Got my new 17x17.5 Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels outfitted with some BFG Rival tires in 215/45-17 size. For those not aware, these are BFG's newest Extreme Summer tires, and have been rated pretty highly -- check out the reviews on TireRack.

Anyway, a few comments:

1) Performance is pretty sweet. I had a set of Riken Raptors (215/35-18) before this, which are High Performance summer tires. The BFGs blow those away in terms of grip... I can take those freeway on/off-ramps at pretty ridiculous speeds now.

2) One thing I found interesting -- these are not unidirectional tires, but rather have a designated inside/outside sides (i.e. to keep the big solid blocks on the outside to improve handling). Anyway, this means they can be rotated L/R in addition to F/B...

Anyway, I really like the tires and new rims. We'll have to see how long the Rivals last, but I don't expect to get more than 1-1.5 years max, as the tread depth is pretty shallow. FYI I'm running these at -1.9/-1.3 camber F/B, which is pretty close to what I had my old ones at as well.

Here's some pics.. Sorry for the washed out colors... a little too sunny here in SoCal recently.

 

A few more pics, since I can only attach three to a post...

 

One other comment -- a while back, I posted asking about 17x8 wheels... after some comments (thanks Minihune and others), I decided to go with the 7.5 inch wide TD PR 1.2s.

With the combo of ST coilovers + 215 series tires, fitment is really tight. I had to use 5 mm spacers on the front to clear the suspension (I'm running 17x7.5 et45). The rear only has a few mm of clearance on the inside liner, and I've had minor rubbing on the inside of the plastic trim on big bumps... seems to have worked it's way through now, though.

Anyway, I can verify fitting >7.5 inch + 215 series tires can be tough on R53s...

 

Good info.

I recently bought a set of ST CO's for my wife's R53 and am debating on the need for front spacers. We're currently running 17x7.5 with 40 mm offset and 215/45/17 Cooper RS3A's, so I should have 5 mm more space on the inside over you, but 5 mm less toward the fender. Given that info I might be o.k. so I think I'll give it a shot without ordering spacers and if there's issues I can throw the S lites on for a quick minute.

Out of curiosity, how low are you? I don't intend to go any lower than the .8 advertised minimum, so that may make a difference too.

Thanks for the numbers, great looking car and stance.

 

I have the coilovers set to about 0.25" wheel gap -- it's a daily driver, so I didn't want to slam it like some folks do. It's still pretty low, though. Bigger speed bumps need to be taken at an angle...

You may need to tweak camber to get it to fit right. -1.9/-1.3 F/R seems to be just about perfect for my setup (and great handling), but YMMV. With the extra 5 mm offset in the rear, you may need a little more negative camber to tuck the rears in under the arches.

Finally, different tires have different widths even in the same size. I think TireRack has the actual tire width listed, so you can check there. But your Cooper tires may be narrower/wider than my BFGs even if the "size" is the same...

 

Attached is how it sits right now. It's a little higher in the back, as I dumped the suitcase exhaust...

You're probably a little bit lower than I'll go since it's technically the wife's car and she tends to tailgate and not take as much care as I do when driving. I plan on putting them on at their highest level to see how it looks, then evaluate.

Tire rack doesn't sell the Cooper brand, but I did find that the section width on the RS3A in 215/45/17 size is 8.39 inches with a tread width of 7.61 inches. Not sure how this compares to your beefy looking BFG's.

I plan on putting the S-lites on with stock 205/45 runflats later this week to diagnose/eliminate a wobble/vibration that I was told is due to tire chop on the rear tires at the first rotation. I'm thinking I'll keep those on for the coilover test fitting.

I ended up ordering new (stock - KYB) front strut mounts and reinforcement plates for peace of mind, so I won't have the ability to dial in crazy camber up front. I don't believe you can get much over -1* with stock parts up front? Not sure on that.

Great point about the possibility of needing more camber in the rear so the wheels fit inside the arches. Another variable thrown into my plan! I did obviously get aftermarket adjustable rear arms for the occasion, so if I do need to dial in more camber back there to fit the big wheel/tire combo, I can.

Thanks for the pictures, write-up, and advice. I'm hoping these ST's are everything I've read about in the review thread by simplybao.

 

The BFG Rival is listed on TireRack with a section width of 8.4 inches, and tread width of 8 inches for my 215/45-17 size.

Getting more negative front camber can require some "massaging" of the inner wheel wells -- I had this done with a 2x4 and hammer when I had my IE fixed plates put on many years ago. You might consider camber plates -- it will make fitment easier (as you can adjust the camber as needed), and usually they have a much beefier plate that doesn't crack like the stock mounts do. I currently have adjustable SPC plates which are nice, but there's others (IE, Vorshlag, H-Sport, etc.) out there as well. When you lower vs. stock, your negative camber will increase. So not sure what you'll get with the stock mounts.

Trying fitment with the stock wheels/tires should be good -- just be ready to tweak things a bit when you put on the bigger wheels/tires. I originally had the my car even lower on the 215/35-18 / R105s that I had initially, and had no rubbing issues. It was only when I moved to the 17s with bigger tires that fitment was much tighter. I had to raise the rear end up about a half inch, and camber adjustment was needed. But it all works out in the end... :-)