I'm considering keeping the stock wheels. They look fine (to me), and have no cracks ;-). I presume optimim tire size for stock wheels is 225/50 front and 245/45 rear? The consideration here is to try to control the "tail happy" nature of the 3rd gen. by bumping up the rear size a bit. Am I "too old" here, not following the trend toward 18" wheels? I just thought all those aftermarket wheels were rather expensive, especially considering I already have 16 lb wheels for which I can buy much less expensive tires. And still have a reasonably quiet and comfortable ride.

Opinions welcome!

 

Unless you drive on the track (or like a complete and utter maniac on public streets), the stock wheels provide a very good balance between ride and handling.

Personally, I don't think the FD is tail-happy at all, but then again I don't have a 93 with it's bigger rear anti-roll bar. But if you want to induce a little bit of understeer, then your tire sizes will work just fine.

Don't go get 18s because you see others doing it. Most of the people doing it are basing their decision solely on aesthetics and not performance.

For a street-driven FD, it appears that the 17x9 with 255/40 all-around is the best performance compromise with the 17x8.5/17x9.5 245/40 / 265/40 setup being good as well (with a bit of understeer).

BTW, get some good tires. Toyo T1-S, Bridgestone S-03, Pirelli Pzero, etc. They may cost more than "budget" tires (like the Dunlop SP8000s I'm currently running), but they are worth it if you want the ultimate in grip.

 

Thank for the comments, rynberq. Yes, I only buy good tires (Mich Pilots are on there now - just about worn out after 30,000 km - they didn't last as long as I anticipated because I keep spinning the rears a bit on takeoffs - darn car has too much power ;-). My "less expensive" comment refered to how expensive 17" and especially 18" tires are compared to 16". I was thinking of Pirelli P7000, actually, as the Pzeros don't have a lot of ratings yet. As the car is now sleeping till April, perhaps there will be more information available when I am ready to purchase.

I don't race the car - just street driving, most mileage in the mountains on long trips.

 

For the street I would make every effort to keep the same tire sizes front and rear so you can rotate them. I don't see a need for staggered sizes on the street except for looks.

 

I run 245/45/16's all the way around on the stock suspension. No rubbing or clearance problems anywhere. The car seems to handle quite well....... except for my worn out shocks .

 

Excellent advice. I have nothing to add

 

im so glad they make the A032R in 245/45-16

 

just purchased a set of 245/50/16's (Toyo-not sure what model) rather excited!

question is: will there be any rubbing and shoud i be concerned about a misreading in my spedometer?

 

Those tires are really tall. No offense, but I'm not sure what there is to be excited about...you are getting an unknown model of tires in the wrong size....they should be 245/45, not 245/50.

 

im sorry, they are kumho ecsta supra 712. now, the difference between 45 and 50.....is it REALLY that much? i mean we are talking about a difference of about 12mm. right? that is a total of 1 inch larger diameter over the whole tire.

do YOU think that it is really that much of a difference?

 

umm....what do YOU think? The wheel+tire diameter will be almost 1" larger. That's quite a big difference.

Also, the 712s are not the best tire, in fact they are pretty greasy. Almost every FD owner on the forum who's tried them has hated them.

I don't mean to offend but if you had done a little more research, you wouldn't have bought those tires. My advice would be to sell/return them and get properly sized and decent tires. You can get Dunlop 8000s in 225/50 for only $100/tire from the Tire Rack (or the 245/45s for $120/tire). They're not the state-of-the-art anymore but they have pretty good grip in dry/wet and get decent treadlife. Other good choices in the reasonable price range seem to be the Bridgestone 750 and the Yokomaha AVS Sport.