Meaty Tires Thread

[Waterfan]

lol, 245/40 on 15x9? Just how much work did you have to do to make that happen? It looks badass

I spy with my little eye: near-to-body-color Fender Flares.

EDIT: Yeah it does!

 

[Business6]

I spy with my little eye: near-to-body-color Fender Flares.

EDIT: Yeah it does!

hah, guess I should have blown the photo up

 

[Butterybunz]

I spy with my little eye: near-to-body-color Fender Flares.

EDIT: Yeah it does!

Matte Black Fender Flares ATM

 

[AlrightyThen]

What offset on those wheels? Kinda looks like you also have a spacer but can't tell. LOOKS DAMN GOOD. how's it drive?

 

[Butterybunz]

What offset on those wheels? Kinda looks like you also have a spacer but can't tell. LOOKS DAMN GOOD. how's it drive?

I had custom built adapters; 4x108 to 4x100. Hubcentric to my hub and the wheels. They are 17mm and make the overall offset et18.

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

Oh. I like


Finally somebody on here running a real tire on these cars

 

[thePete]

Oh. I like


Finally somebody on here running a real tire on these cars

I wouldn't say it's for lack of wanting; the problem is rear clearance before you need flares. Id love to run 245s all around, but it's a little too much body work on my car that's not even a year old.

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[jeffreylyon]

I wouldn't say it's for lack of wanting; the problem is rear clearance before you need flares. Id love to run 245s all around, but it's a little too much body work on my car that's not even a year old.

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My understanding is that the required clearancing isn't too radical. In the RE-71R the 215/45x17 is the same height as the 245/40x17 and lots of folks have made the 215/45 work.

 

[thePete]

It's not a matter of height. My 205s would rub if I wasn't at stock height. And I don't have a ton of room inboard. I'm on 15x8s. I'd need at least an aggressive pull to run a 225 or 245. Remember advertised numbers don't mean much. My 205s are 8" across the tread face. I don't care about having a tire with a "really big number" I want the most rubber I can cram in there. This has been one of the biggest group efforts in the community.
Over all tire height is one of the last things that's an issue.

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[jeffreylyon]

It's not a matter of height. My 205s would rub if I wasn't at stock height. And I don't have a ton of room inboard. I'm on 15x8s. I'd need at least an aggressive pull to run a 225 or 245. Remember advertised numbers don't mean much. My 205s are 8" across the tread face. I don't care about having a tire with a "really big number" I want the most rubber I can cram in there. This has been one of the biggest group efforts in the community.
Over all tire height is one of the last things that's an issue.

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I'm on a 17x8 with 205's and a decent drop with no rubbing anywhere. One the front I've got about 1/2" from the outside of the wheel rim and the (unrolled) fender lip and 1/2" from the inside of the wheel rim and the coilover strut housing with 2º of camber. I figure that I can find a little more on the inside by pushing the top of the coilover in and the knuckle out and rolling the fender.

The only clearance issue I can see in the rear is the sheet metal at 3:00.

I'm hoping that my net set of rubber with be at least 235/40.

 

[RAAMaudio]

Using spacers can get the job done but be advised there are some benefits and some issues that negatively effect the handling and other aspects, some can balance out with other mods, some are a bit complicated to explain, etc....

+
Wider track width can generally reduce the effects of the tall center of gravity these cars have.
Wider tires can improve grip greatly if they are effectively used which is not always the case.
Style, in my book only as a second or third aspect of the mod, never first as handling is always paramount in my builds.

-
Reduced spring rate effects caused by the longer leverage, one must calculate that which is more complicated than just using wider control arms.
Geometry changes that can hugely effect front grip, this is a complicated area so leaving it at that.
Added wear on wheel bearings, load on the hubs, knuckles, control arms, pick up points, can they take the load and for how long?
Use of the car, autocross issues like hitting more cones until you get used to the wider track width.

I chose a different route to run 15x9 wheels because of several issues, one being the fun challenge of making them fit under stock fenders(rolled and pulled of course) and only considered flares to run 15x10 with 245 slicks or 15x11 wheels with 275 slicks, both Hoosiers which usually are very wide compared to the numbers stamped on them. That would of left me with 225 tires on 15x9 sitting back under the flares and look goofy on the dual purpose car, street and track, when on the street setup as I would simply not run spacers as the offset is not acceptable to me due to a very long history of studying and effectively using known engineering principals in setting up suspensions.

BUT, for certain needs one can compromise to become more competitive in certain classes of events like autocrossing where the rules give some cars advantages over others and you just have to try different things until you find what does the job, like the car in this thread. It might just be the best it can be for such events they way it is setup according to the rules of the class.

I am always pointing out things like this due to the limited knowledge many have when it comes to mods done for "performance or "style" when many are simply the wrong way to go and safety can become a very serious issue like the really bad idea based on cartoons, the highly "stanced" cars which the car mentioned is not of course.

I would love to see the results of a setup comparison, same car, same course, same temperature, same day is always best, same tires but in something like a 225 on an 8, no spacers versus the 245 on a 9 with spacers. If not that then at least class standing over various courses, days, track conditions, where the car placed before and after the mods, etc...if faster then great!

It would still be a mod I would only consider for temp use and not a full time mod for the majority of owners as there is far more at stake there appears to be.

Have a great day
Rick

 

[M-Sport fan]

I'm on a 17x8 with 205's and a decent drop with no rubbing anywhere. One the front I've got about 1/2" from the outside of the wheel rim and the (unrolled) fender lip and 1/2" from the inside of the wheel rim and the coilover strut housing with 2º of camber. I figure that I can find a little more on the inside by pushing the top of the coilover in and the knuckle out and rolling the fender.

The only clearance issue I can see in the rear is the sheet metal at 3:00.

I'm hoping that my net set of rubber with be at least 235/40.

Heck, I'd be happy with a wide tread width 225/40-17 IF one of these manufacturers would even consider making one in a streetable tire!!

I'm almost ready to have the 225/40-17 Hoosier R7s cut and grooved (for rain usability), despite them wearing out in ~1000 miles, and flatting every other day from picking up road schrapnel like an electromagnet!

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

I'm super super interested in the real work it took to fit a 15x9 cause I've been wanting to do a 15x9 or 16x9 but everyone on this forum swears there is no way and a 205 barely fits

 

[LILIKE16ST]

It can easily be fit with flares and the right offset and/or spacers but as rick pointed out just fitting it under the car without rubbing is not the only thing one should consider. Having the wheels stick out with a low offset or with spacers puts stress on things suspension related and other and that is compounded when talking about these large width tires which have more weight than narrower tires in most cases. There is alot to it than need be considered. But as far as fitting it physically under the car with no rub it's not that hard when flares are used. But there is alot more to it than that.

 

[LILIKE16ST]

BTW that car on those 245s looks sick no doubt. As far as looks alone it is just plain awesome. I don't have the knowledge on the subject enough to say weather or not it is worth it to do this vs the negative effects that come with it or if it's form over function or visa versa. I love wide meats but I also want the best response possible so I prefer going with a slightly narrower tire on a wider wheel now 245s on a 10 with flares equals unbelievable lol. That is IF it could be done safely with function over form. I like ricks car and how he fit 225's on 9s all around with stock fenders and no flares (rolled and pulled of course) now that is just full of win. I'm very interested in hearing more on this particular topic though to be honest it intrigues me.

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

This is not my first rodeo. The stress on this and that is a bunch of nonsense but let's not get into that here


I'm looking at the Konig in 15x9 +30 something. I wonder if this will fit under our fenders? I'm not going to out flares. But looks like I have to go into this blind

 

[shouldbeasy]

BTW that car on those 245s looks sick no doubt. As far as looks alone it is just plain awesome. I don't have the knowledge on the subject enough to say weather or not it is worth it to do this vs the negative effects that come with it or if it's form over function or visa versa. I love wide meats but I also want the best response possible so I prefer going with a slightly narrower tire on a wider wheel now 245s on a 10 with flares equals unbelievable lol. That is IF it could be done safely with function over form. I like ricks car and how he fit 225's on 9s all around with stock fenders and no flares (rolled and pulled of course) now that is just full of win. I'm very interested in hearing more on this particular topic though to be honest it intrigues me.

I've got my 225/45R17's fitting without rubbing on my 8" wide Rota Recce wheels.

 

[LILIKE16ST]

I've got my 225/45R17's fitting without rubbing on my 8" wide Rota Recce wheels.

That is cool you were able to fit a tire that tall and wide. I am assuming stock suspension though? Ricks is lowered on coilovers and his 225 are on 9 inch wide wheels. There's several running 225 on 8s but on 9s mods are needed in particular in the rear and when lowered.

*edit*
What brand tire are you running? Sidewall sizes can vary greatly from actual size. My 195 are as wider or wider than most 205 you see and some 225 are as narrow as some 205-215 while certain ones are more like 235-245. The type of tire can have alot to do with fit as they vary greatly in actual size vs what is on the sidewall. I think some get too caught up in sidewall sizes as in "I run such and such size..." vs actually having a wide tire in real specs (in general not meaning that towards you).

 

[LILIKE16ST]

While we are on this subject I want to add something that maybe some here don't know and are not aware of. You can get fox body mustang wheels (4x108) in aggressive offsets (for the Fiesta st anyways) like 15-30 mm offsets in sizes like 17x9 and can be had fairly cheap that would obviously be too much poke unless you're running flares. Idk if anyone has done it but I'd think an aggressive offset with flares would be better than running a large spacer. That way you don't need the spacer. You can even get 17x10 and 17x10 5 and sizes like that. I'm not sure if they could be made to fit square with flares but it would be worth checking into as the fox mustangs wheels have a decently lower offset numerically than what the stock fiesta st wheel has or even most aftermarket wheels for the st. I've seen people in the mk1 focus crowd doing fox mustang wheels but have not really saw that with the Fiesta st

 

[HardBoiledEgg]

The Konig wheels have a better chance I think since they have that 35 offset in a 15x9