Sounds like the P.O. was a textbook example of what we used to call "Fast & Furious Magazine Mechanics"(FnFMM)--more money than engineering, or even common, sense. Bigger wheels an d tires do nothing but:
Reduce power to the ground due to their larger diameter;
Reduce braking power due to 1);
Reduce acceleration due to 1) and increased weight = increased rotational inertia;
Increase wear of drive train components (CV-joints, U-joints, transmission and final drive gears and bearing, etc) due to 3);.
Worsen "ride" quality due to increased unsprung weight;
Overload suspension components (spring struts, A-arms, ball joints, tie-rod ends, steering gear, etc.) due to increased mass/altered geometry;
Mess up the speedometer and odometer¹ by making them "read" slow;
Huh, seven sins--I really did not set out to do that.
But they "look cool" and will make your fellow FnFMMs envious--all while making your wallet lighter,
We have already seen (literally) what a "lift kit" can accomplish so I won;t get into that...
Contrary to what the average FnFMM thinks, the emgineers that design these things do generally know what the are doing,,,
----------------------------------------------------------------------
¹ - the odometer thing mat be "good" if you are planning on screwing over a buyer down the road (no pun intended). Let's suppose you put 27" tires on a vehicle designed for 25" tires--that's an 8% increase in circumference. So, the 5,000 miles you put on the vehicle will be recorded as only 4630 miles.