I made a mistake and told my shop to order 225/45R17 on a set of new Team Dynamic wheels. I meant to say 215...now I think Im stuck.

Anyone running this size? What do you have to do to make it work? Im running JCW suspension, and about to have new Hotchkis rear sway and control arms put on.

Damn, I think I messed up...

 

I doubt that there are many running that size. I'm running 225/45/16 on a 16x7.5" wheel and my setup is reasonably low, so there is hope. I had to trim the plastic fenderwell in the rear just a bit but that was no problem. You might also need to pick up a set of 5mm spacers depending on your offset. I just purchased a set of 225/50/16s on clearance from Tirerack, which are nearly identical in diameter to your 225/45/17s. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html I guess we'll find out together. Won't be mounting mine for another month or two, though.

 

Ill keep you posted. Getting them fitted on Tuesday...

 

I'm running that size 225x45x17 on s-lites and love them. So much better ride and handling when compare to the RF's. I installed 5mm Eiback spacers all around but removed the rear ones due to a very small rubbing @ 2 o'clock location when looking at the driver rear wheel. The rubbing is minimum and on the black trim only. I strongly recommned that size; improved the shifting ratio, great handling and nicer stance.

 

How'd they end up fitting?

 

What is the width and offset of these wheels? For some reason I thought they were only 7" ?

I ran a 225-45-17 hoosier wet on my car and there was no way it would fit in an un-modified wheel well. My wheel wells were quite modded.

 

A 225-45-17 on a 7" rim is just not a good idea at all.
I will bet that in fact you do rub in some instances. Obviously your car has not be lowered at all?

Don't use tires this wide on a slightly modified Mini, unless of course you are just going for that look (), they are just plane slow.

 

they were too big. I opted to send them back and went with a 205 Hoosier

 

You'll be happy. A 205 track tire is very quick on a Mini.
It will also fit your wheels much better. I'd be a little peeved that the people who sold the 225s to you on a 7" rim. They should known better.

 

Too big as in "they were too big to fit on the 7" wheel" or "they mounted just fine but rubbed like crazy"?

 

too big as in:
walk into the shop and say "whoa ****, those are massive and will never fit"

would have fit the wheel, but rubbed like hell

 

I've seen a couple guys running 235/40R17 Toyo RA-1's on 17x7's with a +42 offset at the local tracks here... they baaaaarely fit on the cars I have seen, one stock height, one on coilovers and low. Both were running camber plates, though, and both had trimmed their flares. Both were very, very quick around the course - faster than when they were running 205's.

HooHoos tend to run quite a bit wider from what I have seen... Their 225/45R15 A6 and R6 are a LOT wider than my 225/50R15 Michelin Pilot Sport Cups, for instance (section widths were about 0.9-1" wider on the HooHoos!).

 

Putting a RA1 235 on a 7" rim is stupid, really. These tire are not even happy on a 7.5" rim.
Being that I have personally used both the 205 and 235, I can tell you that the 235 is a slow tire on long straights. 205s are very quick in acceleration and faster on straights. As far as corners they are not much different. I think though that if I had run the 235 on an 8-8.5" rim that the results would have been a lot better.

Yes, the Hoosiers are wide. The 225-45 17 is wider then the 235-40-17 RA1s. Putting these hoosiers on a 7" rim is just a huge mistake. The vendor that OKed that is one that should not be selling track tires IMHO.

 

225/45 on a 7" rim isn't bad as far as just the wheel and tire combo are concerned. It won't fit a mini without spacers, but there is nothing wrong with doing that as far as fitting the tire on the wheel, there are tons of people who do that regularly on mazda3's that are very happy with it (205-50-17 is the stock tire size on a mazda3 so the larger rolling diameter isn't as much of an issue).

 

.... whatever.....

 

care to explain yourself onasled? not quite sure what you're getting at man, this is a wheel/tire combination I've seen run many places on many cars (on the street, on the track, and at autocross), yet you roll your eyes at me like I'm an idiot.

A quick search of tire racks website shows suggested rim width of 7-8.5" for a 225/45-17, but I guess you know better than them, and they "oughta know better" huh? They "shouldn't be selling track tires" huh? Its not the BEST rim width, but its hardly as idiotic as you make it sound. The more relevant fact is that without spacers or a very low positive offset, its very difficult to get this size to fit without rubbing on a mini.

 

Ruby, easy now...
When you used the Hoosier 225 on your 7" rims when tracking your car did you really like how they handled over your 205s? Maybe I'm off on my personal experiences or I was just doing something wrong.
What were your pyrometer readings? I couldn't get mine to tune out very well at all on the 225s on my 7.5" rims where as the 205s on the same rim were stellar.
Would like to hear how your experiences went. Maybe it's just the difference in the tracks we have been on?
Thanks

 

I admitedly don't have as much track experience as it sounds like you do with this particular size (more autocross than track experience), none of it has been in a mini (my wife's the mini owner), and honestly have never run Hoosiers before except back in the day on the FSAE car, so you ARE the resident expert on the topic, and I don't doubt that. I certainly don't think this is an ideal wheel/tire combination even for autocross. My point was just that I thought you went a bit overboard in ripping the tire shop for suggesting a 225 on a 7" rim, for many applications (most of them not track applications), it can make perfect sense, but realize few tire shops will have the level of knowledge it sounds like you do with regards to track setup of tires.

 

Not sure about "stupid", since it works well for those guys I know... they have tried both and swear by the 235's. My 225/50R15's work well on my 15x7 rims, too, with equal temps across the tire and stupid amounts of grip.

We don't have a lot of long straights on most tracks here, for whatever reason... Their datalogging shows higher cornering G's, and overall laptimes are quicker on the 235's. Sounds like a YMMV thing to me...

The 235's are definitely faster around the autocross course than 205's, for sure - at least they are on our courses.

 

... I'm far from any kind of 'expert'....

scobib, 225 on a 16"x7" or 15"x7' is not a problem at all. In fact it's perfect for the 15x7. But on a 17"x7" it's just too big.

 

Guys, you are the experts, BUT I'm telling you that 225x45x17 with 5mm spacers - up front only, rear is OK as is - on s-lites wheels work fine on MCS with standard suspension. To make the rears to rub you have to put three people on the car and a full tank of gas and go ralley style driving. With two people and very spirited driving = no problem at all. Obviously the car is a little slower 0 to 60 but much better from 30 on. In addition, an overal much nicer stance (w/o "rubber band" tires) and the best of all is the improved ride quality and control = very predictable and not "jerky" at all. I highly recommend the change. My2c.

 

I just tryed the fitment of a 225/50/16 GY D3 and just sqeeks in with a 40mm offset. We'll see once we get them all on and go for a cruise. The cars at stock height. I've had 215/45/17's and the 16's are a bit wider with alot more side wall. Should give a good ride for my DD.

 

Just to note, I'm not talking about fitment on the car but rater fitment on the rim..

 

Any update? Did they rub? And are they mounted on a 16x7s or 16x7.5s?

I've got a set of the same sitting in my garage for later next month...

 

I concur now on the 235's... You'd have to run those on at least an 8" rim to make it work. And, fitting a 17x8 with 235's would be tricky, requiring the right offset AND major surgery, I think...

I think I have decided to stick with 225/50R15's for next season, although I will probably go back to "street" tires because the r-comps have gotten more expensive (except for the Kumho V700 Victoracers, which are still cheap). The Michelin PSC's I am running now are like $40 more a tire than they were last year - which I don't get, but that's the way it is. Also, I'm finding that something like the BFG KD's are a good 0.3" wider than the Michelin PSC's and only 0.1-0.3" narrower than 235/40R17's with a more amicable O.D., too. Falken is releasing RT-615's in 225/50R15 in November, so those might also get a shot if they have they're at least as wide as the BFG KD's...