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Bigger rims = higher car
Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 2:50 pm
by sublime19
ok i got 18" and my car is now not as low as it was before.. and i don't like it
I dont wanna lower it by 40mm, prolli 25mm max (1 inch of course)
if i had 17" before, it's not 18" does that mean my car's raised by exactly 1 Inch? somebody told me it was only half a inch cos of the radius, but it definately seems like to me its an inch

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 3:47 pm
by RedlineGX
Yes bigger rims will raise your car but only by half of the overall difference. For instance if the overall wheel width diference was 1", then .5" would be up in the wheel arch and the other off of the ground since you would be measuring from the center where it connects.
However unless you put on the same profile 18" tyre as you had 17" it shouldnt be a full inch, so you're probably less than .5" off the ground but that's quite a bit relatively speaking. With 18z you either have to lower your car significantly or go for the stilts look

Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:05 pm
by sublime19
ahh i c.. well now i have 215/35x18 as opposed to 225/40x17 before
if only i could get my car lowered by abt 15mm ... >_<
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:36 am
by payaya
um with the tyre sizes you quote the rolling diameter of your new wheels is actually smaller than your old wheels.
So your car will be sitting lower to the ground than before. But there will be a bigger gap between top of your tyre to wheel arch.
Try out this Tyre Calculator.
http://www.rochfordtyres.co.uk/tyrecalc.asp
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:42 pm
by SG
theres also the raise between the road and the bottom of the rim because theres a smaller tyre profile theres less rubber to "spread-out" (or something) on the road and gives the tyre/wheel a smaller foot print
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:14 pm
by sublime19
there's a bigger gap between my tyres and wheel arc but the car is definately more higher off the ground, everybody mentions is right away when they first saw it

Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 7:16 pm
by payaya
unless you got some dodgy arse tyres.
If the tyre sizes you quoted are right, then your car will sit lower to the ground now.
Posted: Mon Aug 14, 2006 10:33 pm
by sublime19
lol .. i paid $400 extra for good tyres

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 12:40 am
by khunjeng
lower your spings more...fix it up good..
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 11:51 am
by Bennoz
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 2:58 pm
by sublime19
ah they lower it by 1.5 inches, I want my car to be at the height it was before, so I need to lower by just under an inch so I can get into my driveway..
anywhere that lowers it for like.. half or maybe 3/4 of an inch?
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:08 pm
by Bennoz
Then you got 2 choices!
OR
As a majority of 'off the shelf' lower springs for the FTO will drop the front 2 inches & the rear 1.
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:21 pm
by SG
try searching for Lovell springs i think they might come ~65mm lowered.. they have both low & super low sets
australian made too

Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2006 3:55 pm
by sublime19
thanks Ben what r they called so I can look them up?
and SG I don't wanna lower my car by 65mm lol.. I want to lower it by like 15cm cos of my front kit.
I understand there probably arent many springs that lower it by less than an inch cos people normally get it lowered more
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:50 pm
by DeFunkeD
payaya wrote:um with the tyre sizes you quote the rolling diameter of your new wheels is actually smaller than your old wheels.
So your car will be sitting lower to the ground than before. But there will be a bigger gap between top of your tyre to wheel arch.
Try out this Tyre Calculator.
http://www.rochfordtyres.co.uk/tyrecalc.asp
ummm... that doesnt sound right. other way around.
"well now i have 215/35x18 as opposed to 225/40x17"
when moving from 17" to 18" mags, rolling diametre increases by 1" (around 25mm). and he's gotten lower profile tyres (40mm to 35mm), decreasing the tyre's contribution to rolling diametre by 10mm (2 x 5mm radius decrease).
25mm increase - 10mm decrease = 15mm overall increase.
sublime your rolling diametre is now 15mm (1.5cm) larger than it was before, meaning your car is actually higher off the ground.
if you were able to get tires with a 27.5mm profile (havn't seen any myself) you would have exactly the same rolling diametre as before and the same ride height.
other options:
- higher profile tyres and lower the car to match
- coilovers
- or, as bennoz said, take the angle grinder to it. hehe.
dont forget too, the fact that more surface area from the side view of your car is taken up by mag instead of tyre now means that there is more open space, creating an illusion of there being more space under the car. but ultimately, yes, your ride height has risen by 15mm.
if your car is already lowered by 1.5", you could swap to 2". that would come close to balancing it off...
Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 6:39 pm
by sublime19
ah i think your right on the ball there
and btw if i lower it by 1.5, i could to 2"? sorry what does this mean i didn't quite understand.
so basically to get it what i had before, get different tyres and lower it by 1.5?
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:01 pm
by DeFunkeD
sublime19 wrote:ah i think your right on the ball there
and btw if i lower it by 1.5, i could to 2"? sorry what does this mean i didn't quite understand.
so basically to get it what i had before, get different tyres and lower it by 1.5?
not quite. basically what i mean is, if your car is
already lowered by 1.5" (for example), you could then change the springs (or adjust your coilovers if you have them) to 2" lowering springs. by lowering the car an extra 1/2" you come close to making up the 12.5mm-15mm difference.
if your car isn't lowered at the moment then you could change the tyres to lower profile tyres to make up the difference. im not overly confident that you could find tyres with a low enough profile, but i guess its worth a try...
Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 6:26 pm
by BorepYano
DeFunkeD wrote:
when moving from 17" to 18" mags, rolling diametre increases by 1" (around 25mm). and he's gotten lower profile tyres (40mm to 35mm), decreasing the tyre's contribution to rolling diametre by 10mm (2 x 5mm radius decrease).
25mm increase - 10mm decrease = 15mm overall increase.
the 40 and 35 are not mm's, they are a percentage/ratio.
40 means, the profile (height of the tyre is 40 percent of the width of the tyre. as with the 35 it means 35% etc...
rims increased the rolling diametr by 1inch (2.5cm)but...
the change in tyres however...
215X35% = 75.25 mm
225X40% = 90 mm
90-75.25=24.75mm=2.475cm
so the end result is:
+2.5cm
-2.465cm
= an increase in rolling diametre of .025cm
and half of that should be hidden by the wheel arch.. which really means that his car is raised by 0.0125cm = 0.125mm... i have a feeling that no one will really notice that lol
i guess in the 17s if u had low tyre presure, it would sag and make your car lower, but the 18s are new so my guess is that they have the right presure and dont sag at all, that could put a cm on i guess....