plus 1 wheels, tire sizing question

[soundman98]

looking to change my wheels for a future BBK upgrade. i'm also going to be lowering 1" in the future, but wheels and brakes are my first focus.

i've settled on the 18x8.5 +44 Rota KB-F wheels.

from what i'm reading the max tire width to prevent rubbing is 225mm, right? according to willitfit.com, 225's will be stretched on an 8.5" wheel, i generally prefer a flat or slight bulge in the sidewall, so i'd prefer to run a 235-245.

is it better to stretch 225's or is it easy enough to fabricobble everything that 235-245's would fit without rubbing issues?

[soundman98]

i was looking at that. that still won't tell me if the fronts will rub the wheel wells while turning.

[Grey86]

Are you running coilovers ?
With stock suspension it loos like you will just clear (2mm from spring) with the 8.5 44 offset and 225.
The only difference by running a 234/245 is the speed difference. 225 will be the closest to stock speed.
IMO i would run a 8.5 with 42 or less offset OR a 8 with a 40 offset. Just knowing im not going to run into any issues with stock suspension.
hope this helps.

[Vital]

It will depend on how you plan on lowering, springs or coils? This thread should help you out. It seems some of these guys were able to fit 235-245 on stock suspension though. If you go coils you should have any issues, but if you go springs you may need 3-5mm spacer with the bigger sizer tires.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...?t=8636&page=6

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Vital

It will depend on how you plan on lowering, springs or coils? This thread should help you out. It seems some of these guys were able to fit 235-245 on stock suspension though. If you go coils you should have any issues, but if you go springs you may need 3-5mm spacer with the bigger sizer tires.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...?t=8636&page=6

that thread helps a lot!

by coils, you mean coilovers? i am planning on fortune auto's 510 series coilovers. springs just feel like a whole lot of work for minimal benefit.

[Tristor]

I'm running 225/40R18 tires on 18x8.5 +44 ET wheels right now, it works perfectly fine without any rubbing on stock suspension. If you lower the car 1" (which is where I'm at right now) on coilovers, you will need spacers front and rear to get a flush fit. I have -3.2F/-2.2R and I need 18mm spacers for both, but am running 15mm right now and it's close enough to flush for me. To run the spacers you will need extended studs, so have fun in the rear

If you know you'll be lowering straight out, you should figure out your likely camber settings and get wheels with the correct offset to get within 5mm of being flush that way you can change camber somewhat and run normal spacers on extended studs, if you go too nuts to get your wheels to be flush you'll end up needing bolt on spacers.

Also, do yourself a favor and don't buy Rotas.

If you run a reasonable offset its completely unnecessary to be on 18s to fit a BBK.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by Tristor

I'm running 225/40R18 tires on 18x8.5 +44 ET wheels right now, it works perfectly fine without any rubbing on stock suspension. If you lower the car 1" (which is where I'm at right now) on coilovers, you will need spacers front and rear to get a flush fit. I have -3.2F/-2.2R and I need 18mm spacers for both, but am running 15mm right now and it's close enough to flush for me. To run the spacers you will need extended studs, so have fun in the rear

If you know you'll be lowering straight out, you should figure out your likely camber settings and get wheels with the correct offset to get within 5mm of being flush that way you can change camber somewhat and run normal spacers on extended studs, if you go too nuts to get your wheels to be flush you'll end up needing bolt on spacers.

Also, do yourself a favor and don't buy Rotas.

If you run a reasonable offset its completely unnecessary to be on 18s to fit a BBK.

to clarify, the main issue with going wider than 225 is tire-to-spring clearance, right? there's enough wheel well clearance elsewhere that even massive 245/255's would fit fine regarding only the wheel well, right?

ideally, i wanted to be running an 18x8, but i'm being picky about wheel selection, and none of them come smaller than 8.5. my 2nd choice is the titan 7t-s5, which really only comes in 18x9.5, which creates even more problems.


are rota's too soft? i've read a little about it, but i'm willing to heed the warning. thanks.

the reason i'm looking at 18's is because the baer bbk that i'm looking to run specifies that 18's must be ran for clearance. flush really isn't a concern, as long as i'm close. the main concern is clearing the calipers.
http://baer.com/14-Front-Pro-Brake-System-4011000.html