I've been reading different posts which say different things. Some say 265's are too wide for street and takes away feel and others say it's ok. What is really the norm for optimal tire width, is wider better?

 

No. It's not too wide. It really comes down to personal preference. Wider tires will tend to "hunt" in the grooves in the pavement. Also, you will be more prone to hydroplaning issues. Other than that, it depends on $$ and looks.

 

Why more prone to hyroplane???

 

more surface area

 

bigger contact patch allows less pressure to be applied to each tire? P=F/A
more difficult to "cut through" the water

 

So what would be the widest optimal width without having to deal with these issues?

 

I run 265/35R18 Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 tires and I have neither issue. This setup hydroplanes less than a new set of stock Advans and "hunts" noticeably less than the stockers as well. Traction is better in the dry, due to the wider tire, and stellar in the wet (read: scary good). My only complaint with the tire is that it doesn't feel as crisp on turn-in as the stock Advans ... this was mostly fixed, though, when I realized that the Eagles need at least another 6lbs of pressure as opposed to the Advans.

l8r)

 

I stand by my statement as a general truth. If you were to test 235/45-17 F1 GS-D3's against the same in a 265/35-18 I'm sure that you'd find that relative to one another the tires would behave as I've described. That said, the Eagle F1's do an excellent job of shedding water.

 

Personally, for stock wheels, I like the Bridgestone RE 01-R's in 245/40-17. It is on par (maybe better than) the stock Advans and in that size gives a slightly wider contact patch and a narrower sidewall cross section. Overall, it will yield more grip and better transition on turn-in than the same tire in 235/45-17.
Gearing changes slightly as well, which is a topic I rarely see addressed in here when people are making tire/wheel size choices...

 

Thats why I decided to run stock size RE01R's. Don't want my already short MR gears to be even shorter.

 

what do you guys mean by "hunts"?

 

Get some slicks and you be okies on the streets. lol You should be okies with the tires.

 

Wider tires tend to follow all of the grooves in the road which causes the steering wheel to pull to the left and right depending on the pavement, hence the term "hunts".

FWIW to the OP optimal tire size is determined by the width of the tire, for a given wheel width there is a minimum recommended width. I use a 265 tire on my Evo without issue.

Hydroplaning etc. is more prone to happen on a wider tire but that is also dependant on the tire, some tires are going to handle better in the rain than others.

 

Summer= the wider the better
winter= more narrow, better traction

 

The folks at the tirerack have a nice write on "hunting," which is often called tramlining at
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=47

I am surprised that a 265 doesn't tramline more than a 235, sounds like a nice tire.