DD/HPDE 17x8 +35: 225/45 or 235/40
 

I'll be taking delivery of my new wheels in the next couple months (5-6 months is such a long wait time :( ) And In the meantime I'm debating tires.

The car will be daily driven and taken to a decent number of track days throughout the year, hoping to do at least one a month for this season. The wheels are 17x8 +35, and I'm currently debating between 225/45 and 235/40 ZII*. I prefer the meatier/wider tire with the 235, but in a discussion with a US rep from the company he mentioned that with the +35 offset I may have fitment issues with a 235, I imagine he was referring to rubbing issues, and have to run a 225 or 215. The car will be lowered around 1" on coilovers, and I will also have camber plates and new LCAs installed at the same time. Currently thinking of running between -2 to -2.5 camber in the front and -1.5 to -2 in the rear.

From folks with similar sized wheels out there who daily and track, would you expect there to really be any issues running a 235/40 tire? What benefits and drawbacks might there be to either size?

You won't have any rubbing problems. Read the tire specs and decide if the diameter vs width(compared to stock) is worth the trade off.

I figured I wouldn't after reading through a few other threads of people running similarly spec'd wheels, but the US rep's note about the sizing had me double thinking things.

I'm leaning toward the 235/40, because it's closer to stock diameter, a little bit wider contact patch, and I prefer a bit meatier tire. The $110 difference kinda sucks though. haha

17x9 +35 w/ 245/40 fits why wouldn't x8 w/ 235?

Not quite sure. I was going off what their rep had sent to me in an email.

Specifically he said: "17x8 35 offset which is lightly aggressive size. you may required narrow size tire which is 215 or 225 wide size and rolled fender and suspension kit to make lowered and negative camber. if you go to slam lowered and super negative camber then you can fit wide and lower offset however you can not drive daily with wider than this size of wheel. so this is aggressive size but still you can drive daily."

Is that a direct quote? Does this rep speak English? That'd hardly an aggressive size.

That is a direct quote from an email.

The rep is Japanese, the company is RS-Watanabe. His English was... not the greatest. haha

I've ran 235/45/17 and 225/45/17 on 17x8 et35 5zigen FN01RC. I used the set up for DD/AutoX duty with -2.0 up front with -1.7 in the rear and didn't have any rubbing issues with RCE Yellow springs that are about 3/4" drop. It did sit pretty close but with coilovers you should be more than fine

I have 245's at -2.3, but my wheels are also +44.

I bought a set of wheels 17x8 +35 that came with 245/40 sized Rivals. I'll be running them on coils with around 1 inch drop and 2 degrees negative camber so I know I won't have any fitment issues but the guy I bought them from ran them on his stock BRZ before he sold them to me and said they fit without rubbing anything with any driving he did on them. He was selling them because he bought a new 2016 STI and sold his BRZ.

Yeah, the other option for 17x8 is +40, which the rep seemed to consider the better size to run, coupled with a 245/40.

I figure that I'll most likely run a 225/45, since it will work fine, is cheaper, and people have noted that it will be more responsive than the 235/40.