Hello. I'm wondering what the widest tire I can fit on my r53 with stock suspension. In the future I'll be lowering it. For now I'm just wondering if I can throw 225 or 235s with 16s. What size should I outfit it with right now to be able to handle future suspension mods? Lowering coils/springs etc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-- Christopher

 

The offset and width of your wheel will determine maximum tire width. Not the diameter... More information about the setup you would like to run in end is needed.

 

As Gitmoe said, more specifics on present and future set-up are needed.

Are the current 16s OE wheels, or aftermarkets with OE width and offset? Will you want to fit somewhat wider 16" wheels with the suspension drop?

In terms of having a good wheel/tire fit, and also a good selection of tires to choose from, the 205 width (205/50/16, for example) seems to be fairly popular for the OE 16" wheels, as they fit fine and don't rub. Even the 215 width tires are molded for 7" wide wheels, and tire choices are few. Some with 17" wheels and 225 tire widths report rubbing in places, but those places can usually be shaved down a bit for clearance.

You might also consider doing the suspension work first, and then figure out what size tires will work.

 

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Adding to that question – if I have the widest tread installed with the same OEM overall height will the side wall get softer or have more play in it. 175/65/15 to a 205/55/15 will keep the same gear ratio and be right on the same height but a little wider.[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

i-Mini: The 205/55/15 sidewall should be only about 1 mm less than the stock 175/65/15 sidewall (205 X .55 = 112.75 mm, versus 175 X .65 = 113.75 mm), so sidewall flex should be about the same.

While the 205/55/15 tire can be mounted on 5.5" to 6.5" wide rims, it's molded to optimally fit a 6.5" rim; at least according to Tire Rack data.

 

Jim Michaels - I saw that about 6.5", The tires will be YK S. Drives and the info they have sys the same as far as sizes that "will" fit but nothing about suggested rim size. The true concern is will the rim slop around due to the wider pad and will the stiffer sidewalls make up for it?
Thanks for the input.

 

i-Mini: As I understand it, the column headed "Meas. Rim Width" shows the rim width that the tire size is molded for (optimal fit rim). That would be the 6.5" shown for the Yoko s. drive 205/55/15 size.

I'm not sure what you mean by "will the rim slop around due to the wider pad?" When the tire is too wide for the rim it's mounted on, the usually (almost) flat tread surface gets bowed down at the edges a bit, so the tire might not be making the full contact patch that it would make on a wider rim (a 6.5" rim in this case).

The sidewalls for the two sizes you're comparing are about the same, so they should have about the same flex or stiffness in the Yoko s. drives.

I have used only one size wider than OE tires on OE rims. These were R-comps for track. While I did not seem to get excessive wear at the edges (r-comps have stiffer sidewalls), steering precision seemed to suffer some. Someone with wider-than-that experience may be better able to answer your question.

The H Stock MC that won SCCA Solo Nationals was shod with 225/45/15 Hoosiers on 15X5.5" rims, so extremes can be made to work for autocross.

 

Jim - i see what u are saying about "Meas. Rim Width" think your right. The only real problem i have is the next size down drops the rotation enough to screw with the gear ratio (some). Discount Tire said they would stand behind putting those on it. I'm gonna make the manager write that on the invoice and move on. I have the YK580 on it now for 2 days, they are going back next week - way to soft.
Thanks for your helpful feed back.

 

A size that some use for the OE 15" rims is 195/55/15, which S. drives also come in. That size is molded for a 6" rim, so it wouldn't have to be pinched in quite as much as the 205/55/15 or 205/50/15. The 195/55 is about .7" less in diameter than the OE size, so it would also lower effective gearing some, though not quite as much as the 205/50/15. Both of those sizes would also make your speedometer over-read mph slightly more than it does with OE size tires. Both of those differences between the 195/55 and 205/50 would be hard to detect, however.

Another consideration is that the 205 wide tires usually weigh 3 or 4 pounds more than the OE size tires.

If the extra weight doesn't bother you, you might also consider going to somewhat wider aftermarket 15" rims, OE 16X6.5" rims, or even 16X7" aftermarket rims. Lightweight forged wheels would help keep the weight down. For example, the 16X7" Enkei Racing RPF1 wheels weigh about 13.7# each.

 

Not sure if it helps but I've been running with 215/50/16 for a few years now on stock suspension. Pretty good, haven't seen any rubbing, minor if any.

 

I'm running on 205/50/16 on H&R springs with no rubbing at all. The offset on my wheels are a little wide at +35.

 

I'd like to toss on some 16x7's (+40) on with the widest tire possible. I'm currently running 17x7 with 205's. I'll be lowering it using tein s-tech's which give the rear a drop of: 28mm and the front 31mm's. I'll of course have a set of control arms as well. From what I've read 215 or 225 are the widest I can go with that setup? I'd honestly be happy with 215's No 15's..


One last quick one, if I decided to go with 17x7 +40's with a hub of 57.1 and I need the 56.1's for my r53, is it possible to find a set of rings with that much of a difference in size?

 

There are no hub centric rings for that small, 1mm, size difference.
Some people run that with no issues yet others say they have vibrations.