I'm wondering why it always seems there is a larger gap between the tire and fender with aftermarket wheels. It almost seems as if putting on aftermarket wheels "raises" the car. Can anyone clear this up for me? Any way to prevent it? Is it a fitment issue? Thanks.

 

You usually use a lower profile tire when you go larger, so the tire doesnt compress as much and is stiffer. Thats what gives it the impression that it is raising the car up. The stock tire flattens out a little with the cars weight on it, where as the low profile tires doesnt flatten as much. Just make sure that you go with the correct size tire and you will be fine. Lowering the car wouldnt hurt, you probably could pick up a cheap set of springs and shocks from someone in the marketplace. Remember for every inch you go up in wheel size you drop the aspect ratio by 10, so if you have a 65 series 14 you would go with a 55 series 15 or a 45 series 16 etc.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by black97excivic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You usually use a lower profile tire when you go larger, so the tire doesnt compress as much and is stiffer. Thats what gives it the impression that it is raising the car up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not true. Any difference in the amount of deflection is insignificant and imperceptible.

There are too reasons why the gap may look larger. (1) If they have approximately the same outer diameter as the stock tire - which they should - then it's an optical illusion caused by the lower profile tires used with larger wheels. (2) If they have a smaller outer diameter than the stock tire size, then you chose the wrong tire size. (Or, it's also possible that your previous tires were the wrong tire size, if they were bigger than stock.)