Hi guys,

I'm going to buy some hoosiers for my SM Evo and I need some advice from seasoned Auto'x'ers. I have a set of 17x9 rims and I am debating between buying 245/45's or 275/40's

National guys seem to be running 275/35 18's, and the 275/40 17's that I want are almost the same diameter, so I thought that was good, but I am worried about the big tires fitting under my car. My rear fenders are rolled, but is there anything else I have to do to run a 275/40 17 on my car? (such as wheel spacers)

My other option is to get a set of 245/45's, which I know will fit on the car, but I am worried that they are too small.

What tires would you go with for a 17 inch wheel. Also, my car is lowered about an inch on springs, no coilovers, and I have 1.8 deg of camber in the front and 1.1 deg in the back....

 

I am running 255/40/17 V700's. Why not use that size over the 245's? The only issue I can see with the 275's is fitting them on a 9in rim.

 

That is a good point with the 255's. Hoosier doesn't make that size (they have a 255/45 which is too tall) so I didn't think of Kumho's at first... I was looking toward the 275's since the national level guys seem to like them. Hoosier's web site says that 275's will fit on a 9 inch wheel... but I think the Kumho's would be a good alternative. Thanks for the advice!

 

I talked to a local guy that used to run an Evo VIII in BSP and he had to do major fender work to fit 285/30/18's on his VIII. So I think to get 275's you'll likely be in the same boat.

If you aren't going to be competing nationally then I would not sweat it -- unless you want to make the modifications.

 

285/30/18 is the tire you want for a BSP/SM car. 275/40/17 is a lot taller and will actuallly be harder fit - not to mention that the gearing will suck as well.

 

Spool, thanks for the info. I thought it was a 275/18 that national guys are using, but now that I am searching more it looks like I was wrong.... after looking at Hoosier and Kumho's web sites it looks like I'm going to have to run a 245 to get the same diameter as a 285/30/18 since I am not ready right now to buy wheels, add wheel spacers etc to make a set of 285/18's fit. Thanks for the help guys.

 

We ran 275/40 -17s in ESP when the 710s first came out in '04. The car also got 2nd at nats on 255 -17 victoracers in '03. Both tires were mounted on 17x9 35mm offset, no spacers.

If you're just on springs with minimal camber, just get the 245-255s. It's not worth the hassle to go bigger, since you're already giving up a lot time with a stock set-up. The 255s will just clear the stock rear fenders.

 

I have been running the 275 v710 since '04 on a 17x9 +35mm offset rim.

if you don't have coilovers, then just get the 245 sized tire. The 275 tire will not clear the spring perch on the stock strut, so coilovers are nessesary for this to work.

 

Thanks for everyone's input. I'm going to buy a set of 245/40's to have some fun with this year on the local level. I am not ready for coilovers, so i'm just going to learn with the set up that I have now. thanks again.

 

Good call... I run 245s for the local stuff & they're fine. Have fun