Wheel Fitment

Alright - I know this has been covered before and I looked through several past posts, but for some reason I'm still having trouble figuring out if these wheels will work for me or not. The specs are as follows:

Wheel Size: 17x9
Backspacing: 5.71" (149mm)
Offset: 0.71" (+18mm)

They would have 245/45/17 tires on them. Would they be sticking out past the fenders in the front? The car is lowered and I don't want anything to rub.

I have 17x9 +20mm offset with 245/45/17s on my 87. The fronts do stick out a bit but its not very noticable and doesn't bother me. There is only about 1cm clearance between the wheel and strut so I think it would be hard tuck it in further, but i think the 2mm differance would be okay. I think those would probably fit on my car but can't say if they would fit on yours. How much are you lowered? Here's some pictures of mine if it helps any. http://natomessageboard.com/ubbthreads.p...#Post39122

Thanks, man - I don't know how much I dropped it, but there's maybe a half-inch gap between the top of my tire and the fender. I could probably re-cut another set of springs to raise it up if need-be. I think I may just take the plunge and deal with anything that may pop up. I would prefer to get 17x8's, but the wheels I'm looking at are only available in 17x9. :dunno:

Good luck with the fitment. You could always go for a slightly smaller tire diameter with 40 series if it's questionable. Maybe do the diameter calculation vs. what you have and what you are going to buy and mess with the numbers some, along with whats a decent priced tire. Not too mention as long as it would fill in the wheel well enough to look good, a smaller series will lower the center of gravity more. I did some quick calcs manually and also used this calc link to go against mine calcs to see, and then I just went for it since the numbers made sense, and it worked out. My tires sit about like you said yours do now, however they can just barely tuck in under the fender lip when the suspension is in a hard compression. Mine are 18x8 but I don't remember the backspacing, and lowered roughly an inch with 245/40/18 if that helps at all??? Which I beleive was similar to the 225/50/16's I had or the original overall tire diameter 225/60/16. Forget was a while ago.


http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Just did these... can't say how accurate but you can measure real world vs. calculator to get a rough feel.

Specification Sidewall Radius Diameter Circumf Rev/Mi Dif
225/60-16 5.3in 13.3in 26.6in 83.7in 757 0.0%
245/45-17 4.3in 12.8in 25.7in 80.7in 785 -3.6%

Just checked, yeah

225/60-16 diameter is 26.6"
225/50-16 diameter is 24.9"
245/40-18 diameter is 25.7"

So I got a 1/2" lower and 1/2" more clearance than the stock tires, and slightly more gearing effect.

backspacing looks good, but i'd bet you'll be rubbing the outer shoulder on the inner fender from time to time. probly nothing a heatgun and baseball bat can't roll out though...

probly nothing a heatgun and baseball bat can't roll out though...

I have actually been wondering about getting the Not sure I trust myself to do it - and I don't understand how the baseball bat method works. Do you just press the bat up against it at an angle, push and slide?

i had an aluminum youth bat that i wedged between the tire & fender, then had my brother slowly move the car back & forth while i guided the bat.

crude but effective.

Ah... I see. If I have problems, that may be worth a shot. I found a guy a couple days ago on Craigslist around here that does it, but he charges between $35 and $50 per fender. Apparently that's quite a bit less than others in the area.