BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

So my old set up of 245/45-16 Toyo RA1 all around on 16x7.5 front and 16x8 rear was nice, but lacked traction on acceleration.




I considered buying a pair of 17x9.5 TE-37 for the rear and rotate the 16x8 to the front, but DAMN the price of Volks just keeps going up.

I searched Ebay for a couple of months until I saw the perfect fitment TE-37 come up off of a JDM car.

17x8.5 +30 for the front and 17x9.5 +40 for the rear for less than the cost of a new pair for the rears, only problem was they were 90's forging in washing machine white...

Had them powder coated bronze and put 255/40-17 and 275/40-17 Nitto NT01 on them.

Just as I calculated, perfect fitment with stock fenders and JIC FLT-A2 coilovers.

Pics of new fitment up front

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

rear pics

As good as it looks, I have to raise it up now with the taller tires for racing as even before the 245/45-16 was rubbing the top of the tread on the top of the fender well on braking with bumps.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Yeah, don't have center caps on them right now, but I will pull those off the 16s.

drftwerks

iTrader: (1)

are you that against rolling the fenders or slight pull??

usually im not at fan of the flat TE, but you car does look good

90FC

Nice! Now post some pics of the whole car.

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

Kick ***. Don't forget to mention the use of cam or "crash bolts" so those clear the coilovers. I run a close fitmit to yours 18x8 38 offset 235/40 and 18x9.5 35 offset 265/35. I had to use crash bolts to gain some room inside and dialed back in neg camber with the top plates.
~Mike...................

ARD T2

iTrader: (22)

Nicely done ian. Man it gets real close with that backspacing. HOpefully there's no tire flex. hehe.

Rishie

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Nah, I have hammered the fender "lip" up in the front so it doesn't catch the sidewall.

I would pull the front out a bit if it was needed to clear the 255 up front, but it isn't and keeping with the reasonable +30 offset up front REALLY helps reduce the bump steer, trammeling, hunting under braking and the large scrub radius of a lower offset rim.

I have a friend w/ 255 on a 17x9 +15 up front and the immediate turn in is awsome but the downsides are a bit scary on the street and I wouldn't want to do 100mph + on bad pavement like the hillclimb.

I had considered the shine widefenders and still have that as an option for rotating the 17x9.5 to the front with a spacer and running a 275 up front.

Yep, those old forgings have more flat spokes and are open between the lug studs to catch brake dust- but the offset and width was right and they were (relatively) cheap.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

I haven't had to employ that crashbolt trick yet, but I think it is a good idea as long as you positively locate the bolt (braze a washer with an indexing hole on) so that your alignment doesn't vary. I use the whole course and more :P

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Thanks! the 17" rim puts the coilover spring seat right above the tire bead area, so it provides MORE room than the skinny 16" that put the seat right at the bulge in the tire's taller flexy sidewall.

As long as your tire doesn't have a rim protector bead (race tires don't :P). The 235/45 Trampio Vimode (JDM Toyo) that came on the rims didn't fit because of the rim protector.

I think I will have to get some sway bars or stiffer springs as I started getting some body roll w/ the 245 RA1 and the 7k 5k springs.

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

Wow, those JIC's must have more room then my TEIN FLEX do. I haven't had any of those crash bolts come loose yet and I've punished my car on street and track lol.

~Mike....................

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

its common on miata's, with sticky tires the alignment bolts move around

RacerXtreme7

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for the info, but its apples to oranges perhaps. As I'm sure you know, Miata's have double control arms were the FC has a strut. Forces being applied to suspension points I'm sure are different. Were exactly are the Miata guys placing these concentric bolts at? Mine are made by Eibach and never moved on me from my "drive like an A__hole" on the street, to even r1 tired autocrosses in 3 hard years of driving.

~Mike..................

Josh18_2k

iTrader: (3)

+1 on that..
I have Flex's, and with 17x9 +24 245/40/17 there is 3mm clearance between the tire (with rim protector) and the spring seat.

btw Blue TII- keep an eye on the area about 6" forward of 12 o'clock on the rear fenders. thats the first place the tire will rub. it may clear when you just jack the tire up into the fender, but under hard acceleration/cornering the susp geometry gets a little screwy. i'd check the trailing arm for rubbage too after hard driving (same deal)

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

I believe they are most likely to move around when using the curbing to adjust your line (hitting outside edge of tire) or dropping a wheel off the pavement clipping the apex (hitting inside edge of tire).

There is a LOT of contact area getting pinched between the strut housing and hub carrier on the FC so it would definitely take some force, but even just a sticky slick can really generate some loads...

Well, it wouldn't be the first JIC coilover application that had a strut mount designed to make more room for tires. I remember reading SCC project Sylvia and they stated JIC designed the sylvia coilover to allow more clearance as well.


Thanks for the heads up. That is relevant info because in the rear I am trying to keep the neg camber to -1 degree as traction available for acceleration really starts to fall off fast past that and that is the whole reason I have the wider tires...

I may have to roll the top section of the rear fender lip under like I did the front. Even the 245 on a +30 rubbed the spot you indicate on the rear fender if I tried to take out all the negative camber.

Up front my 245/45-16 have already worn a shiny spot on the inside fender well from hitting bumps while braking and turning.

The 255/4017 clear full lock at rest, but will have more of the same problem on compression as they are taller.

Josh18_2k

iTrader: (3)

never hurts to roll dude. well, it can hurt the paint i suppose..
i'm looking forward to a rub report once you track the new setup.
and by rub report, i mean tires. not what you do at home on a saturday night (jk lol)

my lil 2 cents- i have 245F 17x9 +24 and 275R 17x10.5 +27. the fronts are irrelevant thanx to different coilovers. the rears have rubbed the control arms slightly, most likely during a bumpy autocross. i have BFG G-Force TA KD's, which are decently sticky (for street tires), but may also have more sidewall flex that the yours. my fenders are pulled, but the tires still hit about 1.5" up inside the fenderwell. i set the ride height accordingly to avoid it. (i also have 1 degree camber in back)

you may try setting your ride height and alignment, then unbolt the rear strut and compress the suspension (& tire) with a jack. this will give you an indication how much rolling you'll need for full travel.

j200pruf

iTrader: (4)

Blue You think you got get a 17x9 with a 275 up on the front with just a 30mm fender?

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

oh its just the stock camber adjusting bolts, if you run spec miata, or something similar, they put enough force on those to move em around.

the front suspension sees a lot of load in a racing situation, as you know

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

new wheels look great btw! thats a lot of meat under stock fenders

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

It looks like a possibility on my set up as the 255/40-17 NT01 on a 17x8.5 +30 is fitting stock front fenders. But I was talking 275/40-17 on the proper offset 9.5" wide rim :P

If the +30 fenders give you 22mm more on the outside when trimmed right that may be enough to clear a skinny 275/40-17 (like RT615, RA1 or NT01) with perfect offset.

If it almost worked, you could mod the camber plates for more negative camber and then push the wheel tire away from the strut w/ eccentric bolts (back to more positive camber) to free up some room on the inside.


The downside is, if they don't clear you can't exactly pull the fiberglass widefender out to clear it like a stock steel fender.

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

How much camber are you running up front? I'm running 17x9 +24 w/ 255 in the front, w/ 2 degrees of neg camber and it's oh so close to flush. I definitely need to roll my fenders.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

Probably 3 1/2 deg negative up front.

On the 245 tires I measured 3 1/4 deg and it was a good compromise for even wear with racing and daily driving.

I went a little further and maxed the camber plates out for the 255 tires since I have another daily driver now and front shoulder wear has always been an issue racing.

I might end up taking some negative camber out up front as the NT01 have very large shoulder blocks to help mitigate wear unlike the RA1 I had been running.

I think you can get a little more negative camber with the JIC FLTA2 coilovers than most since the hub carrier mounting points are further out from the strut (also providing for more room inboard for rim/tire).

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

I compared my inner rim clearance with yours, and assuming you're not using spacers, the difference in clearance between our front wheels is 0.35mm from the coilover. I had thought my stances would be a problem in the fitment, but turns out I have enough clearance to run it.

You seem to tuck pretty well, so with a fender roll (although you're against it), I should be able to tuck my tires under. My front wheels stick out 12.35mm more than yours, fwiw.

MaczPayne

iTrader: (5)

Here's my setup (The good camera was packed, so pardon the quality)

Running about neg 1.5 camber (half way on the plates) with the inner lip rolled.





Stance GR+ Pro Coilovers. I will have better pictures soon.

owen is fat

for any of you guys thinking of a 275 up front on a 17" wheel just remember that is a TALL TIRE wow like whoa!

the 285/30R18 is super short in comparison (if you can afford it pal, lol) and will fit nicely on a 18x9.5 wheel up front with the proper offset and a 20mm or panspeed type of fender.

255/40r17 can be pretty damn tall too, NyToy / soloracer had them up front on a 17x9 +15 with tein flex and mariah 30mm fenders and while driven hard there was a lot of rubbing to take care of with trimming here and there and the car couldnt be lowered too much either.