[travicon]

ok, so as many of you know, i just recently bought new wheels. well, the wheels came with tires, but now i am having rubbing issues. the tires are 225/45/17's and the wheels have an offset of +55, will biting the bullet and just buying 215/45/17 cure this? please keep in mind that i had 225/40/18's previously with a +45 offset and never rubbed at all. any ideas/answers/suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[cc]

You don't need new tires. 225/45R17 is about as close a fit to the stock 205/50R17 as you can get. Just get a 5-10mm spacer to lower the effective offset of the wheels and all your rubbing problems will disappear.

 

[ag bullet]

Sounds like the wrong offset for the wheels. I would advise against the use of a spacer. It will change the amount of the stud that the wheels are using to stay mounted. Spacers can cause a wheel off, which you definitely do not want.

 

[myork]

How wide are your wheels?
I have the same offset and tire combo and have almost an inch of clearance lock to lock with 7 inch wide wheels.

 

[travicon]

7 inch wide lowered on prokit. need to figure out a remedy. i hear so many bad things about spacers that i really dont want to get them. but will buying 215/45's all the way around really do the trick? i mean what, i am saving 5mm per side of the wheel and height if im not mistaken, could that really do the trick? and yes, i realize the offset is high, but so is the offset for those that run on rx-8 rims too.

 

[D Bone]

I'm not a spacer fan either, it's a bad fix for an offset problem. If it were my car, I would go with the 215/45/17's and leave the spacers for somebody else. 8)


Darryl

 

[blam]

I'd personally toss on some 5mm spacers.

 

[travicon]

[quote author=D Bone link=topic=68245.msg1178776#msg1178776 date=1170262969]
I'm not a spacer fan either, it's a bad fix for an offset problem. If it were my car, I would go with the 215/45/17's and leave the spacers for somebody else. 8)


Darryl
[/quote]

problem lies in the fact that i dont just have $360 to drop on new tires. i would prefer to know that the problem will be solved. i guess i could just buy 2 front tires and see if they still rub at full lock

 

[D Bone]

I would bet that the narrower tread width coupled with the shorter diameter would fix your rubbing problem. But yea, I hear ya about the money spending thing!



Darryl

 

[BoostThat3]

Wouldn't spacers in this case bring the offset up? Since he has 55mm offset wheels, putting a 5-10mm spacer would bring the offset to 60-65mm? Or am I mixed up and it's the other way around, and it'll bring it to 45-50mm offset. Anyways, I vowe against the wheel spacer as well since the wheel is mounted on a lesser amount of the studs and the lug nuts wouldnt go on all the way. I would just get the 215/45/17 tires like you said from the beginning.

If you don't mind, to post pictures

 

[travicon]

ya you have it backwards, spacers would lower the offset, it can actually be pretty confusing. and doing the math, with a 215/45, i save 10mm width wise, and 5mm height wise. and pics will come as soon as my comp is fixed!

 

[BoostThat3]

I see, but offset I know for sure is a big factor in why you are rubbing. So either you get wheel spacers and take the risk, get smaller tires, or get new wheels and keep the tires you have on there and sell the ones you have now. What kind of wheels are they?

 

[travicon]

[quote author=BoostThat3 link=topic=68245.msg1180640#msg1180640 date=1170343039]
I see, but offset I know for sure is a big factor in why you are rubbing. So either you get wheel spacers and take the risk, get smaller tires, or get new wheels and keep the tires you have on there and sell the ones you have now. What kind of wheels are they?
[/quote]

ya, i am just gonna bite the bullet and buy front tires and see if they rub at full lock.

i wasnt gonna tell anyone what wheels i got, but since the houston 3 guys have seen them, might as well spill the beans. they are the 2003.5 mazdaspeed protege racingharts!!!! the are sextacular!

and yes, i have pmed oricle to try to find out if he has had rubbing issues, and he told me no. he runs on the tires that came with his original 17's(205/50/17)

so yes, my tires are bigger, but not by much, so i have my fingers crossed that 215/45's are gonna do the trick! his hatch is lowered on prokits just like my sedan, so we shall see.

here's the math numbers wise:

225/45= 225mm wide, and 101.25mm height
215/45= 215mm wide, and 96.75mm height
205/50= 205mm wide, and 102.5mm height

so as you can see, spacially, overall, i gain the most space by going to the 215/45's. :huh

 

[BoostThat3]

Hmm.. nice choice in the first place on rims..

I don't see why you would have rubbing issues with the 225s.. you def. shouldn't have a problem with the 215s. But also, remember that the 215/45 portion of the tire size is a ratio... not just an actual measurement.

 

[travicon]

[quote author=BoostThat3 link=topic=68245.msg1181120#msg1181120 date=1170357880]
Hmm.. nice choice in the first place on rims..

I don't see why you would have rubbing issues with the 225s.. you def. shouldn't have a problem with the 215s. But also, remember that the 215/45 portion of the tire size is a ratio... not just an actual measurement.
[/quote]

you sure? i thought the first number, in this case 225, meant the width in millimeters, and the second number was the height of the sidewall as a percentage of the first number.

so: my current tires are 225mm wide, and the sidewall is 45% of 225 which comes to 101.25mm tall.

someone please correct me if i am wrong!

 

[BoostThat3]

OOOOHHHH lol so THATS what they mean.. my bad. Thanks for clearing this up for me lol. :doh:

 

[travicon]

whew! you scared the beejeezus out of me, i thought i had life as a tire all figured out! but i learned what the numbers mean on this forums as well, so i am no guru. dont feel dumb, its all learning on here! :goodjob:

 

[BoostThat3]

heh.. Yeah, well now I get it so thanks to Mr. trbab, my knowledge about a tires life is stupendous! I really like the Nitto NeoGen tires tread pattern.. Are those the tires you have now? Pics?

 

[travicon]

ya, i have nitto's on my slipstreams, but no pics cuz my effing comp is down! the pattern is very sexy, but the sidewalls are extremely weak. you should see the rollover that i had after auto-xing with them! i realize they are not auto-x tires, but i dont have money to shell out right now for some falkens, so im just gonna rag these tires out!

 

[BoostThat3]

haha nice. I wish I had money to rag out right now, then I'd get some wheels... would there be a big difference between 205/55/16 and 205/55/16 tires? I'm trying to decide whether to get 50s or 55s, I really want a lower profile... to make the 16" wheel look a bit bigger, and I know that my wheel gap will increase.. but I also have the prokit awaiting under my bed to be installed.