My "hopefully" new setup

[BPower]

After many hours of reasearch I've come to a conclusion on what size wheel/tire combo I want to go with

245/45-16's on 16x8 slipstreams.

It may sound way too tall at first but it's only .5in taller than the 195/60-15's that came with my escort GT wheels so I should still be able to lower it alittle

After some calculations I figure the wheels are going to be 1.37in wider towords the strut and 1.13in wider away from the strut. Does this sound like too much? I'll go check in the morning with a tape measure to see how much clearance there is. sucks that 16x8in slipstreams only come in a +48 offset. perhaps some wheel spacers will be needed.

[jnorion]

Sorry but there's no way you'll fit 245s on your car. From everything I've heard you'll be lucky to get 215s on it.

[BPower]

that's kinda what I was thinking but isn't the main clearence problem the spring pearch on the strut? If so I will be running a GC coilover kit so I can remove most of the pearch, that should free up some space.

[95ProLeila]

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

[BPower]

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Thanks for the link, I've been using that alot in the past few days.

[BPower]

I went out and mesured the clearance from the wheel to the strut today.
I used an old LX alloy with no tire to make things easy. There looks to be
around 1.4in of clearance. Any thoughts?



BTW-sorry for the ****ty pics

[MazdaRacer]

remember, that OEM wheel is 14x6....and you want a 16x8...so add 1" to each side, only leaves .25" for the tire...there will be some sort of rubbing issue. Then there is the issue of offset...to push it off the strut, it'll stick out from the fender...to tuck it under the fender, it'll push it into the strut...see where this is going

245's will not fit. Would sure be nice, but too big. It's just too much tire for the Protege.

16x8 wheels are also too big. 7" works fine. Again, too much wheel.

To avoid all issues, here's what i recommend

16x7 w/42mm offset
205/45/16

[redfox]

i have not seen the slipstreams in 16X8 but only 16X7 and 17X7 or 17X8...post up a link if i am infact wrong

[BPower]

http://www.rotawheels.com/products.php?id=44

haven't found anyone that sells them in 4x100(only 5x100) but it's nice to know they make them.


Mazdaracer- do you think 215/40-16 or 215/45-16 would work too. Someday I'm going to need all that traction

[redfox]

sweet, didnt know they made them in that size

[MazdaRacer]

http://www.rotawheels.com/products.php?id=44

haven't found anyone that sells them in 4x100(only 5x100) but it's nice to know they make them.


Mazdaracer- do you think 215/40-16 or 215/45-16 would work too. Someday I'm going to need all that traction

215/40 may fit, i've just always stuck with a 205.

just match it to the overall diameter of the stock wheel/tire. That .5" taller the 245 was would throw off your speedo pretty good.

[95ProLeila]

iirc the tire options in the 205 width are better/more abundant.

[whistler]

http://www.rotawheels.com/products.php?id=44

haven't found anyone that sells them in 4x100(only 5x100) but it's nice to know they make them.

something like this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=7981567302&category=43956&sspagename=WDVW

[BPower]

something like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

Those are 16x7's, which is what I'm going with now but I was talking about 16x8.