Tires bigger than given range of rim - how much is too much?

[Hawk]

I finally had my rear wheel swapped under warranty due to a faulty freehub on my Spec TriCross.

The rims fitted are Mavic CXP-22s. The stock tires (which I'm still getting round to replacing) are 32mm. The rims are apparently designed for 18-28mm tires.

I suspect this on it's own should be ok? Any thoughts? Bit strange that this is done under warranty but not to the 'letter' of the manufacturer's design criteria?

Last winter I used Snow Studs - these tires are 38mm. The stock rims were good for up to 34mm iirc and I checked with my LBS who reckoned I'd be OK (and I was).

Would I be pushing it, come winter, if I tried to fit 38mm tires to the max 28mm rims? What's the worst that could happen...?

 

[mcshroom]

You may find the handling becomes a bit cumbersome as you'll have a 'balloon tyre' style profile, but in general they should be fine. Mountain bike tyres are often massively wider than the rims they are put on.

 

[mickle]

They'll be fine. Mcshroom is spot on citing mountain bike tyres. Two inch wide tyres on 23mm rims is not uncommon. Manufacturers say the funniest things.

 

[Hawk]

Thank you very much both :-) really appreciated