Tire size with lowering springs

lowridin23 · Jul 27th, 2002, 09:00 PM

What's the biggest tire size I can go to if I have 17"rims and plan on buying the Eibach lowering springs(1.5 drop). I'm hoping for at least 45 or 50. Any help appreciated. Thanks!

andre · Jul 28th, 2002, 03:09 AM

I'm also trying to figure out the same thing. I want to go as big as possible without much negative effects. I'm using eibachs too...1.5". If I can get something close to a B15 tire size, I might go with 16 or 17.

CarbonBlack200 · Jul 28th, 2002, 03:13 AM

lowridin23, the answer for you is 205/40/17.

Dre, the answer is 205/50/15, 205/45/16, or 205/40/17.

andre · Jul 29th, 2002, 02:00 AM

Thanks Yos.

bahearn · Jul 29th, 2002, 02:44 PM

I disagree to the Plus sizing info provided by CarbonBlack200.

My calculations indicate 205/45-16 and 215/40-17 to maintain speedometer accuracy (hah!). This is for a USDM B14 SE-R which comes stock with 195/55-15.

I have run 215/40-16 while running 1 inch or so drop on my B13. I suspect a B14 with a mild drop can do the same.

nitestridar · Jul 29th, 2002, 03:43 PM

i am running 205/45 16 in the front and 205/50 16 in the back...

will this cause a problem if i drop the car 1.5"

CarbonBlack200 · Jul 29th, 2002, 07:35 PM

Right. I gave those numbers because i was thinking about the speed meter accuracy and minimum negative effects. If you ran 215 and didn't have any problems, i was probablly wrong then. Experience is everything.

nitestridar · Jul 29th, 2002, 07:38 PM

what i did was throw the 205/45/16s in the front and
put 205/50 16s in the back.... nice ride to

andre · Jul 30th, 2002, 03:55 AM

I'll probably go with the 16's anyway. Hope I can find this thread when I am ready to buy wheels.

bahearn · Jul 31st, 2002, 12:15 PM

To calculate appropriate wheel and tires, you need to calculate stock wheel/tire diameter so you have a baseline for maintaining speedometer and odometer accuracy.

Formula is:
Wheel diameter + (tire width*aspect ratio/100*2)/25.4.

Wheel diameter is in inches, tire width in millimeters. 25.4 converts the tire height from millimeters to inches. Aspect ratio is tire sidewall height divided by tire width. One tire's measured height and width don't necessarily match a different manufacturer's measured values for the same size tire, so exact comparison isn't possible, but it's close enough.

195/50-15 = 195 mm tire width, 50 aspect ratio, 15 in rim diameter.

Use a spreadsheet to generate a matrix of possible sizes and select those that deviate less than 2% from stock. E-mail me direct and I'll send you mine in Lotus 1-2-3 format as Excel sucks!.

lowridin23 · Jul 31st, 2002, 04:36 PM

Thanks a lot peeps! Time to buy some springs.

HoldenASpecV · Aug 2nd, 2002, 11:20 AM

OK, I WANNA GET SPRINGS AND I HEARD THAT THE EIBACHS WERENT GOOD, THE H&R WERE, BUT THE PROGRESS ARE THE BEST TO GET... ALSO, WHAT IS THE LOWEST I CAN DROP MY SPEC WITH MY STOCK TIRES AND RIMS?

Sentra GTR-1 · Aug 10th, 2002, 12:32 AM

Eibach springs are good, there great in fact. Most of the 24 Hour and American Lemans race cars use them, so you know if there on high dollar production super cars then they have to be good! Hell Eibach has been around for a long long time. H&R is aweome as well, again being used on high dollar super race cars such as the Mustang Saleen S7R so you know there quality too. It just seems that there are more Eibach applications for our cars than H&R. But maybe H&R is stepping up on our applications too.

Aug 10th, 2002, 07:04 PM

Holden,

I got some Sprint Springs on order and should have them by next weekend. Should be getting a 2" drop. Will this work with stock wheels???? I guess we'll find out!!!!