Looking at some wheels, and was wondering how low the offset could be. Saw some 16x7s with 24 offset (bbs rs). Id imagine they stick out a bit, but was wondering if they would still work fine with the stock suspension or lowering springs if I add them later. If I got those, I would plan on running the stock 195/55 tires.
On a side note, how much do you think I could sell the bridge spokes for?

 

Lowest offset possible on a 16x7 wheel? You can't really talk about offset in isolation.

In my opinion et24 is too low for a 7" wide wheel. Technically that wheel at that offset should not stick out at all. In fact it should be about dead flush with the fender. But the tire will bulge out from the wheel so in the end the tire will probably stick out a little.

In extreme conditions they will probably rub the fenders. They will almost certainly rub once lowered.

For a 7" wide wheel and a 195/55 tire I would be looking for offsets between 35 and 45.

Change the tire and change the wheel width and it all changes. My rear wheels are et26 but its an 8" wide wheel with a 205/40 tire.

 

OK, lets do the math.

Stock 16x6.5" wheels come with 48mm offset and 195/55-16 tires. Tires are ~195mm wide by definition (though actual tire widths vary significantly from tire to tire!). 6.5" wheel == 165.1mm, and 7" wheel == 177.8mm, so either way, your overall width is dictated by the tire, not the wheel.

Folks have successfully fitted 225mm wide tires on 16" wheels (with sport MCS suspension), so we know we have that much room to play with. That leaves you with: (225-195)/2 = 15mm of extra room to play with on either side from the centerline of the stock wheel.

Therefore, you can move stock 195mm tire towards the fender by +15mm with either stock wheels + spacers, or via new wheels with lower offset of: 48-15 = 33. If you go with offset that is much lower then 33, you will become the fitment guinea pig for all of us ;-)

HTH,
alex f

P.S.: If you lower the car, your fitment issues will become more severe. If you increase the camber, you will get some more fitment room.

 

So you are saying someone has run a 225 on a stock wheel? I hope not seeing as most 225 require a minimum wheel width of 7".

I have 195/55/16 with a 16x7 et30 for my winter wheels so I guess there is already a guinea pig for offsets below 30.

 

Per Hankook's tire specs listed on TireRack web site (link below), 225/50ZR16 RS-3 is blessed to go on wheels between 6-8" wide. 'Spec" wheel used for measuring the tire width is listed as 7" wide, but the manufacturer requirement is 6-8" wide wheel.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....el=Ventus+R-S3
(click on "Spec" tab).

Requirements are the same from Michelin for their 225mm wide 16" tires (6-8" wheel).

Good to know that 16x7 ET30 wheels fit.


alex

 

Yea my bad, I misspoke. Still, who is running a 225/50 on stock wheels?

When did I ever say anything about 17x8 et30 wheels?

edit: NVM you have the 225/50s, why don't you post a picture so the OP has a point of reference? I would post mine but the ride height and camber settings kind of make my example irrelevant.

 

30mm offset runs about flush with flares.

 

My bad - you referenced 16x7 ET30 wheels. I mistyped.
I bought a set of 225/50-16 Yoko somethings (forgot model) on a set of stock 16x6.5" wheels, finished them off, now put a set of 225/50-16 Hankook RS-3s. RS-3s are almost 1" winder (rated same width!), but also fit just fine.

Will try to take and post a few pics when I get the car back from my better half.

 

Why not? Id like to see it.

 

Just to be clear this is with around -2º camber so the clearance to the fender lip doesn't represent what you would have on a stock vehicle. Also obviously it is lowered significantly. BTW they also rub quite frequently.

 

When do they rub? Is it under hard cornering, potholes, driveways, speed bumps, you name it. Also, would I be able to guess how much the tire sticks out by putting a bare rim on and using a measuring tape or the like?

 

Yes

and at full lock.

You can try. My guess is the tire tread will extend about 1/4" beyond the fender.

 

Here we go (part 1): 3 pics of front 225/50-16 Honkook RS-3 tires on stock 16x6.5" ET48 wheels. Sorry about the dirty car and wheels - it rained last night.
No rubbing under any conditions. Not even at full lock at the front wheels. It's tight, but even the over-sized (measured at ~9" = ~229 mm) 225/50-16 tires fit all around.

HTH,
alex f

 

Here we go (part 2): 3 pics of rear 225/50-16 Honkook RS-3 tires on stock 16x6.5" ET48 wheels. Sorry about the dirty car and wheels - it rained last night.

HTH,
alex f

 

To give you an idea of how it would relate to your proposed setup:

 

Nice visual, though I think it only illustrates the position of the wheel based on the specified wheel size and offset. Old/New calculations do take the tire size into account correctly.

alex
P.S.: BTW, how do you embed the pic into the post (silly, I know, but I still haven't figured out how to do it).

 

What else would it base the position on? Its not a vehicle specific illustration, it just assumes hub position is unchanged. It cannot tell you fender/strut clearance, you have to infer that based on the real life position of the old wheel/tire vs the new.

That being said. Your tire is pretty much exactly in line with the fender. As we have already established and is illustrated above the OP's proposed tire will sit ~7mm (1/4") farther out horizontally in reference to the fender it will also sit ~5mm (3/16") closer vertically because of the additional diameter. Not only does this have the potential to not look good IMO, but it also has significant chance of clearance issues with the fenders(rubbing).

Pretty sure you have to have the pictures hosted elsewhere on the internet. If you upload them directly from your computer onto NAM then they appear as attachments. For example all my images are hosted on photobucket.com and linked to by adding [IMG]photobucket.com/link[IMG] into the body of my posts.

edit: You might also be able to upload them to NAM first and then link to them but I have never done that (till now). Like so:

 

I actually like the look of the wheels sticking out, but thats all opinion. And talking about the tire sitting closer to fender vertically, were you talking about afadeev's compared to mine? Because if I did this, I would use the same tires, so that shouldnt change
Edit: If it sticks out 1/4 and that causes rubbing, could you roll the fender slightly? Id imagine that would work but not sure with the plastic flares.

 

I don't mind the wheels sticking out a little either. Its the tires sticking out (the tread to be more specific) that doesn't appeal to me. But you are right thats all personal opinion.

Yes, exactly.

 

http://www.mini2.com/forum/second-ge...-than-r53.html
Based on this, does that mean that as long as there is 2 inches of clearance that there wont be rubbing (I don't rub now)? If the link doesn't work, google "suspension travel mini cooper"

 

It would I suppose, but I don't think you have two inches of clearance. I could be wrong but I am pretty sure stock wheel gap is about 1.5"

 

Ill check in the morning

 

Appears to be about 1.8 inches from top of tire to plastic arch