Dumb tire question
 

I'm getting a 1985 GSL-SE soon. The car has been sitting for over a decade, so clearly needs new shoes.

I believe stock is 205/60R14. In my garage, I have a pair of 235/45R17 and a pair of 255/40R17. They're already mounted on rims, and the bolt pattern matches (114.3x5)

So the stupid question: Is there any way I can use these tires on this car? I don't have the car yet, otherwise I'd go and try it myself to satisfy my curiosity.

My guess is no, but I'd like to know why not. Will it run into the fenders? Suspensions bits? Just plain stupid idea?

Once I get the car, I'll have a lot more questions on how to revive and bring it back to life. The tire thing piqued my curiosity since I have them in the corner of the garage and thought it'd be cool to install them on the car.

Thanks!

I can't speak for the width, but GSL-SE hubs are 114.3 x 4

D'oh! So the thread lives up to its name.
Never mind then, will just have to get new tires. Oh well.

First off, welcome aboard! Now with that out of the way, please feel free to use the Search function on the site once you get your SE home!

lots of great troubleshooting info out there which is at your fingertips without having to wait for one of us to reply. Good luck, and post some pics and your story,

Thanks!

I have been searching for a couple days. I misread the bolt pattern; just saw 114.3 and got totally exciting thinking it was a 5-bolt pattern. I had no idea there would be a 114.3x4 as well! So far, I saw a bunch of tire threads where people were asking about 215 or 225's on the stock rims, but I didn't see any where people were using the correct width rim for the tire. Not sure why someone would put wide tires on a narrow rim; is that even a thing?

Anyway, I literally just finished an engine rebuild on my WRX, and my friend is finally giving me the RX7 so I'll be on here a lot more soon. I definitely search before asking questions, so I hope to have more of a build thread showing my progress (and mistakes) and less asking of questions that have been answered a hundred times ago.

You can go to a 205 width on the stock rims with no problems. The 17" rims will probably not have the right offset or fit at all even if they were a 4 bolt.

Getting a decent summer performance tire in 13 or 14 is a challenge. You may want to go to a 15in x 7in rim with 205/60 which should fit and clear on a stock setup.

The GSL-SE is a little different with respect to size and clearance so take the above advice with a grain of salt. Check with other GSL-SE owners as well.

the GSL-SE doesn't fit Mazda's tire width to rim width guideline (205 on a 7" wheel, 225 on an 8" wheel, etc)

the stock tire for a GSL-SE is a 205/60/14, they used a Pirelli P7 which was a pretty high performance tire for the time.

A 235/45-17 technically fits in the back if you raise the vehicle and do a LOT of fender rolling.

Back in the day putting a 205 wide tire on 5.5 in rims was the autox solution for running stock wheels and tires in the stock class. Worked really well also.

This would heavily depend on offset as well, but I know they would fit too.

Just saw this from Yokohama

https://jalopnik.com/yokohama-brings...our-1819844548

205s on a 15x8 0 offset gives you a very nice straight sidewall and fits in the stock fenderwell also.

Not on an SE which op has. 205 50/Ri5 on 7" wheel with +33mm offset is largest combo that fits with no interference from spring on inside and fender lip on outside-without resorting to rolling fender.

Wow, thanks for all the info! I finally picked up the car, will have to start a build thread soon. It has 205/60R14 on it, FWIW.
Nothing in stock at tirerack. Looks like I have a couple options in 205/55R14. Otherwise I'll have to upgrade the rims.
The old Yokohama tires look cool!