well i just purchased wheels/tires combo and payed a little extra for the 215/45/17 kumho tires. the seller just informed me he is out of the 215/45s and offered me my extra money back and the 205/45/17s.

is this still going to look ok with the drop of the Tein S-Techs?

 

it all depends on your wheel offset... but I would get the 205's. I ran 215/45s and they were a little too big, rubbed the fender liners sometimes on S-techs.

 

i believe they are the 40 offset.

thank you for the info. i will tell him to send the 205/45s.

THANK YOU!!!

 

Rubbing is all that and a bag of JellyBellys.

215/45 is the way to go if you dont want to be the snot out of your wheels.

 

i like the way that sits.

now since i went with 205/45, my tires is going to be a little bit shorter? less sidewall??

 

Slightly less sidewall. But closer to stock. BTW here's what 215/45 looked like on mine back in the day, too chunky if you ask me-



I also would run spacers if you want the wheels to be flush, 10-15mm would be conservative but look good.

 

where is a good place to get the 10mm spacers for the rear?

 

OTG (www.onetongarage.com) or Evolved Concepts (on Ebay I think)

 

I ran 215/45R17 on the xA back in the day. I had no ribbing issues and the wheels were ET42 and dropped on Tanabe DF210's. I rather have the wider tire for traction.

 

I have the OTG spacers installed as well. Ive had them since i bught the box, i couldnt stand the back wheels being recessed.

I get to install the GFs in a couple weeks.

 

does the wheels being recessed slightly in the rear help with clearance issues though?

 

It does, but only with low offsets.

 

so with a 40 offset i should look into getting the 10mm spacers?

 

The 40MM offset is the generic offset ... and i all the wheels i have had on the box have had that offset. This while i still had the ORG spacers on.

 

got the wheels today! excellent from what i can tell. not bad for $800 shipped.

 

thank you everyone.

installed everything today about an hour ago.





these pics are right after the install. springs should settle in about a week.

 

a final picture for future thread searchers...

Tein S-Techs (2 days after install) with 17 inch BSA wheels wrapped in 205/45 kumhos.

 

the difference between the 205 45 series and the 215 45 series (aside from 10mm width) is about 0.6" (15mm) diameter. the smaller tire will get you about 1/4" lower.

 

Looks great man!

 

well here is the S-Techs with 17s on 205/45s after 2 weeks with the springs/wheels installed so they've definitely settled.