's to go on my freshly refurbed/repainted wheels and want to know whats the widest i can go on a 6" wide wheel? it measure 14x7 but it says on the inside of the wheel 14x6. was thinking 225/70R14 but wanted to know how wide i could push on those wheels. Thanks in advance

 

Ideally the wheel width should be within an inch of the tire tread width. I assume you measured the width outside-to-outside. That's not correct. The actual wheel width is the inside dimension between the bead seating surfaces.

 

I measured both and figured it was the inside diameter since the 6" width was stamped inside so ideally 7" tread width but will 7.5-8" work?

 

Yeah, but that's pushing it. Of course, I've run 245/60-14s on 14x6 wheels...

 

Is it a safety risk or just doesn't look right?

 

If the rim is too narrow for the tire, at some point you'll potentially overload the sidewalls. This can also put undue stress on the bead and possibly cause the bead to roll off the rim under high stress conditions (like during an emergency lane change maneuver). The 1" over/under rule of thumb is how the tire manufacturers design the tire to work. The further away from that you get, the further from the tire's designed operating condition.

 

Looks like I'm going to follow that rule! Seems like every time I take my car out somebody nearly "side swipes" me even though I'm in a bright yellow f-85. What tire size would be 7" wide and the ride diameter? Also Joe_P you're my hero! I'm 23 at the moment but hope to someday spread good knowledge like you!

 

If you go to tirerack.com they will list rim wiidths that the manufacturer recomends.