hey everyone,

i have a 90 crx rolling on 15" Si rims with 195/50/R15 tires. my questions is this: "right now my stance is 21.5" height from the bottom of the ground to the center of my headlights. will using 16" rims with tires 205/50/R16 tires raise my car 1/2 an inch?"

the reason i ask this is because the legal limit here in california is 22" from the ground to the center of my headlights. im considering buying some 16" Rota C8's for $300 only if this will raise my car 1/2 an inch so i dont have to worry about getting hassled by cops. thanks for any input.

 

http://www.1010tires.com/tiresizecalculator.asp

you will cause the speedometer to be inaccurate, you will affect your gearing since you overall diameter is larger, and you will also affect your braking.

solution: raise your car the correct way.

 

Yup.

Using oversized tires is not the proper way to raise a car. If your car is too low, it is probably because of changes that someone has made to the suspension, and probably the springs specifically. Swap them out for springs that don't lower the car as much.

Also, if your car is lowered, that means there is less clearance in the wheel wells, which means that oversized tires are even more likely to rub than with stock ride height. And 205/50-16 is absolutely HUGE on that car; those are not even Integra size tires, those are Prelude or Accord size tires! They WILL rub.

However, in all honesty, a difference of half an inch will never be noticed or significant in any way. I would just leave it.

The best size is usually one which maintains the same outer diameter. That way, it keeps the speedometer and odometer accurate, and avoids problems with rubbing. If you want to go with 16" rims, get 205/40-16 or 195/45-16 tires.

Here are the calculated tire diameters for these sizes. Remember, differences in ride height and clearance depend on the radius, which is half the diameter, so a difference in diameter of 1" means a difference in ride height of 0.5".

185/60-14: 22.74" (stock)
195/50-15: 22.68" (-0.3 percent)
205/50-16: 24.07" (+5.9 percent)
205/40-16: 22.46" (-1.3 percent)
195/45-16: 22.91" (+0.7 percent)

Also note that if your tires are worn, that can affect ride height. The difference in ride height between tires that are new, and tires that are worn and ready to be replaced, is about 0.25".

 

before i got my Si rims i had 205/65 or 60 i cant remember and they did not rub. i know the 16 inch rims are bigger but since i already had the 205 series tires on smaller rims is there still a chance for them to rub?

and i have neuspeed lowering springs on the car at the moment. as far as the 1/2" making a difference to me it doesnt matter but to local law enforcement they kinda care. some have let me slide but i have gotten 1 before for that 1/2 inch.

 

They were probably 205/50-15, a size commonly used on the CRX, not 205/60-15 or 205/65-15. The diameter of 205/50-15 is 23.07", 1.5 percent larger than stock.

Yes, there is a high probability that they will rub, because the outer diameter of the tire is one inch larger due to the larger diameter of the wheel. In terms of wheels and tires, on a given car, rubbing primarily depends on three things: (1) the outer diameter of the tire, (2) the tread width of the tire, and (3) the positioning of the tire and wheel due to the width and offset of the wheels. Any of these can cause rubbing. A larger diameter of almost 6 percent is absolutely HUGE and is very likely to rub.