Opinions On My Aggressive Wheel Plan: Enkei RPF1 17x9 +45 Rear & 17x8 +45 Front

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting GSTwithPSI:
Quoting dc_style:
i'm picking up some 17x9 +45 wheels this weekend and i'll try to fit them as soon as i find some time. so it looks like i'll have to space it out in the rear a bit? 10-15mm?



Definitely interested in this update. Please keep me posted!!!!



Hey style, did you ever fit the 17x9 +45 wheels on the rear? I'm really interested in how these will fit, and if there are any clearance issues.

 

[slugsgomoo]

Quoting fuel:
how are the tyres too small? they're a massive 50 profile.. 205/40 would be small!


because the safe wheel width for a 205 tire is a 6-7.5" wide wheel and these are 9" wide

Honestly, a 235 is too narrow for a 9" wheel, I'm actually surprised you found a shop that was willing to mount a tire that small to a wheel that size, since not only is stretching less safe, it decreases the load & speed rating of the tire.

Like I said, you should've bought a VW /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/uhh.gif

 

[bobdole]

That really isn't much of a stretch. Also there are alot of shops that will mount the tires like this. Check out this stretch.

This is my set up. 17 8.0 25 offset. 205 tire. Also I got a set 10mm spacers for the rear. Need to install still.

 

[slugsgomoo]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but why buy 8"+ wide wheels and run skinny ass tires? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hsdunno.gif

Other than looking like a euro-ricer douche... is there a benefit?

 

[turbowop]

The only reason they do it is for the stanced look. In order to have lip on the wheels, you have to get a 8" or wider and low offset wheel. Problem is on our cars, that puts the wheel outside of the fender so then it requires stretched tires, camber, and possibly fender pulling. It has absolutely zero performance benefit.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting slugsgomoo:
Other than looking like a euro-ricer douche... is there a benefit?



Nope... so just let it go.

 

[dc_style]

all i have to say it to each their own, there's nothing wrong with a little form over function. not a fan of the sunken in wheels so i brought them out a bit. i'd understand if this was my full blown track car. everyone has their own taste and preference, you could say everything is unsafe or impractical if you wanted to. ie making power first with stock brakes that can't stop, pulling your bumper support and putting on a lighter jdm bumper, etc... really no reason to hate. we're all car people ya'll /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting dc_style:
hater's gonna hate!



^^^ Always this...

Quoting dc_style:
all i have to say it to each their own, there's nothing wrong with a little form over function. not a fan of the sunken in wheels so i brought them out a bit. i'd understand if this was my full blown track car. everyone has their own taste and preference, you could say everything is unsafe or impractical if you wanted to. ie making power first with stock brakes that can't stop, pulling your bumper support and putting on a lighter jdm bumper, etc... really no reason to hate. we're all car people ya'll



^^^ And this +1.

 

[turbowop]

Quoting dc_style:
all i have to say it to each their own, there's nothing wrong with a little form over function. not a fan of the sunken in wheels so i brought them out a bit.



I don't understand this. It's not like the wheel/tire setups on either of my cars is "sunken in". You can have a high performance wheel/tire setup that fits the car very well, fills the fenderwells, and actually performs.

And the statement that JDM bumpers are less safe than USDM units isn't really proven. The car still has crumple zones and is obviously okay'd for use in every other country that the car was sold in outside the U.S. In any crash that's serious enough to heavily damage the front end of the car, it won't matter if you have a JDM bumper or a USDM bumper. At that point, the crumple zones are going to come into play to save occupants. And in a side impact, well, the bumpers have no bearing on safety. Using JDM bumpers over USDM bumpers compared to stretched tires over standard fitment tires isn't a valid argument for justification, IMO.

 

[Nartanian]

Agreed, bumpers are a different in comparison to tires. On another note though, not every mod has to be based around performance. If he wants to sacrifice some performance for stance based on what he's going to be using the car for, then so be it. I see nothing wrong with that.

 

[dc_style]

i see your point, again everyone has their own tastes. I mentioned the jdm cause my previous car was backed into on the street and the entire bumper and grill was destroyed whereas the us bumper has help up very well with the thick support under. i wanted my flush with the edge of the car. I found them for an amazing deal and was really glad I got them to fit with no spacers or any modification. i think it looks nice, and someone asked if it was possible so I posted. i would hardly consider my car a death trap and we all know there are so many other car owners with much more obscure rides still proudly driving their car. i've seen my share of poor welds, useless roll cages, install jobs, etc and i would hardly consider this stretch anything worth drawing attention to. people throw on useless spoilers for "down force" and fender flares for cars that won't actually ever "use them" and the list continues. hell… we've all seen some sketchy dsm builds.

personally, I like my car. everyone's entitled to their opinions and their own style. I love my wheels, the tires I already had and I made do with what I have. they're nice and meaty and will suffice for what my plans are for the car. most would agree this is a very mild stretch I'm sure.

 

[GSTwithPSI]

Quoting dc_style:
personally, I like my car. everyone's entitled to their opinions and their own style. I love my wheels, the tires I already had and I made do with what I have. they're nice and meaty and will suffice for what my plans are for the car. most would agree this is a very mild stretch I'm sure.



I would agree the stretch is very little. I would also agree you car looks great, and I'd be surprised if most didn't agree as well.

 

[4Grim]

The "stretch" is minimal....nothing compared to what I have seen. Its retarded when you actually see the rim and tire bead in extreme cases.

Looks great man..sits just right.

 

You want extreme hear you go check out this retard click my 2 cents I think dc style's setup looks good its not as bad as other stretched tires and ridiculously cambered cars that I have seen. As far as most jdm bumpers are concerned I don't think they can pass the low speed IIHS test, so I can't see how they are as safe as the us bumpers. I'm sure people with jdm bumpers might disagree but there is a reason they changed the bumpers on our cars before being shipped here or maybe I'm just crazy?

Low-Speed Bumper Test (IIHS)
Another crash test which is skipped by the NHTSA but conducted by the IIHS is the low-speed bumper test. A vehicle is crashed two times at 5 mph (8 km/h) into a flat barrier (with both the front and the rear bumpers), one time into an angled barrier with the front bumper and then into a short pole with the rear bumper. The usual “Good” to “Poor” ratings are then given, only this time they are based on the accident repair costs.

 

[fuel]

mildly stretched tyres do indeed help with stiffening up the sidewall of a tyre and prevents the tyre rolling over on itself in heavy cornering. Have close look at F1 and most race cars - you will indeed find that the rim width is wider than the tyre bead itself and most sidewalls do end up having a little 'stretch'.

205 tyres are not skinny - remember our cars originally came with 195 width tyres and they were considered 'large' at the time for a four door sedan. A really cheap brand of 235 width tyres will easily be out-performed by a decent brand of 205 (or even 195) width tyres, especially when it comes to wet-weather driving and aquaplaning.

Whether you have a 175/65 R14 tyre or a 245/40 R17 tyre each tyres contact patch on the road is going the be exactly the same size because the mass pushing down from the car onto each wheel is going to be the same - the difference is with the wider tyre the contact patch will be larger in width but smaller in depth and the skinnier tyre will be the opposite. Each contact patch shape has their pros and cons. At the end of the day, having a 235 tyre over a 205 tyre is NOT going to have that much of a huge difference in all-round performance.

 

[Barnes]

Because racecar? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Chim55117]

good info! i suppose that's the same reason why having narrower snow tires are actually more effective than wide. i'm really happy with the fitment and as you can see, the wheels don't extend past the fenders. i did a very light roll on them and will be getting aligned right after i replace some bushings. 9 inch wheels fit on our cars very well, around 27-30 offset and if you wanted to get bigger tires, you could very easily. i chose to go lower on my stance. driving the car into the shop, i didn't rub at all but we'll see what happens with daily driving.

 

[dc_style]

^^ whoops ^^ didn't know i was in my brother's account /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[turbowop]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quoting Blown1:</font><hr />
As far as most jdm bumpers are concerned I don't think they can pass the low speed IIHS test, so I can't see how they are as safe as the us bumpers. I'm sure people with jdm bumpers might disagree but there is a reason they changed the bumpers on our cars before being shipped here or maybe I'm just crazy?

Low-Speed Bumper Test (IIHS)
Another crash test which is skipped by the NHTSA but conducted by the IIHS is the low-speed bumper test. A vehicle is crashed two times at 5 mph (8 km/h) into a flat barrier (with both the front and the rear bumpers), one time into an angled barrier with the front bumper and then into a short pole with the rear bumper. The usual “Good” to “Poor” ratings are then given, <b>only this time they are based on the accident repair costs.</b>

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">

So, like I said...USDM bumper are no <i>safer</i> than JDM bumpers. They may lower repair costs in low speed frontal impacts, but they don't change the overall safety of the occupants during an accident.

 

[turbowop]

Quoting fuel:
mildly stretched tyres do indeed help with stiffening up the sidewall of a tyre and prevents the tyre rolling over on itself in heavy cornering. Have close look at F1 and most race cars - you will indeed find that the rim width is wider than the tyre bead itself and most sidewalls do end up having a little 'stretch'.



Go put some chalk marks on the side of a good set of tires that aren't stretched and tell me how much they "roll over on themselves". A good tire with a stiff sidewall won't have this issue.

Quoting fuel:
205 tyres are not skinny - remember our cars originally came with 195 width tyres and they were considered 'large' at the time for a four door sedan. A really cheap brand of 235 width tyres will easily be out-performed by a decent brand of 205 (or even 195) width tyres, especially when it comes to wet-weather driving and aquaplaning.



How is comparing "really cheap" brand wide tires to decent brand narrower tires relevant? "Hey guys, my ultra wide ling-longs won't corner as well as my narrow Hoosiers." Duh

Quoting fuel:
Whether you have a 175/65 R14 tyre or a 245/40 R17 tyre each tyres contact patch on the road is going the be exactly the same size because the mass pushing down from the car onto each wheel is going to be the same - the difference is with the wider tyre the contact patch will be larger in width but smaller in depth and the skinnier tyre will be the opposite. Each contact patch shape has their pros and cons. At the end of the day, having a 235 tyre over a 205 tyre is NOT going to have that much of a huge difference in all-round performance.



If this were true, racecars would be running around on wagon wheel width tires. Why do you think people run wider tires in competition? MORE TRACTION. IMO, the difference in traction between a 205 and a 235 is substantial.


The car looks good, but I'm not going to let somebody compare stretched tires to a JDM bumper. Justify it however you want, but stretched tires do nothing for performance and actually make a car corner worse than it could if a proper wheel/tire setup is used. JDM bumpers do not hinder performance in any way, shape, or form. If anything, they allow the car to handle better by reducing weight.