I have tried looking this up and get conflicting information. Some say you need a spacer and some say 225 is as wide as you can go with stock suspension. Does anybody know which one it is. Lots of info if you have coilovers but i'm keeping the stock suspension.

Car is a 1988 10AE

Thanks guys/gals

 

I have a 88 Tii with 225's all the way around on 16" stock rims and stock suspension, and no spacers. The question is are your rims the stock 15" or 16"?

 

I think you'll find that certain 225's won't fit as 225/50-16's range from a
smallest 7.3" to widest 9" tread width.

Found this, echos my words:
https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...6-front-51350/

 

Good catch on that thread. I did not come across that one. The rims I have are stock 16" and the tires I like are the yoko advan 08's or hankook ventus rs3's. I know its overkill for the street on a stock car but once you drive with these tires not much else can compare (talking less sticky tires). Just for safety and the odd hard corner I feel safer with these tires. So do these 2 tire brands have a wide stock 225 tire?

 

Stock wheels with stock suspension-yes.

Some reasons why 225's sometimes fit and sometimes don't are:
-Wheels: Width and offset will impact whether or not it fits.
-Springs: Some aftermarket springs (tanabe, I think?) rub, while some others (eibach, racing beat) and stock springs do not. It has to do with the shape and space between coils.
-Brand/model of tire. Some 225's are wider than other 225's. It's just the way it is.

Edit: I run 225/45/17 RS2's on 7.5" et40 wheel. That is right about as much tire as can fit without damaging stuff. It just barely touches the inner fender and just catches the fender lip after a wide range of activities.

 

I run Flaken ZE512 and no rubbing, but when I had my 88gtu with the stock 16" bbs (I think they're BBS) rims I rubbed with 225's and was running tien s-tech springs, so I had to use spacers.

 

Thanks for the info and pics. I feel safe throwing on 225's now. Obv worst case if they did rub is to buy some 5-10 mm spacers. Just like to avoid that annoyance.

 

If you have to get spacers, I would personally reccomend the ones that have the studs in them. So the spacer would use the factory lugs and then your wheel would bolt up to the lugs in the spacer. I never liked the spacers that go behind the wheel and you use your factory studs for spacer and wheel. When I rubbed on my old FC I got spacers like these, the ones I had were eBay special.

https://www.spaceradapters.com/5-lug-wheel-adapters

From what I recall if you use the spacer without lugs, you want a full 7 turns by hand with your lug nut before tightening it down.

 

^ Those spacers/adapters with lugs are 1"-3" (25.4mm-76.2mm), believe there are 15mm available, but all would move the wheel entirely too far out,
especially with the factory wheel offset.
I'd say maybe 5mm spacer would be the max thickness with stock lugs.

Little history-The 16" tires were to be 215/55-16 when the cars were produced, but back in the 80's
that tire size was not readily available, hence the 205/55 size and the what I term large fender to wheel gap,
same with the 225/50 as they are both the same OD.

I actually run 215/55-16 and 235/50-16's same height, but the problem is finding the 235's. Had
Continental and installed Toyo's last year, but as they are almost non-existent, the next set will be 17's.

 

I wasn't saying get those adapters, I was recomending just that type of adapter. When I had them I went .5" in the front and .75" in the rear I had to roll fenders because I was lowered. They went when I sold the car.

 

I still have these, they're 13mm each

 

I didn't use them, because when I tried them on I couldn't get the full 7 turns.

 

Here's you're 10mm bolt on spacers

Ichiba Extended Hubcentric Wheel Spacers 5x114.3 10mm

 

I ran 225/50R16 Hankook RS3's on my stock S5 TII rims. (Racing Beat springs and AGX Struts) The front tires barely rubbed the spring perch on the front struts. 10 minutes with a grinder and I was able to clearance the strut and have 1/8" of extra clearance. You will need to run a small spacer to get this fit if you don't want to grind the spring perch.

I'd recommend not using this size tire on the stock 16" rims. Handling is crap. The RS3 has a very soft sidewall and your making it worse by squishing a 225 tire on a 7" rim. Switching to 17" rims and running a 215/45 will give you much better results. If you can't afford rims, the Bridgstone RE71R is a way better tire than the RS3 and comes in a 225/50.