Hey I considering 17" Motegi Racing either MR7(Gun Metal) or MR8 and was wondering what is the widest tire that will fit my rex....the MR7 offest is 40mm and the MR8 is 42mm if that matters...also the car is dropped dunno how much for sure but I think it is 2" (a prev, owner did it)....The smallest I would go is 205/40/R17 but I would REALLY like to get into a 35 profile which means I would have to got o 225/35/R17 but is that too wide? I really hate sidewall

 

i've never run 17" but i can tell you that i'm about 2" down with 205/50/15 and i sometimes rub on hard corners... I'd go as low profile as you can as long as your roads arent horrible cuz with the 40's on your 17s your effective gearing is gonna be really long and kill acceleration....
hth

 

205/50-15 tires on GSR rims and a 2"drop clear on mine but rub on the inside front at full lock. My personal opinion is 16 and 17 inch wheels look like hell on the EF since they are too damn big for such a small car visually, plus they weigh more. IMHO 15" is the perfect size visually, but 14" if you are racing and are looking for low unsprung weight.

 

I am not concerned about wieght....if I really want ot race I will but my stock rims back on...as for the profile I pretty much have to go to a 40 profile at least to maintain overall wheel diameter....since I am going 17" rims....therefore the acceleration and all that will not be affected (apart from wieght)...Oh plus my is turboed so it has plenty of power to move these wheels.....I was going to 16" but my friend talked me into getting 17" to get rid of as much sidewall as possible....I could go to lower profile on 16" and gain torque due to an overall smaller wheel.....that is a thought.....oh and if you think 17 and too large then you must like the look of side wall but my personal opinion is sidewall = ugly rim= sweet but each their own

 

no higher than 16 w/ a 45-55 pro. bigger you go slower you get no matter what tire you have on there. called rotational mass (different from weight)

 

Care to try that again? Rotation mass is directly propational to the mass of the wheel and the diameter of the circle....if I goto 17" wheels I must go to a lower profile to keep the diameter of the entire wheel the same as before....that is one the main reasons of going to a lower profile.....all it means is he wheel is more rim than tire than stock.....think of this way.....if the stock overall dimension is say 20" (making up numbers) and the rim is 14 then there is 3" of sidewall....so if you want to go up to 17" then you must try and keep the overall diameter the same so you would want 1.5" of side....so therefore the only that will affect rotational mass is the extra wieght of a larger rim now....my stock rims wiegh in at 17lbs...the Moetgi MR8 are like 22.5 I think....so I am gaining 5.5lbs per tire....that is quite a bit.....that is the downfall to larger rims that don't cost like 500bucks a rim....I can find 17" rims that wiegh about the same and then my overall wieght of the wheel would actually BE LESS since I have less rubber therefore the entire wheel will weigh less (same weight of rims but tires weigh less) make sense? Now I can goto 16" MR8s that weigh 16.5 lbs go to a 205/40/16 profile tire and weigh in less than stock so my rotational mass is less and there for easier to get moving. Then factor in the becuase I now reduced my overall diameter of my wheel I have INCREASED torque to the ground.....ummm just realised I am writing a novel sorry for the lesson on physics....I am sure someone will shoot me down cuz I have been out for a little while and might be a little offbase.....

For other people in here my original reason for asking this question was for rubbing purposes not whether it was too heavy etc....I just need to know how wide a tire people have put on their cars....thanks....again sorry for the rant

 

True but rotational mass has everything to do with exactly where that mass is located, the further out its concentrated the higher that rotational mass is for a given static weight. so a 17" with the same exact wieght as a 15" is more likely to have a higher rotational mass. As far as 16 or 17 inch rims on these cars, I think the look awefull and so do my friends but really its all about what you like, its your money, its your car. Unless you plan to show then what others think is real important.


[Modified by virginia_dude, 7:44 PM 6/11/2002]

 

Thats true....I forgot that I was talking in a pure physics world were the mass is all located on the edge of circle...but anyways that really doesn't concern me my car will be slightly slower.....Personally I feel that 14 or 15 are not worth it since there is so much tire sidewall and that is what I am trying to get rid of....it just looks funny when there is like 4" sidewalls on a lowered car....17s are quite big though and I have never actually seen them on my type of car...I have seen 16" rims and they seem kinda of small but for sake of saving a few bucks that can be spent on better rubber I might go with 16s.....but thanks for the input....So we are all agreed that 205 is the widest on a 42mm offset?

 

I have an old Superstreet mag with a test of the 1989 Honda Civic DX. It had Progress springs, Tokico shocks, and Energy Suspension bushings.

They did test with three different wheel sizes. Stock, 15, and 17. Of all the tests, the 15 inch tire was the best. It pulled a 1.03G to the right and 1.0-1 to the left. Regardless, I think the 15 inch tire will perform better always, unless it weighs a ton. Yokohama makes a 195/45R15, if that is your main concern.


[Modified by performula, 2:20 AM 6/12/2002]

 

What did the 17" pull?

 

My issue with the 16 and 17 inch rims are issues of porportion, they are way out of scale with the rest of the car which is small. But really to each his own. Plus you'll find with ultra low profile tires your going to ruin a rim or two soon. pothole speed bump, curb, dead squirel in the road. your going to run over something and they are very unforgiving. But go for the style you like, you are who has to be ultimately satisfied with how it looks and runs.

 

17" pulled a .95-.98 . I'll look it up and post if I have the article. That isn't too big a difference, but I think the 1G is what I would go for.

This was the maximum they could get out of the tire, they may have mentioned getting more out of the 15 or stock with a little more tuning. One thing is true, us 4G's are lucky, 15s look like roller skate wheels on other cars.

 

I have 215/40ZR16 Toyo proxes T1S on my crx and it's fine. I use my Dremel to cut my inside fender and everyting is fine, no rubbing and my car is drop around 2"

Try this site to have all the info you need.

http://www.wheelweights.net/

Buy good quality tires it's important the Toyo's T1S have a rubber overlap over the mag that protect it . It's a must!!!

When you change the weel size (larger) you loose torque... buy light weels

Mine are too heavy around 22 pounds and it's hard on the upper balljoint.


It's up to you




[Modified by Dan_crxsi88, 5:51 PM 6/12/2002]

 

Oh I never heard of heavyier wheels being hard on ball joints....makes sense I guess...with that in mind maybe I will go with the 16" MR8 they weigh 16.5lbs that is .5lbs lighter than my stock rims.....