Can a 225/40 still look stretched on an 18x9 wheel? + tyre recommendations?

Ok. I need more chassis clearance up front. The 215/35 i have on there at the moment is like a rubber band and doesnt help (though the stretch is nice). With 225/40 I calculate an extra 11mm of chassis clearance at the same ride height, as well as 11mm less fender gap. I found an old thread where viplife told me to avoid 215/35s for this very reason. Not sure why i ignored that advice :uglystupid2:

An added benefit would be that i can rotate tyres with the rears. But of course fender clearance may be a big issue in the front unless i can find a tyre that is super stretchy.

Questions:
1. I saw some pics of people with 225/40 on an 18x9 and that looked good. Anyone have any clear pics showing the stretch?
 (i.e. angle of sidewall etc)
2. Which tyres have good stretch, which have bad stretch?

My own experience suggests Kumho Ecsta is around 10-20mm worse off than most other tyres (thats why i went so skinny!)
Falken FK-452 is supposed to be around 10mm more than the ST-115 line that they replaced
Other brands? What do i look for in a tyre to indicate whether it will give me good clearance?

I replaced my 225/40 Falkens with 225/40 Nittos and I regret doing it. :'(
Falken looked 10x better(more stretched)

All I can say is, STAY AWAY FROM NITTO :angel:

Hmm... Ok... I think the forum just had a Matrix-style glitch. Seems all posts from the last couple of days are gone.

Anyway, after looking for Falken 451s, 115s and just about any secondhand 225/40 18, i ended up going back where i bought the tyres from the first time. He gave me $90 each for my tyres, and charged me $150 for NanKang NS2s, which were physically a narrower, and taller tyre for the same measurements as Kumho. Compared side to side its pretty amazing to see how different the tyres are.

Stretch is negligable, looks almost normal to me (well, compared to the rears at least, which are the same tyre on a 10J). But the important part is that they clear the fenders, and I suddenly have an extra 2cm ground clearance (My guess due to the fact that the 215/35 was overloaded, and the extra sidewall). This also means less fender gap, so they fill the guards better too IMO. 

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG3028Medium.jpg[/img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG3027Medium.jpg[/img]

And the side shot:
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/dbloemhard/Cedric/CIMG3026Medium.jpg[/img]

This is my 'practical' ride height. Doesnt even scrape going in the driveway! For showing off expect at least an inch off the rear, and 1-2" off the front

dunlop fm901 stretches nice

I had 205/40 Falken ST115 on 17x9 on my 240, was WAY too stretched to daily (ended up bending the rim on a bump on the interstate. then I went to 235/40 ST115 and the stretch was very VERY slight... more just like a nice fit. 225/40 will be a good stretch depending on the tire you choose. some tires run large for their sizing.

i like 225/40 on 18x9s. just enough of a stretch to see. gives you extra cushion for bombing potholes too.

Yeah, i feel alot more confident with these tyres, specially since the weight of the engine is on the fronts. Getting a blow-out at 110km/h would be pretty bad if it was one of the fronts... Might be more manageable if its a rear wheel.

hey if you can clear it then don't keep stretching.

if you can clear it and have room to run it without the stretch then even better IMO. I was gonna stretch on my RL cuz I had no other choice.