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Wide tires work best with wide rims. Your rims are pretty narrow. I would not go past a 215/50/16. 215/50/16 is really the ideal size for maximum performance on a 7.5 inch wide rim. I use them on my 16 x 7.5 aftermarket rims. I have also used 225/50/16s, which work fine, but are not spread as wide as they should be for maximum performance. They really need an 8 inch wide rim. Obviously, if performance is sacrificed, you can go wider. And if the alternative is too little grip, you have to go wider. The ideal sizing is tread width of plus or minus 1/2 inch of rim width. Remember that tread width is not 100% of rated section width except on the most radical performance tires when fitted to the widest possible wheel for that width tire. Figure on 90% for high performance 3 season tires. Going to a higher performance tire or making other suspension changes will be helpful. A cheap high performance tire that gets good reviews in the Tire Rack's high performance tire survey is the Kumho Ectsa 712 Supra, and you can get it in a 215/50/16. Or a 205/50/16. Or a 205/55/16. I would stick with one of those three sizes for your wheels.
You can fit big tires if you really want to. Ford used to put 225/60/16s on 16 x 6 Thunderbird wheels, as I recall. Bear in mind that the 60 series sidewall absorbs more and would be less likely to roll off the rim when pressed to the limit on a turn than a wide 50 series when fitted to a narrow wheel.
Philip Bradley
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