Can you put a tire rated for a 7- 8.5 rim on a 9 rim?

So yesterday I got some new wheels and tires. Ended up put Level 8 zx 17x9 with Falken Rocky Mountain's LT265/70/17. I originally asked the guy at America's Tires for the P-metric version, but he didn't have them in stock and said to try these out for 7 days and if I really didn't like them to come back and they would order and swap them out at no charge. The tires felt great, but heavy. I noticed a decrease in my acceleration off the bat and had some rubbing. Took off the front flaps and have to take off the tiny ones located on the front of the wheel well to have perfect clearance.

Also, I did a bit more research on the wheel and the Falken website states that the LT version of this tires are recommended to be on a 7-8.5in rim and the P-metric version is recommended for a 7-9in rim. I guess my question is what are the effects of going going 0.5in over the recommended tire width?

 

Going over the recommended range makes it easier for the tire to pop a bead.

Sounds like you should get the tires you wanted originally, for many reason.

 

I would NEVER put tires on my truck that were not within the recommended size.

Not only is it dangerous but you put others on the road at risk. I am running the minimum size on mine.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Wish I caught that sooner.

 

Ask the guys at Discount and see what they say and report back.
I have a similar situation. I have Level 8 wheels that are 16x8.5 and my tires are 265/75/16 which are rated for 7"-8" wide wheels.
As you can read in this article there some allowances. To be honest, my discount said .5" was not an issue and there had to be a cutoff range. If there was a problem I doubt Discount tire would have installed them. I researched extensively and I never found a single complaint about a tire failure due to this issue.

If you think about, it is only stretching the rubber .25" on each half of the rim...that is about the thickness of the tire itself. That is not a big deal. Going 1" or more obviously is going to distort the fitment of the tire and cause problems.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=198

They look fine on my truck.

 

Tests are performed and specifications are provided for a reason. Safety.

If you or your tire installer choose not to listen to the engineers who tested, specified, and produced the tires then you're not going to listen to us.

Looks mean jack shit in the real world.

God forbid your posts are ever found should you have a blow out and kill someone. Pretty sure knowingly putting tires on a wheel they were not intended for is grounds for negligence, but if the people at Discount Tire says it's OK then it must be

 

Yep, Ole Elmo down at discount tire, he knows it all. Why just last year he learned to tie his own shoes.

If a Professional Tire design engineer with 20 years experiencee says not to do something, chances are there is a reason why. Take the tires back.

 

Definitely taking them back. The guy from Discount Tire's didn't say anything to me when he slapped them on. I found out when I got home last night that the wheel width recommendation was only to 8.5. Thank you for the info guys. Wish I didn't have to bring it back, but hey I get new tires .