Hi everyone,
Just to preface, my accord is currently in a different country to me, so I'll relate the info I have from my father who occasionally drives it when I'm away.

So, my 96 accord has always worn the stock wheels from new, 5.5JJx15 ET50 . I've been running 205/55/15 tyres for years now without any rubbing issues (and had no rubbing at 205/60/15 either)

Stock wheels

Anyway, I have had a set of 93 Prelude wheels to put on the accord for the past 10 years (sprayed white no less) and finally got dad to put them on while changing tyres earlier this month. The size of these is 6.5JJx15 ET55


New wheels, 93 prelude

Mechanic was doing some unrelated work on the vehicle and told my dad that the wheels seem to be "hitting the control arm" at full lock. Has anyone else ever experienced this? I am surprised myself, given that the tyre and allignment shop that put it on didn't spot any problems at the time (same 205/55/15)
Does anyone know of this being an issue with going 1" wider on the wheels and +55ET offset means that the wheel is further into the body than before?
Using the wheel offset calculator on 1010tires it says that with the change it has the new wheels 18mm LESS inner clearance, which would make sense. So would my solution to this issue be to look into wheel spacers? I really like the look with the prelude wheels, shows the brembo slotted rotors etc a lot better, but I am having to diagnose and figure all of this out remotely. If going the spacers route, any recommendations for something not too expensive that would allow me to keep the wheels but not have to buy extended lugs etc?
Should we ask the mechanic to measure the clearance between the wheel and c-arm right now?

What is the danger in running the car as it is right now for a while until it can be sorted? No one is going full lock at speed etc, but it may touch while parking or doing tight turns etc.

Will try to get better pics of the wheel and how it fits within the arches etc once dad gets the car back from the mech.

Thanks!




whiteys

 

One other thing. Check the clearance on the rear tires between the tire/rim and the trailing arm.

 

Thanks, will ask them to check that to make sure it is ok.

Have you run a setup with spacers only on the front? If putting spacers, would it be better to just do all 4 corners?

I'd like to try my luck with 5mm spacers on each corner so it requires minimal work, but no way to know if it'll work without being there myself and it may be a few months (or more!) before I can be with the accord again.

 

I have run spacers, but not on my Honda. 5mm is not a lot, and longer wheel studs are an option I would consider. The only thing is that the wheel centers on the hub. With a spacer it would not be able to do that. Some spacers are machined to create a "hub" and duplicate the original fit, but with only 5mm I don't think that can be done. Most aftermarket wheels are cut with a larger center so they can be used on multiple vehicles and seem to work well enough without actually centering on the hub. FWIW, I run 17x8 wheels with +45mm offset on the front and +40mm on the rear. The offset was selected for maximum tire-to-fender clearance. The car is lowered around 1 inch. And I use centric ring on the hubs to center the wheels. Personally, I don't care for spacers and try to avoid them if I can. But in the end, I would go with what your mechanic tells you. He can see the application and we can't.

 

Thanks for the feedback Fitz,

I found this OLD thread on HT last night. https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-...pacers-700650/

From what I can tell, they are running the same wheels, on same chassis with same size tyres and needed 5mm. Too old to revive it though.

Re the mech, he is advocating we switch back to the original wheels, but that requires paying a shop to move the tyres back over etc and that seems like a backward step given that the new wheels not only look better, but they are also 1" wider, which can't hurt with the 205's on.

I can get these 5mm spacers if needed since they seem to be higher quality than the one size fits all (with multiple holes/sizes bored into it). https://www.ebay.com/itm/19158495263...kAAOSwzINbxmKr
These cost a bit more, but safety is always something to think about, even while acknowledging that spacers are never the ideal solution to begin with.

 

I'm with you on that one. You can probably buy the spacers for what it would cost to change one tire. Just make sure the lug studs and lug nuts are in good shape and have all their threads. I have see times when someone mounting a tire started the lug nut with an impact wrench and damaged the threads on the end. Then, to get by, they filed the damaged threads off.

 

Thanks for the feedback as always. Will give the 5mm a try, just to decide if to ship it to them or hang on til whenever I'm reuinted with the car. Will be sure to make sure the threads are looked at when it is time to do it.

Never actually used spacers before on any vehicle I've owned, so this is all new to me.

 

Haven't gotten spacers on yet, but dad sent this picture this morning. It is a good look I think, esp considering I painted the wheels myself in the garage lol



93 Prelude Wheels - 15x6.5