Advice on final tire/rim selection apreciated before purchasing...

[majdoob]

I first want to thank Ken, nsxsupra, and hitman for helping educate me in this arena. I have tried to tie in all of their advice (along with what little I know on this topic) before making my final selection and want to put this out to a broader audience just to make sure I have not missed anything. Any feedback is appreciated:

I have a 91 that is completely stock and is mostly a weekend driver.

For tires, I'm getting the Goodyear F1 GS-D3 in the following sizes: 215/40-17 for front and 265/35-18 in back. (Ken, you sure you're not getting a kickback from Goodyear on these sales :biggrin: )

For rims, I'm going with the TSW Nogaro's in:

Front: 17x8 with 40 offset (only come in 20 or 40 offset)
Back: 18x9 with 35 offset (only come in 20 or 35 offset)

I am looking for answers to the following questions regarding this tire/wheel combo before making my purchase:

1) anyone currently running these specs?
2) I think the front will stick out 2.5mm past the fender...I don't know what this looks like...will it be really noticeable?
3) I do not think the back will stick out any...can someone confirm this?
4) I don't think this will affect the TCS or cause any rubbing or caliper clearance issues...can someone confirm this?
5) Is there anything else that I should consider?

I'm pretty excited about getting these, but want to make sure I've done my homework before ordering them...thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[NSXT]

If the fronts stick out beyond the fender, then you should expect rock pitting down the side of the car.

 

[menfou]

My car :

For rear I recommand you 18x9 ET40

 

[majdoob]

If the fronts stick out beyond the fender, then you should expect rock pitting down the side of the car.

NSXT, thanks for the response. It sounds reasonable to expect an increased chance in kicking up rocks if the front wheels stuck out by a lot, I just didn't think that 2.5mm would be enough to do that given that its only about 1/10th of an inch (assuming I did the conversion correctly) Does even that small of an amount raise the risk significantly? Thanks again for your feedback.

 

[Texas91Brent]

Wow! Car looks mean!!!

 

[NSXT]

For reference, menfou's front tires stick out 23mm from stock 1994+ wheels. Stock offset =55mm, so 55-37=18mm. Add to that 1/2 of increased tread with of tire (225-215)/2 = 5mm. So the total for menfou is +23 over stock. Your proposed combination sticks out 15mm over stock.

I have no idea the increased amount of rock pitting you should expect. You can put some of 3m's clear bra/hood rock guard film on your lower fender and door behind the front wheel to minimize damage.

The dust along the rocker panel in menfou's photo gives you some indication as to how much and how high up the pitting can be. While his dust appears to be contained to the rocker panel, the pitting will actually come up about 3 more inches to the point where the door becomes wider, and even higher on the fender.

 

[Hapa88]

For rims, I'm going with the TSW Nogaro's in:

Front: 17x8 with 40 offset (only come in 20 or 40 offset)
Back: 18x9 with 35 offset (only come in 20 or 35 offset)

I am looking for answers to the following questions regarding this tire/wheel combo before making my purchase:

1) anyone currently running these specs?
2) I think the front will stick out 2.5mm past the fender...I don't know what this looks like...will it be really noticeable?
3) I do not think the back will stick out any...can someone confirm this?
4) I don't think this will affect the TCS or cause any rubbing or caliper clearance issues...can someone confirm this?
5) Is there anything else that I should consider?

1) I'm running 18x8 +38, and 19x10 +35
2) a 17x8 +40 is 2mm inside of mine and I don't stick out past the fender. You shouldn't have any problems
3) a 18x9 +35 will retract 13mm from where mine sit (19x10 +35). See this picture:

4) The tire sizes sound fine so you shouldn't have any problems
5) The 18x9 +20 "should fit". . . it'll be very agressive and will be right up to the fender, from the picture above, it'll stick out just 2mm more.

 

[majdoob]

For reference, menfou's front tires stick out 23mm from stock 1994+ wheels. Stock offset =55mm, so 55-37=18mm. Add to that 1/2 of increased tread with of tire (225-215)/2 = 5mm. So the total for menfou is +23 over stock. Your proposed combination sticks out 15mm over stock.

I have no idea the increased amount of rock pitting you should expect. You can put some of 3m's clear bra/hood rock guard film on your lower fender and door behind the front wheel to minimize damage.

The dust along the rocker panel in menfou's photo gives you some indication as to how much and how high up the pitting can be. While his dust appears to be contained to the rocker panel, the pitting will actually come up about 3 more inches to the point where the door becomes wider, and even higher on the fender.

So, if my proposed set up will push the tire out an extra 15mm (~1inch) past stock set up, does that put it outside the fender? I'm asking because I thought the stock set up has the tire sitting about one inch inside the rim. If this is correct, then that "extra" 1 inch I currently have should be enough to allow the 15mm increase with the proposed set up to come right to the edge of the rim and not past it. Am I looking at that right way?

 

[NSXT]

More or less thinking about it the correct way.
However there are 25.4 mm to an inch. 15mm = .59 inches
After looking at my factory 16" fronts, its clear that 15mm would push the tire out beyond the lower fender/door area.

My OEM fronts are virtually inline with the lower fender area indicated. My track tires are 20mm farther out. That area is pitting and I regret not putting on clear film patches.

 

[Diablo360]

majdoob, if those rims are heavier than oem I wouldn't buy them......

 

[majdoob]

1) I'm running 18x8 +38, and 19x10 +35
2) a 17x8 +40 is 2mm inside of mine and I don't stick out past the fender. You shouldn't have any problems
3) a 18x9 +35 will retract 13mm from where mine sit (19x10 +35). See this picture:

4) The tire sizes sound fine so you shouldn't have any problems
5) The 18x9 +20 "should fit". . . it'll be very agressive and will be right up to the fender, from the picture above, it'll stick out just 2mm more.

Happ88, thanks for your help. Regarding your answer to question #2, I'm hopeful to hear that your fronts don't stick out, but just puzzled as to how that can be if in fact as NSXT said above, I will be pushing out an additional 15mm to the stock set up? Is it because my 1991 with the standard 15 inch has "extra" room between it and the fender to accomodate the 15mm increase?

Thanks again to everyone for their help!

 

[NSXT]

As Hapa's photo shows, the fender isn't flat vertical so 'outside the fender' depends on from what point you measure. Hapas rear tire is inside if measured at the top of fender, but outside if measure 1/2 way down the tire.

Same thing with menfou's fronts.

 

[nsxtasy]

4) I don't think this will affect the TCS or cause any rubbing or caliper clearance issues...can someone confirm this?

Confirmed.

As for the calculations, compared with the stock outer diameters on your '91, the tire sizes you are getting are 3.0 percent larger in front and 1.8 percent larger in the rear. Thus they change the ratio of the front to rear diameter by 1.2 percent. This will not be a problem for TCS at all. (TCS tends to have problems when the ratio is different from stock by more than about 3.5 percent.)

 

[majdoob]

Confirmed.

As for the calculations, compared with the stock outer diameters on your '91, the tire sizes you are getting are 3.0 percent larger in front and 1.8 percent larger in the rear. Thus they change the ratio of the front to rear diameter by 1.2 percent. This will not be a problem for TCS at all. (TCS tends to have problems when the ratio is different from stock by more than about 3.5 percent.)

Ken, I remember you told me earlier that the TCS would be ok, but I didn't recall asking you about the caliper clearance specifically- I'm glad to see that won't be a concern either. I appreciate your help...AGAIN. :smile: Thanks man!

As Hapa's photo shows, the fender isn't flat vertical so 'outside the fender' depends on from what point you measure. Hapas rear tire is inside if measured at the top of fender, but outside if measure 1/2 way down the tire.

Same thing with menfou's fronts.

NSXT, I get it now- I was looking at the fender from the top only. :redface: Thanks You!

 

[TCroly]

The key question is "Is your car lowered?" when you lower the car, it has the effect of making the wheels look more tucked in.

The wheel width/offset that you have proposed will look fine if you car has been lowered by an inch, preferably an inch and a half. IMO it will look very bad, if your car is at stock ride height. At stock ride height, I would recommend that you not push the rear wheels out more than 25mm compared to the 16/17 OEM offsets (your proposed wheels will push the rears out by 31mm) and the fronts should be pushed out by no more than 20mm from 16/17 OEM. (your proposed wheels has them pushed out by 28mm)

Tom

 

[TCroly]

Be advised that the model wheel you have proposed is not a very high quality wheel like the forged OEM wheels you are planning to remove. I could not find the weight specs for the TSW Nogaro, but I would bet that they are about 7 to 10 pounds heavier per wheel than the stock 15/16 wheels your car came with. The result of putting these heavier wheels on your car will be like losing about 10 to 15 RWHP. You will notice that the car will feel less lively and it will ride and handle a bit worse. But if the look is what you are seeking and don't care about some compomises in performance, then I think they do look cool.

Tom