regarding the bulge, though, I see it on almost all 17's with 225's, rarely on 18's. it depends on how wide the wheel is - if the wheel is 8" wide then 225's are fine, but yeah, you're right, most 17's are 17x7 or 17x7.5

I'm lucky in aus i guess because adjusting total diameter is illegal, so i guess that makes 215x45r17 a more common tyre size