Hello LancerCommunity,

I bought a set of Wheels and Tires about a year ago, I love the way it looked but ended up having trouble with them since day 1, causing my new tiresto be stripped and scrapped.

Vehicle: 2014 Mitsubishi Lancer GT (stock height)

Wheel: ADVANTI RACING® - KUDOS Matte Black with Machined Lip (18" x 9.5", 5x114.3 Bolt Pattern, 73.1mm Hub)

Tires: 255/45R-18 SUMITOMO HTR A/S P02 (W-SPEED RATED) XL

Main reason why I went with this setup was to cover up the large gap between wheel and fender without lowering my car, but that ended up getting my wheels being stripped/scrapped.

I did my research on the tires/wheel combo on other forums before purchasing and there was multiple drivers with stock height, same wheel and tire dimensions same car model, but for some reason I was not encountering the same experience as all of them.

I've taken my car to 2 different shops, 3 visits total to roll my fenders. They all inspected the damage and tire markings and said that I was no longer rubbing on my fenders but somewhere inside the wheel well. I know at one point we found that it was rubbing against some of the screws of my mudflaps and screws keeps the rear bumper in tact which they have modified and shaved down, which helped out for the most part.

I want to keep my current wheels and the look of the tires sticking out past the fendors on the side, BUT without it scrapping my wheel well during drives. (it would scrap on small bumps going 25+mph)




Any tire size suggestions that I could go with to avoid scrapping my next purchase of tires?

Thank you in advance!

 

What is the offset of those wheels?

I believe 245 is the minimum width that will fit on your 9.5" wheels without stretching the tires.

Keeping that in mind:
- 245/40R18 is the closest to the 215/45R18 size tires that come on the OEM rims
- 245/45R18 is a tiny bit smaller than the 255/45R18 that you are currently running which might just make the difference?

Otherwise you may have to resort to spacers, but I'm not a fan of those

 

Honestly for normal Lancer your rims and tire sizes are simply way too big! Stock Lancer size on 18' is just 225/40/18 with 9cm sidewall height while your 255/45/18 is 11.5cm sidewall, meaning with the same 18' you have added 5cm in rolling diameter! FYI even for Evo which have bigger fenders that size is already too big!

Your goal to reduce fender gaps by enlarging them are just not the right thing to do because when changing rims and tires, you should always try to maintain about the same rolling diameter and therefore fender gaps will always remain about the same. So instead of using 255/45, you should use 255/35/18 for such wide rims. The only proper way to reduce fender gaps is by lowering the car with sport suspension, not by enlarging the rolling diameter of the tires. However lowering will also still rub badly since your rims and tires are just too wide for your normal Lancer fenders!

To summarise, everything that you have now are just the wrong size for your car, too big diameter and too wide. For your Lancer, the best fit I have ever seen is just use the original Evo 10 rims with 225/45/18, then lowered the car about an inch. Evo 10 rims is 18x8.5 et 38. Or you just look for other rims of that same size. It should look quite flush with your fenders.

 

Thank you so much for your feedback, I honestly lost faith a bit when I haven’t seen replies and just reads. I appreciate your feedback! Sorry for the late response

 

Very helpful! I appreciate your response! Yeah I just went with a family friends suggestion that only owns lancers, and goes shows etc. So I told him that I wanted to fill gap without lowering and he suggested the tire size, after doing research and finding similar setups that have stock size and had no problems, but the moment I put them on, I ran into quite a few problems with rubbing and scraping.

as far as my budget and how bald my tires are currently, I don’t think I’ll be able to buy new wheels. So I am probably going to go with one of your suggestions which is, 255/35/18. As I have been told from others as well that would be the ideal size for the wheel size/problems I have.

 

It might help reduce your rubbing issue if using 255/35/18 but it won't reduce fender gaps. You will be back to having big gaps like before.

 

Yeah I just want to stop the rubbing to be honest, I can deal with the gap for now. 255/40/18 is still going to cause me trouble huh, its a safer bet to go with the 255/35/18?

 

how much gap do you have now at the rear? Looks much less than front but cannot see clearly from the photo.

 

I have 2 inches of gap right now both front and rear.

 

Hmm 2 inches is actually still a lot and should already be enough. Maybe your suspension is compressing too much as well/bottoming out. You can try replacing the bump stopper with a longer one to reduce the compression.

As for tires, either 245/40/18 or 255/35/18. 245/40 is 0.8cm taller than 255/35 but 1cm narrower so might help clear. 255/35 is the thinnest so you'd have the biggest fender gap but width still the same, so kind of a toss up between these 2 sizes. Note also the same tire size might have slightly different width too due to manufacturers differences. For example, a 245 Continental CSC5 is almost the same tread width as a 255 Michelin PS4 believe it or not! Best is to test fit one of each size before buying to see the clearance better.

Sorry cannot give definitive answer that you are looking for but this is the fact, and it's already even more difficult to advise due to your rims already too big.

 

Don't be sorry, this was actually really helpful for me at least to work with what I have. Your advise makes me decision making easier and understandable. I appreciate your input, especially with my rims being too big.