Should i get 205/40-17 or 215 sized tires? for the 215, what size sidewall would give me the closest diameter to the stock 195/55-15 ? and what do u think of the Bridgestone Potenza S03's?

 

a 205/40 is about a tenth of an inch bigger than your stock tires, 215/40's are about 4 tenths of an inch bigger. SO with the 215/40's when your speedo shows 60 you'd actually be doing about 60.8, which is a negligable difference since your speedo is off by that much anyways.

 

how bad would i rub w/215's? and i'm droped on H&R Race springs...

 

I don't think it would be THAT bad with 215's, some people run 225 BFG's. YOu might need to do a lil fender well massaging with a baseball bat tho.

 

so3 are a really great tire if u got that kind of money but its tto rich for my blood
i would just get some toyo's or the yokohama spec 2's or the new nitto gen's

i use to run 205/40/17 and i and now running 215/40/17 and will never go back to 205's

215 is wider and wider is better and a 17 inch rim is probably 7 inches wide ppl run 205 on the stock 6 inch wide rim. so 205 dont have enough of a side wall to protect the rim. 215 are perfect 205 is no good for a 7 inch rim in my opinion
and with 215 the ride will feel much more confertable.
i would use 205 only with a 6 or 6 1/2 inch rim. use 215 for a 7 inch wide rim.

 

205 is kool.

 

Rather than paying the full premium for S-03s, I'd suggest the Kumho Ecsta MX. The MX is a very comparable tire to the S-03, but is significantly cheaper.

 

I mounted Yokohama AVS ES100 (215/40/17) tires on my 17x7 +38mm Rims on a Stock-height 2000 DC2 and rubbed significantly with 80lbs of luggage and two passengers in the car.

Without the extra weight in the car, the tires rub on sharp turns (90 degree turns @ 25+ MPH), road "dips" at speed, and when descending large speed bumps. The rub spots are at the peak of the rear fenderwells, and about halfway in (from teh outside edge) on the front of the front splash-gaurds (From turning the wheel and having the outside edge of the tire rub the splash gaurd).

Discount Tire put 215s on instead of 205s. I'm waiting for the 205's to come in so we can trade them out. Hopefully I don't have to re-order the rims with a larger offset (I've heard 40 and 45 are available).

Now I worry that the AVS ES100s will not "protrude" enough to protect my rims. I'd rather compromise this than have the tires give out from excessive rubbing though. (Unlikely, but not out of reason)

What a pain.

 

I'd never roll my fenderwell to accomodate a tire/rim on a "street" car. The risk of rust is reason enough. Although there are preventative ways around this that I hae not seen posted here.

After "rolling the fender lip; either with a fender rolling tool, rubber malet and jack, or a baseball bat: remove the rubber liner strip completely and mask around the area wehre it used to be. Now clean this area very well, roughen it up slightly with sandpaper, and apply a few coats of truck-bed liner. This stuff seals very well and you can apply it appropriately to prevent water from collecting in there and rusting. Plus you won't have to re-apply your rubber liner strip.

Truck-bed liner has <U>many</U> uses.

 

im happy with my 205/40/17. id go 205. IMO. good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by riceball777 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

215 is wider and wider is better and a 17 inch rim is probably 7 inches wide ppl run 205 on the stock 6 inch wide rim. so 205 dont have enough of a side wall to protect the rim. 215 are perfect 205 is no good for a 7 inch rim in my opinion
and with 215 the ride will feel much more confertable.
i would use 205 only with a 6 or 6 1/2 inch rim. use 215 for a 7 inch wide rim.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I run 205 on my 7.5" rim...

 

I ran 205 on my 17 and bent a rim so bad that it went flat. Not enough sidewall to protect. Put 215 on barely any rubbing. on sport lines and kyb agx. 215 are the only way to go.

 

Just got back from the tire place. They replaced the 215s with 205s. The 215s rubbed significantly in the read with my +38 7" rims. The 205s do not rub at all. Front or rear.

I see what you mean about the sidewall being shorter though. They are not as tall as I had hoped. . . . The car looks much better with 215s. The 205s look annerexic, Makes me worry about scraping the rims too.

Oh well.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 98coupe &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I ran 205 on my 17.... 215 are the only way to go.</TD></TR></TABLE>

17 x what? 17 x 6.5, 7, 7.5????? Left out an important detail!

 

it mainly relies on how wide the wheel is, as mentioned. i ran Kuhmo Ecsta Supra's (215s) on my 17x7's and they rubbed so bad even with 'massaged fenders' that i had to get new tires. 205 worked WAY better, but again only if youre running a 7" wide wheel, anything smaller, and you should be ok.

 

i run with 215/40/17 and its great ... will nvr go down to 205. plus u only rub if ur dropped to hell like me and if u r then its just when u make u turns.

 

I ended up getting the 205's...

 

205's with the yokohama avs-es100's or the paradas.

 

go with 205/40... don't forget the gearing is also affected with diameter change...