Is there any disadvantage to running 17" wheels up front and 18" in the rear other than loosing the abaility to rotate your tires? Does it hinder performance in any way?

Seems like most people with 18's up front are rubbing (at least at some point) but a lot of people with 17's aren't. I would like to go the 18" route over 17's for purely cosmetic reasons, but don't want to loose any of the functionality of the car.

I know this question has been asked before, but I couldn't find it. :p

 

Not many FD owners have tried this, so you'll be one of the few.

 

you couldnt find it? try PAGE 2 on this forum... i asked the same question July 29th... here is the thread https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=100711




please search

 

and btw... how will it effect how people rotate their tires? ~80% of all rx7 owners have wider tires/rims in the rear than they do in the front, so they cant rotate them any more than if they had a different diameter wheel in the rear, right?

 

jessica alba
kris

 

THe only "disadvantage" would be purely aesthetic as there would be a large variance in front to rear profiles. I'd suggest running a 235/40/17 up front and a 245/35/18 in the rear. This is a pretty sweet setup on 8 and 9 inch widths. It's what I like to do with IS300s cause they are difficult to fit with their high offset requirements. This allows for the most meat up front and pretty symmetrical sizing for the rear as well.

Rishie

 

youre the first person to mention anything about my avatar... jessica appreciates it


and Rishie, your idea sounds like a good one, so by what you are saying, would the sidewall heights to both front and rear tires be almost equal? and should you run different offsets with front and rear? if so, what should they be with say, 17x8 in front and 18x9 in the rear?

 

The issue of rubbing is caused mostly by the increase in the width of the wheel/tire, not the size of the rim. When properly sized, the over circumference (wheel + tire) is not suppose to be different from stock. If the circumference is in fact different, it is caused by incorrect tire size, and it would cause you speedometer and odometer to be miscalibrated.
Some people believe the term "wider is better" a little too much, and try to stuff the widest possible tire on the widest possible rim and run into rubbing issues. If you'll notice, all the complains about rubbing comes from turning (front wheels), and not the rear.

 

For those widths I go with a 255/35 in the rear. Not sure if this will mess with ABS. WE'd have to talk to an ABS expert.

Rishie

 

forum ****,

you can't search for "17" or "18", and my setup doesn't contain a page 2 for this forum (I know it's possible to change the setup, but it was easier to just re-ask the question than try tracking down a thread that was posted more than a month ago)

..and... I'm running different sizes front/back as it is now, so I don't much care about the fact that you can't rotate with different diameters - which is why I mentioned it in the first place (so people wouldn't waste space making a reply that didn't much matter).

--------------------------------

For what widths? And now that we're talking ABS, what would screw up the ABS and how? ABS is controlled independantly on each wheel, so I wouldn't think that wheel size/tire width would matter; is that wrong?

 

Well, not entirely true about wider wheels/tires causing more problems, as that there is a number of guys with 18X10 and up to 285/30/18s up front with out any problems (w/ skinny coil overs on the inside) - Max Cooper, Mark Valeski (sp?), Gene (purple mantis dude), Steve Cirian, and others.

While if the incorrect offset/width combination of the front wheel has it where the fender edge plane overlaps the path of the tire/wheel when it compresses - there will obviously be rub.

But, I've found through experimentation (I've had three sets of 18s with different widths and tire sizes) that the overall diameter plays a big roll in how a wheel/tire combination fits up front. (diameter being a component of the distance between the tire tread and fender lip edge, the other being how much it is lowered)

The biggest and probably the most frustrating problem third gen owners have with front wheel/tire fitment is having thier fender lip pulled out. You can have the generally agreed upon offset range and wheel widths for the front, but if you stick a tire that is taller then stock by quite a bit - you will have problems.

I posted before on this with why I think it happens, in these threads:

towards the bottom:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...5&pagenumber=2

and here, sorry for the long post:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...hreadid=101921

So, the best solution to this is to increase the distance between the tire and the fender lip - either by not lowering it too much or using a tire that is stock diameter or a little smaller, or a combination - assuming the offset/width combo is correct.

 

Heh, you can also run obscene amounts of negative camber