I'm looking to grab a new set of tires for my wheels and was wondering what size would create a nice flush look with the fenders? My current setup is Gsr blades with stock size (195-55-15) and every time I hit a pothole on the freeway or city, my front tires rub against my fender liners, creating an ugly screech.

Specs:
1998 Integra GSR
Lowered: unknown, see reference picture below
Tires wanted: Falken Ziex ZE-912
Wheel specs:
16x7
offset: +45

What size should I get so that when I hit a bump or make a U-turn, it will not rub against my fenders or fenderliners?

This is how my car sits like now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40924536@N04/5012526934/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40924536@N04/5054196481/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40924536@N04/5054741975/
This is how I want it to look like:


Thank you!

 

With 16x7 its gonna get worse. What you expect from lowered car. Just try to avoid them.
And I had 912's on stock wheel. Not bad for the money. But I would.not buy them again.

Thinking about kumho or eagle gt. But their reviews are not that so great.lol

 

Integra on 16s, 205/45-16 is the correct size.

215/45-16 can be used, but if you already have rubbing issues you might want to avoid this size.

If you're rubbing, your wheels are probably the wrong offset. I've driven my 00 GSR lower than that with 215/45-16s without any rubbing issues.

 

No, he says he's rubbing NOW, with GS-R blades (stock GS-R wheels). Which are the proper offset.

The problem is that your car has been lowered too much to be able to use tires with the stock outer diameter. Don't make this mistake even worse by piling another mistake, undersized tires, on top of it. The way to fix this is to correct the suspension so it's not lowered so much. With stock sized tires, you shouldn't rub even if the car is lowered up to 1.5-2.0" but my guess is it's lowered more than that, causing the rubbing.

And yes, tire sizes to use are 195/55-15 or 205/50-15 for 15" wheels, 205/45-16 or 215/45-16 with 16" wheels (and as TunerN00b correctly notes, 205/45-16 is the better bet for a lowered car with possible clearance issues).

 

Thanks for the informative responses. I will go with 205/45/16 as my tire size so there aren't any rubbing issues. Tunernoob, can you post a couple pictures of your car with the 215/45/16 tires? Overseas, what do you mean it'll get worse with 16x7? Isn't that why I will go with 45 instead of stock sized 55?

Why aren't the falken 912's good tires? I'm looking to get all-seasons since I live in the valley and it rains alot, Not too sure about nowadays with this global warming situation though, so I don't want summers as their tread wears out faster and can't handle wet traction very well.

 

Apparently reading pwns me at times.

Strange. I ran dumped with stock blades without rubbing issues for a few months. 205/50-15 sized tires though.

I suppose use of a camber kit could change what offset is needed to avoid rubbing, as I didn't have one installed when I still had the stock wheels on the car.

Visually, 205/45-16 and 215/45-16 looks nearly identical. I don't have any real pictures of my car, but there are plenty of pics of Integras on 16s in the cosmetic forums.

Check the forum FAQ for information about tire aspect ratios.

But you are correct, if you buy the correct sized tires, you can increase wheel diameter without reducing clearances available (without making rubbing issues worse).

Summer tires generally provide better wet traction than all seasons. All that all season tires provide is the ability to use them in freezing conditions and snow.

The Falken 912 aren't bad tires (from what I know), but they aren't exactly praised for anything either. There are probably better choices available for around the same price. nsxtasy will probably come back and make a few tire recommendations, if you supply him with enough information to go off of.

 

Thanks Tunernoob. I will check out the FAQ on tire aspect ratios. Most likey, I'll go with 205/45/16 though. Maybe it's just my tires having negative camber due to being lowered, not having a camber kit, and haven't had an alignment yet.

Do summer tires really provide better traction? If so, I will investigate on that since we don't see any snow here in the valley. I don't really know what type of information to give off besides wanting good wet and dry traction with a great treadwear. I know I will suffer with road noise if I want better tread wear since the rubber will be stiffer to withstand longer usage, thus, resulting in more road noise. If you can find a tire that grips nicely in wet and dry weather with low road noise and good tread wear, that'll be great!

 

I didn't have a camber kit, nor would I recommend one for the front of an Integra.

No idea why you're rubbing and I never did (or at least, never noticed). I have changed my suspension and wheels quite a bit over the years though.

Definitely get the car aligned every single time height is adjusted though. A bad alignment wears tires, and can cause handling issues.

In general. I'm sure a crappy summer tire compared to a great all season would defy that generalization though.

Total price willing to spend maybe. Otherwise, I think you covered it there.

 

Maybe there's something wrong with the frame of my car. There are parts that won't align to oem holes and it's an oem part and other things. Who knows what the previous owner did to it. I'm looking to spend about $400-$500. Unless somebody can get me a huge discount =D

 

How about Yokohama S. Drive tires?

 

As TunerN00b notes, you need to understand what the tire sizes mean. That middle number, called the "aspect ratio", says how tall the sidewall is as a percentage of the tire width. That means it affects the outer diameter. Basically you want to get an outer diameter that is about the same as the stock tire size, for clearance purposes - and if clearance is going to be an issue, you may want to go slightly smaller rather than slightly wider. The reason the 16" tires have a smaller aspect ratio is to keep the outer diameter the same with larger diameter wheels.

Here are the outer diameters of these sizes:

195/55-15 (stock size): 15" + 2 * (195 mm * .55) = 23.44"
205/45-16 : 16" + 2 * (205 mm * .45) = 23.26"
215/45-16 : 16" + 2 * (215 mm * .45) = 23.62"

The other answers provided by TunerN00b are good, too.

See below.

Yes.

See below.

That would be my top recommendation for your needs. The S.drive is a summer tire that performs well in wet and dry, and lasts longer than some other summer tires (typical treadlife is 25-40K miles). And it comes in 205/45-16.

All-season tires will last longer, but they won't give you anywhere near the grip that summer tires do.

 

Thanks nsxtasy, I do understand what each of those numbers mean except for the (+2).

I noticed that the s. drive tires are low-pro tires. I was wondering what are the advantages of having low-pro tires and the disadvantages?

 

If you're referring to the +2 in the formula above, the outer diameter of a tire is equal to the diameter of the wheel PLUS TWO times the height of the sidewall. (Look at a wheel and tire if that doesn't make sense to you.)

It's not the tire make and model that's considered to be "low profile"; it's the tire SIZE.

In most cases, the best tire size is the one for which the outer diameter of the tire is equal to the outer diameter of the stock tire size for the car. This way, the speedometer and odometer retain their accuracy, and the tire should have enough clearance in the wheel wells. In order to achieve this, larger diameter wheels have shorter sidewalls, and smaller diameter wheels have taller sidewalls. When you decide to use larger wheels than stock - such as getting 16" wheels for a GS-R that came from the factory with 15" wheels - you need to get tires with shorter sidewalls to compensate for the wheel diameter. That's why you get 205/45-16 (or 215/45-16) tires for a GS-R that came from the factory with 195/55-15 tires. But even 195/55-15 is usually considered a low-profile tire.

 

Ohh okay, so I understand the +2 and the idea of low-pro tires. I thought low-pros have something to do with gripping the road and every little nick on it. Thanks for summing everything up for me! I see why for the s. drive tires, for 205, the sidewall is shorter as opposed to my 195, it's taller.