Question About 18"s . (again)

gazeek · Post by **gazeek** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:05 am

ok so iv read plenty on it already on these forums .. But im still not certain about a few things , so im hoping someone can just give me a few straight answers ..

Im looking at buying a set of 18's 18 x 7.5 .. My cars already lowered , and id like to avoid spacers or anything illegal. Its a 95 FTO GPX

Will this raise the car off the ground ?.. ie making it not as low ?

Will this scrub ? or is this more based on the tyre ?

Will they just slide on ? with out any other mods ?

can any of you guys with 18's or 17's please post a pic of your car if you;ve got one ?? .. that would really help me the most ... Id love to see the difference .. or at least how each size sits with the car .... I like big wheels , but I hate BIG wheels , if that makes sense ... I think wheels that are too big for your car look stupid , and im hoping 18's arent too big ..

Cheers guys .

Post by **Bennoz** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:17 am

I run 18 x 8 & I had to make a number of mods to minimise the scraping (spacers included)

The rims stud pattern you need is 114.3 x 5

The question you need to ask is: What is the offset of the new wheels. The offset is what governs whether the wheel fills the gaurds outwards (towards the outside of the car) or whether they go inwards towards the engine bay. Most scubbing related fits are due to the offset being inwards.

FTO's preffer an offset of 35 or more.

For rolling road diametre (ie how high the car will sit with bigger wheels) use this calculator:

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

Put in the stock FTO tyre dimensions, then put in your preffered new size. This will also give you an indication of how out your speedo will be too.

Im lowered by an inch & a half at the front, 1 inch at the rear.

gazeek · Post by **gazeek** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 11:38 am

Awesome Thanks Bennoz ,

The rims im tossing up about are
http://www.tempetyres.com.au/pages.asp?ID=Akuma+N-06

and
http://www.tempetyres.com.au/products_c ... art_no=382

The 2nd one dosnt show the offsets though

Post by **Bennoz** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:06 pm

Give 'em a ring, tempe are pretty good with that sort of thing

jonowong · Post by **jonowong** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:21 pm

i think the stock gpx is 205/50/R16

ive got 215/45/R17
im 2.3% too slow...

shall i go for 225/45/R17 when i get new tyres...

and make it 3.7% too slow? lol

boarsai · Post by **boarsai** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:46 pm

I know there's the each to their own tastes... but I couldn't help but snigger at these ones: http://www.tempetyres.com.au/products_c ... &part_no=8

Anyway 18's look great imho.

Few shots of my car with 18's on her: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/wsavage/FTO96GPX

I'd have just linked one image but picasa galleries aren't forum friendly like that :S

Think I'll try to get the flickr api from someone I know

gazeek · Post by **gazeek** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 1:23 pm

WOW ... thats an amazing paint job ... wicked looking FTO mate ..

Did you do anything to fit those 18's on ??

boarsai · Post by **boarsai** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:02 pm

Apologies, they came with the car when I bought it - haven't done much to it at all to be completely frank.

I'll be doing a few small things to it in coming months but nothing drastic for a while. Pondering buying a house so yeah...

gazeek · Post by **gazeek** » Sat Apr 28, 2007 6:13 pm

Well i got em

... 18 x 7.5 , fits perfectly .. no scrubbing , nod mods .. on and off and Tempe Tyres ...

Only problem is , my cars about an inch and a half higher than before

... It was all nice and low before , now its back up there ...

boarsai · Post by **boarsai** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:26 am

Mines about 10cm off the deck, I get occaisional scrubbing, nothing too horrible however. Just depends how you drive I guess and the condition of the roads

Mostly avoidable if you are on roads you know and aren't being silly.

FTO-101 · Post by **FTO-101** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 1:39 am

That U LIKE FTO once was a beautiful looking car

boarsai · Post by **boarsai** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 6:19 pm

Feel free to correct me but the only things that have changed are the rear lights and the front bar... but eh, doesn't bother me too much.

I still love how it looks

If those two facts make my car uglier then so be it (: different strokes for different folks.

I'm also not a good photographer and I don't photoshop my pictures to make them look better.