Stretched tires / 'hella flush' look can get you killed!! PLEASE READ!! (Pics inside)
 

So I recently purchased a set of HRE 547 wheels in 19 inch staggered sizes for my E63, and the previous owner of the wheels had tires mounted that had that 'stretched' look, or what some may call 'hella flush'. These are both just different ways of saying that you are putting improperly sized tires that are too narrow on wheels that are too wide for the fitment to be correct. I don't care how 'cool' people think they look, that is what you are doing. I spent several of my early years doing wheel and tire fitments and track testing for The Tire Rack, and have never understood why people don't understand how dangerous it is to run tires that are too small on rims that stretch out the sidewalls and put undue load and stress on them.

I fitted the wheels to the car to get some pictures of what my new wheels looked like on the car, and to get a size reference to see how the tire size fit so that I could order new ones in more proper sizes, and then promptly removed them from the car. There was no way I was driving at high speed with the wrong tires, and I figured that with a good amount of tread left I could sell these to offset my cost of replacements.

So how can running stretched tires get you killed? I am getting to that. I went to my tire shop today to have the tires removed from the wheels and inspected since a local buyer wanted to pick them up tonight. Much to my shock, my tire guy came in and said, 'You are damn lucky you have not been driving on these. You could have been killed, or sure as hell had a serious accident,' which I was a bit surprised to hear. 'Come look at these,' he said. Then he showed me the tires.....OH *****, you have to be kidding me. ALL FOUR TIRES WERE READY TO BLOW!! Yep, each and every tire had between 2 and 5 DEEP cracks on the INSIDE that ranged in length from between 3 inches long to 8 inches long. The cracks were so deep and long, that it was just a matter of time before 1 or more of them exploded just from supporting the weight of the E63, and sure as hell would have exploded from the next jarring bump or other disturbance. Since all of the cracks were on the INSIDE, normal tire inspections would not have revealed any of this until it was too late if I did not have them removed because of my own paranoia / refusal to run 'stretched' look tires on my car.

I drive this car daily with my pre-school age daughter, and my wife. This is also the car that we take on our 1,200 + mile trips to Canada and back. Much of that time is spent at 'brisk' highway speeds. Blowing a tire at those speeds, and in heavy highway traffic can quickly turn deadly, or at least result in some serious accident incidents.

I am posting this because I do not want to see any of you get hurt. Yeah, you may think the 'stretched' or 'hella flush' look looks 'cool'. But no matter how trendy it is, the look and fitment is VERY wrong. It is only a matter of time until you have an incident, and your desire to look cool may get you killed. Period.

Here are a couple of the pictures of my tires. Keep in mind, these are only a few pictures. EVERY tire had multiple cracks like this, and really did not have much mileage on them. So this damage happened purely because they were the WRONG size for the wheels and car application. I hope you consider this when you buy wheels and tires. Don't get yourself hurt, or destroy your car, just for some stupid look.

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Looks Scary!!!:eek::eek: Are those Bridgestones? What are the DOT codes on the tires. I have seen similar cracks on Bridgestones before that were not stretched. Now I'm not saying that stretching a tire is safe and I agree it should not be done. Some tires, even with normal use, are more prone to this kind of issue though. Good thing tires have cords inside them or they would have ripped apart for sure!!

Yeh I had a set of mickey Thompson et streets do that. It actually looked worse and they were only a year old. But stretched tires is just dumb and pointless regardless.

I had Nitto tires and they crack like that.

Stretched tires with poking wheels looks dumb as hell if you ask me. Those VW guys who then got some of the Audi guys doing it and a handful of other car manufactures also have no clue. It is funny how sweet they think that is when in reality it is just the opposite.

It's a defect in the tire, I have seen many properly sized OEM tires split like that.
I've ran many variations of stretched tires in the past and it's never given me ANY problems despite potholes and aggressive driving. Mind you that was in my VW/Audi days and although I can appreciate a nicely executed poke/stretch, it is not the look I would go for on an AMG, especially given the traction issues we have to deal with on properly sized tires.

It has always looked unbelievably stupid to me, and I agree very dangerous. I've stuffed slightly wider tires on rims that should have been maybe an inch wider, but I feel flexing the sidewalls out the other way, and usually WAY more is just asking for serious problems.

I deal with a lot of people who have stretched tires and this is an extreme case....I've never seen anything like that before...

I have stretched tires on the back of my 911 to keep them from rubbing not the look. That car regularly sees north of 155 and I have seen no cracking.

Still scary though. Thanks for posting. Gives me something to think about.

That look is a sure way to let everyone else know that you're a little "special". This world however is peppered with countless other "specials" that will jerk each other off in affirmation.
1oV3 th0sE wH33lZzZ!! sTaN€3d fTw!!!

Reminds me of the "Temple of Boom" style mini truck low riders from the early 90s with the reverse offset 13" Daytons and 195 tires. ROFL

With that being said, those tires failing was probably more coincidence than circumstance.

This look was the $hi* (the "stanced specials" were probably concieved in these cars)back in the day!!!
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Wow that looks crazy bad

Here's more of what the hella flush ancestors thought looked good 20 years ago...
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The most stupid look to hit the car scene! Keep that crap in Mexico.

These clowns will feel just as stupid looking back when these pics are old-
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And here's an extra special crew, I had to save this one
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I like good fitments, but not that super stretched tire crap... that stuff may be fine on 4cylinder volkswagens, but when you're putting down AMG power, it's just counter-productive. I actually had pretty good fitment on my old Lexus and one time I hit a curb with my back wheel... let's just say a lot more damage happened then it should have because of the whole "flush fitment". My rear quarterpanel got destroyed along with the wheel.

so what about going the other direction?my tires are oem sizes and have the exact same cracks on the inside wall as the pics. it may be a defect in the tires a those are also bridgestones.

Let me clear the air here. I'm not promoting nor protesting the whole stance movement... Just want to state a few things.

There are tires that are better for stretching than others. Tires that don't stretch well will sometimes fail like in the pic posted above. A mild stretch (225/35/19 on a 19x9.5) is not an issue at all, as long as you have correct tire pressure and your camber isn't -4 or more (give or take a little). The style of stretching tires to get a more aggressive look isn't for everyone as well all know. Germans were among the first groups to be doing it along side the Japanese! There will always be people who love it and people who hate it. Get over it and move on lol. It's not the end of the world. There will always be a style or mod selection that will never please the masses. It gives a variety for everyone.

OP, glad to see that you didn't encounter any issues with the ***** tires that were sold to you! Should be a reminder to everyone that whenever you're buying wheels that have tires mounted to check the INSIDE & outside of the tires to check their condition.

225 on a 9.5 is about 2 inches less tire than the wheel. That's a mild stretch?

Also calling that a more "aggressive" look is subjective as well. Since the car will behave worse in every aspect of performance compared to a tire than is square with the wheel, "limp" might be a more fitting description.

I said aggressive look, not more aggressive handling. Please don't lump the two together as it doesn't work that way. And yes, a 225 on a 9.5 is considered a mild stretch these days. Like I said before, it's not for everyone and it never will be. People who stretch tires don't do it for performance. It's strictly for aesthetics.

Thanks for sharing.

That style is STILL "in" today man. It's called the "mexiflush"....take a walk around LA and you'll see those ugly things EVERYWHERE.

There is some guy on this board that has the hella flush look on his Lexus LS. Freakin idiot thinks it's cool, when it looks like he cant afford larger tires.

And we remember what happened the last time those two hooked up for some fun.

You are correct that tire stretch look is subjective, but so are 20" wheels on a W211 chassis...just a thought. To each his own :naughty: