Suspension/Wheels/Tires/Brakes

Widebody and tire width

Old Mar 4, 2013 | 03:04 PM
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Widebody and tire width

hi...i want to fit a widebody kit to my car so i can comfortably fit wider wheels and wider tires for more traction front and rear...but on doing research on a couple of the cars that have widebody kits i see that most of them keep relatively narrow front tires (235 or 245)...is there a reason for this?...is it to save wear and tear on steering components?...

i would think that the wider the tire the better?...why do they keep near stock front tire widths?...thanks?
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Old Mar 4, 2013 | 05:24 PM
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Originally Posted by ImamurA
hi...i want to fit a widebody kit to my car so i can comfortably fit wider wheels and wider tires for more traction front and rear...but on doing research on a couple of the cars that have widebody kits i see that most of them keep relatively narrow front tires (235 or 245)...is there a reason for this?...is it to save wear and tear on steering components?...

i would think that the wider the tire the better?...why do they keep near stock front tire widths?...thanks?
You can run wider tires. I run 265's on the front with stock fenders with a roll. I keep my set up square and rotatable.

I think the widest tires you can run are 295/30/18 all around. you are going to want to find a 11" wide wheel like an advan TC3 or something.


Feed runs this on their car.
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Old Mar 4, 2013 | 06:56 PM
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I run 275/40/17 on all four corners of my FD. 949racing wheels with a 52 offset. If you want it in backspacing, it's 7.5" backspacing.

I daily drive and autocross with this setup. I rolled the fenders only because I have access to a fender roller. If you are looking to go lower than 25-26" from fender lip to ground, you will need to roll.

Pettit Racing and Ronin Motorsports sells widebody rear flares that allow you to hold up to 335/**/18
Ronin Motorsports has front fenders that hold 315s.
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Old Mar 4, 2013 | 07:32 PM
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I run 285/30/18 all around with just a roll on a stock body. I'm moving to a 295/30/18 in the rear because I have a lot of room left in the back and need the extra grip.
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Old Mar 4, 2013 | 07:41 PM
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Most people get widebody kits on FDs for the looks. The rest to fit 12" race slicks.

I am also running 18x10.5 +38 with 265/35-18 front and rear on stock fenders with just the front lips rolled under.

I am going to 295/30-18 on 18x11 +45 front and rear this season. Basically the same fitment to the outside of the fender as what I have now, but the correct offset allows for more rim/tire width inboard.

I would consider a fender roll with pull or wide body being necessary for over 295mm tires on an FD.

Some downsides of fiberglass wide body compared to a roll with pull are-

when you do fiberglass over fenders you have to be a little more conservative with tire to fender fitment as it will destroy the fender if it rubs. Maybe not the first time, but soon.

Also, any part of the tire sticking past the fenders (ie, if fender curves in at the bottom) will get hit by pebbles off the tire and crack the fiberglass.

Actually the front tires will kick pebbles into the rear fenders when turning no matter what you do and crack them eventually, so make sure you get the fenders from a manufacturer you will be able to buy the from again later.

A +30mm widebody would allow you to run 315/35-17 or 315/30-18 front and rear (this tire is 1/2" too tall), but you cant lower the car from stock height much because the tire is too tall and will rub the unibody in front.

A +50mm widebody would allow you to run... well I can't think of any street tire sizes that aren't too tall for the front...so 12" race slicks.
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 11:29 AM
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thanks a lot for the info guys...much appreciated!
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 04:01 PM
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From: https://www2.mazda.com/en/100th/
Originally Posted by BLUE TII
Most people get widebody kits for the looks.
true! even in the 1st gen crowd people want to go with wide fenders to run 215's, when i've got 225's under stock fenders and i might be able to go to 245...

so a 1st gen should be at least 245's with overfenders, the real GTU body kit will take like 305 in the front and 335 in the rear, it wants BIG rubber!
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 04:24 PM
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Im running 225 on my 1st gen due to the fact they do not make any 15 inc wide tires i have to step up to the 17 inch to get anytype of tire close to what i want to do . I plan on running a 275/40/17 on a 10.5 rim and a 225/40/17 on a 8
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 04:25 PM
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Of course i need all i can get for the 20b im dropping in
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 06:30 PM
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From: https://www2.mazda.com/en/100th/
Originally Posted by rotarymanII
Im running 225 on my 1st gen due to the fact they do not make any 15 inc wide tires i have to step up to the 17 inch to get anytype of tire close to what i want to do . I plan on running a 275/40/17 on a 10.5 rim and a 225/40/17 on a 8
the imsa wheels were like 16x10 and 16x12, which runs like a 305 and 335 slick, in the 80's 16 was as big as they had.
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 04:17 PM
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I'm putting wider fenders on my FC... I have 315s for the front and rear sitting next to it ready to go on
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Old Mar 7, 2013 | 05:05 PM
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Im running the shine auto spec gt( feed style) wide body kit on my car with 18x11 315/30/18 front and 18x12 335/30/18 rear. Thats with the 25mm front and rear over fenders.
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Old Mar 7, 2013 | 05:14 PM
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What offsets willtet? I'm considering the same kit.
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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 03:23 PM
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7.5 backspacing all around
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:11 PM
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Does anyone know where to find some 245/45/ 15
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:13 PM
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Hey j9fd3s do you have a widebody rx7 ?
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:17 PM
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I am running a mariah mode 1 body kit on my gslse
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:22 PM
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If there is anyone out there that can help me out that would be great
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:22 PM
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I can use the help
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:23 PM
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any reply would be greatly appriciated
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:24 PM
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Thanks
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Old Mar 16, 2013 | 12:36 PM
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waiting on replies
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Old Mar 20, 2013 | 02:00 PM
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From: https://www2.mazda.com/en/100th/
Originally Posted by rotarymanII
Hey j9fd3s do you have a widebody rx7 ?
i have had one
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Old Apr 23, 2013 | 07:13 AM
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I have 265's up front and there's room for more rubber. Im widebody in the rear and the 335's are about as wide as Id like to go. Any wider and I might rub the fiberglass flares if I bottom out.
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Old Apr 23, 2013 | 09:13 AM
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335/30/18's in the rear are going to be fairly tall, so you could run up to something like a 295/30, 285/30, or 275/35 up front on stock fenders with a roll to balance the car out. On the street, you can get away with a wider rear, but it does get pretty ridiculous if you've got a 245 or 255 up there.

If you're only running a 285 or 295 out back, you can do that with stock fenders, so it's really then just for looks (and a little bit of track width).
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