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Wanted 17 by 8 in the front and 17 by 9 or 9.5. Will theese fit?? 17 by 9.5??? Wheels wanted are RACING HART M5. Please help needed.
In order to answer the question better I need to know the tire size, and the distance from the rear drum to the frame.
285/40/17 is probably your choice right?
That is roughly 11.2 inches of section width, and is 25.9 inches tall. Which the stock tire at 215/65/15 is 26.0 tall. So your speedo and ride height will go unchanged. But the thinner sidewall will give less traction on launches but offer better handling. So its a trade off.
You will want to roll the lip if you plan on lowering the car alot. Or get air shocks, I did both just in case the GN needed to get my gear to a gig.
I have 295/50/15's on a 10 inch wide rim on my GN and they fit fine when I rolled the lip. But I also have the aluminum drums, so that adds to the backspace calculations differently.
You have the stock drums right?
What I did was take the tire off and measure from the front of the drum where the rim is going to mount up against and measure to the frame where the tire sidewall would rub if it did. I believe I got something like 5 7/8, or 5.87. But again, that was 2 years ago and with the aluminums on.
If you get the distance from the drum to the frame, the rest falls into place.
Example, if you have stock drums and SAY FOR EXAMPLE from the drum to the frame is 5 5/8 or 5.62. Then with the 285/40/17 you would want a rear rim spacing of 4 inches of backspacing and an offset of 5.5 on the 9.5 inch wide rim. The 285/40 sidewall bulges .86 of an inch off each side of the rim. So on a 4 inch backspace, the overall amount of tire going towards the frame from the drum or rim mounting point is 4.86. The frame was 5.62 from that point, so that leaves you with .76 or 3/4 of space from the sidewall to the frame.
That is .19 of an inch more space than I have from my tire sidewall to the frame. Mine is 5.3 inches of tire towards the frame and the frame is about 5.87 from the drum. So I have .57 of an inch of space from my tire sidewall to the frame and have had very minimal rubbing. I also have new poly bushings in the arms and the arms are boxed. But still have the stock rear sway bar.
To make things hairier, lower ratio tire sidewalls like 40's and 45's actually offer more useable tread due to the smaller sidewall height. And even certain companies have more useable tread on the same tire sizes. Ahhhhh! The higher the sidewall ratio, the less useable road touching tread. But then even some companies can tweak that, so the numbers are not really solid. So I always error on the backspace side, you can always use a small spacer to get more offset, but try getting more backspacing on a minor miscalculation.
I would go with the 17/9.5's. They are going to look cooler with more of the rim showing on the offset. Especially if you go with polished billet or chrome. I love the polished billet autodrags.
Sorry for the long reply and way to many numbers.
Email me if you need more, I will try to make more sense.
285/40/17 is probably your choice right?
That is roughly 11.2 inches of section width, and is 25.9 inches tall. Which the stock tire at 215/65/15 is 26.0 tall. So your speedo and ride height will go unchanged. But the thinner sidewall will give less traction on launches but offer better handling. So its a trade off.
You will want to roll the lip if you plan on lowering the car alot. Or get air shocks, I did both just in case the GN needed to get my gear to a gig.
I have 295/50/15's on a 10 inch wide rim on my GN and they fit fine when I rolled the lip. But I also have the aluminum drums, so that adds to the backspace calculations differently.
You have the stock drums right?
What I did was take the tire off and measure from the front of the drum where the rim is going to mount up against and measure to the frame where the tire sidewall would rub if it did. I believe I got something like 5 7/8, or 5.87. But again, that was 2 years ago and with the aluminums on.
If you get the distance from the drum to the frame, the rest falls into place.
Example, if you have stock drums and SAY FOR EXAMPLE from the drum to the frame is 5 5/8 or 5.62. Then with the 285/40/17 you would want a rear rim spacing of 4 inches of backspacing and an offset of 5.5 on the 9.5 inch wide rim. The 285/40 sidewall bulges .86 of an inch off each side of the rim. So on a 4 inch backspace, the overall amount of tire going towards the frame from the drum or rim mounting point is 4.86. The frame was 5.62 from that point, so that leaves you with .76 or 3/4 of space from the sidewall to the frame.
That is .19 of an inch more space than I have from my tire sidewall to the frame. Mine is 5.3 inches of tire towards the frame and the frame is about 5.87 from the drum. So I have .57 of an inch of space from my tire sidewall to the frame and have had very minimal rubbing. I also have new poly bushings in the arms and the arms are boxed. But still have the stock rear sway bar.
To make things hairier, lower ratio tire sidewalls like 40's and 45's actually offer more useable tread due to the smaller sidewall height. And even certain companies have more useable tread on the same tire sizes. Ahhhhh! The higher the sidewall ratio, the less useable road touching tread. But then even some companies can tweak that, so the numbers are not really solid. So I always error on the backspace side, you can always use a small spacer to get more offset, but try getting more backspacing on a minor miscalculation.
I would go with the 17/9.5's. They are going to look cooler with more of the rim showing on the offset. Especially if you go with polished billet or chrome. I love the polished billet autodrags.
Sorry for the long reply and way to many numbers.
Email me if you need more, I will try to make more sense.
Spoolinup: Any idea what the biggest rim/tire combo you can run on the front is without rubbing? The rims I want come in 17x8 and 17x9.5, I would like 17x9 - if I could run 9.5 that would be great. I would also like 17x9 in the rear, 17x9.5 if I can get away with it. I'm planning on using the Eibach Pro Kit... (1-1.5 inch drop).
Thanks.
Thanks.
You can use the 17x8 up front. I have 15x8 with a 265/50 up front and the car is lowered 2 inches. (I did not order those spring though, again crap happens) Because the car is lowered 2 inches up front, I had to cut out the wheel well and have the lip shortened. But, if the darn thing was an inch higher and with the stiffer spring rate, I would not of had to cut it. I saw a GN in turbo magazine with the stock rims and springs with a 275 all around. Scary but it worked.
Lowering it is the thing. You can easily fit a 275 up front, but not if the wheel well is going to get lowered by the springs 1.5 or 2 inches.
You can go with a 255 up front with the 17x8 no problem. Just split the rim 4/4 and your good. That tire has a section width of 10.0. The 265 has a section width of 10.4. So each side of the 255 is .2 smaller in sidewall buldge. That little difference can go along way.
Remember this also, tire height or sidewall ratio will change the overall height of the tire. Example, 265/50 is 25.4 inches tall.
A 255/40/17 is 25.0 inches tall. You are .4 inches shorter in height than I was. So, you can actually lower the car the same 2 inches I did and have more room for the sidewall to the wheel well lip.
If you go with a 255/40/17 up front and lower the car 1.5 inches, you will be just fine. The rear can go 285 no problem as long as you get the drum measurements. 17x8 and 17x9.5 are great rims for this car. They will not have much sidewall buldge so you will see alot of rim, which looks cooler than a stock rim (7 inches wide) with a 265 on it. Looks weird with all that sidewall buldging out.
I am in the process of getting my GN's flares cut and adding more metal to push it out and create a real GNX flare. (The GNX flare actually is just fiberglass) Soon for me, a 27x12x15 street slick is going to fit back there and under the flare. You can not do that now with it looking like 1975 back there. So for now, a 295/50 is about as big as I would go without the tire starting to stick out of the wheel well.
Lowering it is the thing. You can easily fit a 275 up front, but not if the wheel well is going to get lowered by the springs 1.5 or 2 inches.
You can go with a 255 up front with the 17x8 no problem. Just split the rim 4/4 and your good. That tire has a section width of 10.0. The 265 has a section width of 10.4. So each side of the 255 is .2 smaller in sidewall buldge. That little difference can go along way.
Remember this also, tire height or sidewall ratio will change the overall height of the tire. Example, 265/50 is 25.4 inches tall.
A 255/40/17 is 25.0 inches tall. You are .4 inches shorter in height than I was. So, you can actually lower the car the same 2 inches I did and have more room for the sidewall to the wheel well lip.
If you go with a 255/40/17 up front and lower the car 1.5 inches, you will be just fine. The rear can go 285 no problem as long as you get the drum measurements. 17x8 and 17x9.5 are great rims for this car. They will not have much sidewall buldge so you will see alot of rim, which looks cooler than a stock rim (7 inches wide) with a 265 on it. Looks weird with all that sidewall buldging out.
I am in the process of getting my GN's flares cut and adding more metal to push it out and create a real GNX flare. (The GNX flare actually is just fiberglass) Soon for me, a 27x12x15 street slick is going to fit back there and under the flare. You can not do that now with it looking like 1975 back there. So for now, a 295/50 is about as big as I would go without the tire starting to stick out of the wheel well.
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