LDB

Has anyone tried out 225/45x16 tires? Will they clear without rubbing? Will they fit on the stock wheel ok? What about 235/45x16?

Does anyone know the weight of the stock wheel? Any suggestions for a lighter wheel than stock?

Thanks for any input on this.

axdriver

The width of tire you can fit really depends only on the width of the rims. You don't really want to put 255's or 235's on anything skinniner than an 8" rim. You could probably go down to 7.5" with the 225 but it would sit much better on 8.0"

Check some of the manufacturers I posted in the 17x7 thread. They all make lightweight, good quality wheels. You might also want to check out Rota .. they are cheap and light, although not all of their wheels fit cars other than Honda/Acura.

mitsumichael7

iTrader: (1)

OK, that statement is total crap man. Sorry but I am going to chime in here. You can get wider tires on the 7" rim. I just bought 17" x 7" rims and I had to buy 205/40/17. I wanted wider, but the only tire I had to test out was a 215/45/17. I did actually install it on a rim and on the car. the tire didnt fit. Without a load and at rest the tire fit in the rear wheel well, but if I put people in the back or hit a bump the tire would have rubbed on the inner rear wall. The rims has NOTHING to do with fitment in the RA if you are staying with a low profile tire. If you are planning on sticking with a 16" rim (for some reason) I would guess you could get a pretty wide tireon the car. If you go to a tire shop and ask real nice they usually will install one tire to check if it fits. I would guess a 225/40/16 would fit ok...but that is speculation based on my experience installing my rims and tires.

LDB

I was wondering about going with wider tires on the stock wheels because the wife doesn't notice different tires nearly as much as different wheels so it's economically and peacefully more beneficial. I just wasn't sure how much wider would clear and/or fit the stock wheels.

Daddymac

iTrader: (2)

Ok, You too are off a little bit my friend. If he DID go then the shop would probably tell him the same thing I'll tell you.

IF you were to put a larger size (lower profile) tire on the RA w/o changing the rims you would do 2 things - totally fawk up the odometer accuracy as well as make the spedo read out wrong.

What you would do if you went that large is you'd change the aspect ratio of the tire (meaning the entire circumfrence would be different).

Guys, just call a shop...its quicker and you'll probably get the right answer the first time instead of having to wait for people to post.

axdriver

Well yeah you can .. I think some SCCA autocross guys put 225's on 6" rims and stuff to stay in stock class ..

But ... it won't fit that well and you won't get a good contact patch so you're throwing away most of the extra width you tried to gain.

There's a thread in the STS/STX forum on SCCAforums.com that has comparison pics of the same width tire on different width rims and there's a visible difference in the actual width of the tires after they're mounted.


mitsumichael7: 215/45 isn't that much bigger than your stock size. Maybe it was a problem with the offset of the rims?

Most tire shops will (and should) do a test fit of any new wheel & tire combo, but I don't know if any shop would mount a new tire on your stock rims to do a test fit, unless your stock rims already didn't have tires on them.

When going with wider tires or bigger rims, you can change widths and profile of the tire, but you need to make sure the overall diameter is as close to stock as possible. Always check with the manufacturer's specs to be sure.

Does anyone even make 225/45/16 tires?

mitsumichael7

iTrader: (1)

I test fitted the 215/45 on a 17" rim, not a 16" rim. And I have changed rims and tores on almost ALL of my cars and ran into NONE of the "problems" you guys are speaking of. But that is where I am going to end the whole speedo talk for me.

axdriver

I know it was a 17" rim...

Sounds like the RA has fitment requirements very similar to the Protege. I'm a little surprised though seeing the massive tires that can fit under an EVO, that there is so little room on a RA.

It's not like there would be a real problem putting 225/45's (I looked on tirerack and Yokohama makes the ES100 in that size) on the stock rims .. just that it would not be a great fit. Although if you're just going for the look of beefier tires then you'd get what you're after.

Are the stock RA rims even 7" wide?


Oh yeah .. Daddymac ... It's not always easier to call a shop. Most of the time the sales people know nothing about your car's specific requirements unless they've already done a lot of test fitting themselves, which almost never happens. Especially with something as recently released as the RA.

Daddymac

iTrader: (2)

This is true. I had that happen to me when I first got my RSX.

Mitsumichael - Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way. I'm just passing on advice that was given to me. It just sounded as if you were going to do something that could cost ya money in the bad sense and we all work hard enough for that so I just wanted to help a brotha out.

Anyhow, If anyone is still looking at gettling a wider tire you MAY need spacers...but please do post whatever you find works.

Cheers

mitsumichael7

iTrader: (1)

Its cool brother I appreciate your advise, but I already have my rims. What I was saying was in regards to the speedo being off, and the tire fitment. So I will respond now because for some reason my computer wasnt allowing me to open this forum before. OK
1. 215/45/17 didnt fit on the RA, BUT I heard that the 215/40/17 DID fit. I would have checked myself but the tore shop didnt happen to have any of those in stock
2. The RA does have a 7" rim, the reason why you can get such a bigger rim on an Evo and not the RA is because if you look at an Evo you will see that the front fenders and rear quarter panels are flared out...A LOT!! Hence rubbing on the rear wheel well on the RA with tires that arent THAT much bigger than stock.
3. OK, the speedo being off...lets just say for arguments sake, that you were going to put 18" rims with 40 series tires and you are going from a 14" rim with 65 series tire. There is going to be a big size difference in the total circumference of the wheel. Even IF it made your speedo read incorrectly for the MPH, you MIGHT only be off 1-3 mph. MAYBE!!
4. Just because you are going to a "lower profile" tire, it doesnt TOTALLY mean that you are loosing total circumfrence size. When you go wider, the tire gets a little taller, even if you dont change the profile size. I learned this first hand. (example: a 225/40 series tire sits taller than a 205/40 series tire.) so once again that will aid in keeping your odometer and speedometer correct.

I am not saying that altering rim and tire size doesnt dick up yout speedo and odometer, but that usually happens with DRASTIC change, usually with trucks getting big *** tires! So basically,

LBD, I would say you should try and find some 225/45/16 (if you can) and see how they work!!

mitsumichael7

iTrader: (1)

And why might you need spacers?? The rubbing problem is on the outside not the inside. Serious ???, not talking ****. (it is sometimes hard to tell the difference in the print so I thought I would be clear)

axdriver

You might need spacers to get a wider tire on the stock rims to stop rubbing the inner wheel wells, or suspension, because stock rims tend to have such high offsets.

But, if you're rubbing the fender lip then spacers obviously won't help

Daddymac

iTrader: (2)

Exactly!

LDB

OK, I bought the RA Sportback. It has Goodyear Eagle RS-A tires on it. They seem fairly good so I'll probably try to maximize my money by running them through a fair amount of their treadlife. I am still interested in going to a tire with a more aggressive look to it when I can.

How do I find out if a 225/45-16 will fit the stock wheels? How do I find out if it will clear and not rub anywhere?

Daddymac

iTrader: (2)

I called my local tire shop here and checked out whether the 225-45-16 will fit on the stock wheels. They WILL fit no question. Also they will not throw off the speedo/odo. Now the only question is whether they will rub the on the fenders.

Mitsumichael7 - I was suggesting spacers before only b/c I wasn't aware of the rubbing problem on the fenders. On my old jetta I needed them b/c of rubbing on the inside at full lock. I figured it may be the same considering the tire size is similar.