Hey so i got a 2nd gen 2012 XB and it has the stock 205 55 16 tires and rim on it which is SUPER comfy BUT looks ridiculous so i want to keep my stock suspension cuz its very hard to find QUALITY springs or coils for this car now and im trying to get a flush of a look as possible and im trying to eat up as much of the gap between top of tire and fender as possible. I was at first thinking of doing 17s, then 18s, both with HIGH side walls like 50, 55 etc for 17 and 45 to 50 for 18 but im very afraid of rubbing.. so can someone tell me for those who keep STOCK suspension and height, what tires will look good for 17s and 18s and not kill gas mileage too much and retain the ride quality as much as possible , for 18s would 225 45 18 be ok or would it rub? for 17s would 245 50 17 be ok or would it rub? i seen a guy run that size and it looks great and filled up the gaps nicely but not sure if hes rubbing.

any help would be appreciated!

 

Width and offset of the wheel is going to factor into this a lot as well as the tire size. What I would recommend is to use a tire size calculator site like www.willtheyfit.com where you can input your stock wheel/tire combo and what you want to put on there and it'll show you the differences between the two. Then you can take those numbers and actually measure where everything would end up once mounted.