Do I go with 17 or 18's Options

[Drolius]

Hey guys...I can't decide whether to go w/ 17 or 18'' wheels. Please give me your input on this matter! Thanks.

[presure2]

well its all up to you....they'll both fit...if you have bad roads, you may want to lean towards the 17's so you dont have to worry about denting rims as much,...i just popped a tire day before yesterday on my 17's on the highway on a pothole..luckly it didnt completly blow, it just tore the sidewall enough to let all the air out , and no rim damage (at least not that i can tell, yet..lol) whew!
its all a matter of prefrence. oh and the ride will be harsher the bigger you go.
hope that helps ya, man!

[nigz]

ur gonna have to fork out a bit more for 18 rubber.......but looks great tho'

[HyperDeathKill]

Gonna be slower with 18s

[JStanger]

Well, I started off with 17" wheels with 215/40/17 tires. They looked good but the gap between our tires and wheel well is enormous. To get rid of the gap I bought a set of 18" wheels with 215/40/18 tires. They really filled up the wheel well alot better. The back wheels look really good, the front still has a decent gap but I want to lower it about an inch and a half all around. The way I look at it is this, the 18's might slow you down A LITTLE more but with the not so quick celica engines it's not going to matter anyways. And if you do go ahead and upgrade your engine to say a 3sge or 3sgte you will have enough power to push those 18's and roast people.

[Drolius]

If I got 18's how much slower does that make the car approx.? Also, would a 40 profile tire be feasible on 18's or only on 17's?

Thank you!!!

[95ST]

I have 17s with 215/45/17 tires and I think the gap is pretty good I wouldnt go with less sidewall than that where I live though our roads suck

[Drolius]

if i got 17's what what wheel/tire size should I get...i.e. 215/40/17, 225/40/17 or what? I just want the wheels to fill in the gap best as possible but am a little skeptical about 18's.

[Coomer]

Before I put my rims on, I'd read threads like these before, and nearly everyone said that they wished they'd gone with 18s if they had 17s, and the people with 18s were happy. I went ahead and ordered my 17" rims though, and I love the way they look on the car when combined with my 215/40/17 tires and my 1.5" drop.

I think that bigger rims wouldn't look very good on my car now that it's dropped, but if it was stock height, then I'm guessing that bigger rims such as 18" rims would look better than my 17s. I'm definitely glad that I got my 17s, because I'm very happy with the way they make my car look.

Also, 215/40/17 is the recommended tire size for 17" rims so that the speedometer isn't off. I kind of wish that I'd gone with 45-series tires though, because the roads around here are pretty rough in spots, and I feel everything with my 40-series tires.

[95STCelica]

Coomer your car is so great cuz we have the same rims, same profile tires, and im getting the same drop as you soon. Thanks lol

[celicaBEst]

i say 18s

[Drolius]

can I go w/ a 40 profile tire w/ 18's?

Thanks!

[nigz]

bro, ya might wanna get 225 thickness to help reduce rim damage if u scrape a gutter or something! also i had 45 profiles but wasnt hapy, made the rim look kinda smaller, so changed em to 40's.

[JStanger]

I went with 215/40/18 tires. Next time I think I'm gonna got 225/40/18.

[FallenHero]

Can somebody post up a linc to that miata tire size calculator. I switched computers, and cannot find it...

[ghostdog]

QUOTE (FallenHero @ May 31, 2003 - 9:54 PM)

Can somebody post up a linc to that miata tire size calculator. I switched computers, and cannot find it...

here you go

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

[tranxendz]

I have the blitz front and I am going to get 17's anyone recommend if I should drop the car? The front bumper is wide..So i'm not sure....I wanted to get 18's but I dunno yet. What y'all think.

[Drolius]

How concerned should I be towards 18'' wheels slowing down the car? I am more apprehensive to performance over looks at this point. Still debating between 17 and 18's. Thanks again!

[Blackcelliman]

QUOTE (Drolius @ May 28, 2003 - 9:00 PM)

If I got 18's how much slower does that make the car approx.? Also, would a 40 profile tire be feasible on 18's or only on 17's? Thank you!!!

I don't think that the rim size really has much to do with how much slower the car will be. What the big difference will be is the weight of the rim. Our celicas stock rims(the 5 star 15's) are very light. Keep the weight of rims in mind when you're shopping around for them.

I have 215/40/18's for tires and they work very well for me. They just give me that little extra rubber to protect from all the road problems people have with low pro tires.

[GeEkBoY]

The weight of the wheel has little effect, the amount of rotational inertia of the wheel is very small compared to the inertia of the car. Heavier wheels are detrimental to handling though as the unsprung weight increases and the suspension would therfore require stronger damping to compensate. Similar problems are found when you lower the car: the combination of stiffer springs that have much shorter travel without adding stonger damping causes you car to bounce up and down after a bump (like 99% of lowered civics out there).

The rim size does not affect speed, however the overall diameter of the wheel will change your drive ratio and therefore you acceleration. For example:
215-40-18 OD = 24.9"
205-55-15 (stock) OD = 24.0"

This changes you final ratio by about 4%. while not a big diference, it will slow down the car and your spedo will be off. Bigger wheels do look better though. If you want 18's with the same OD, 215-35-18 has the same OD, but you risk tire and rim damage with so little rubber.

Hope that helps.