I'm considering 18" brabus wheels front and rear. If you have any pictures of crossfires with 18" wheels on both front and rear please post them . . . I would also like as much information that you have on the wheel width and what size tires your running as well as any suspension mods you may have made. Please help, I don't want to spend all the money and not like the end result. Side shots will be very helpful. Thanks ahead of time.

 

Why would you want to go small. Most go larger if they don't stay with OEM. Here's 19's and 20's.




Click here to go to the thread.

 

For the most part, the only reason most people go 18's all around is for their winter setup.

 

There are all kinds of good reasons to go to a smaller tire/wheel. To name a few: A lot of people prefer smaller wheels because they are much lighter (significant performance increase going from a 35lb 19" wheel to a 16lb 17" wheel) each lb of rotational mass you shed makes a big difference. Smaller wheels allow for a taller sidewall which equals a significantly more comfortable ride and the tires AND the wheels are cheaper.

Some people run pimptastic donk wheels (24", 30" and so on) which are just plain stupid so bigger does not mean better.

 

Okay, now that I have received a few opinions . . . does anyone have a few pics with 18's front and rear?

 

hey, this is the tire size u will use to have the same circumference.

STOCK 255/35R19 Tire 1 - 255/40R18 or 285 35 18

i think this will be a good option, i'm acutally considering 17's lol

here use this to check try different tire sizes

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

 

The wheels I'm looking at are 18x10.5, so I could run a 285/35 18 and be right at 25.9 or 26 depending on the tire manufacturer.

 

Isellthem,

I found a picture with 18s. HDDP runs these on the track, so it's probably not the style you want, but gives you an idea of the size compared to stock.

 

isnt hddps car slammed tho?

 

Thank you MMZ_ Timelord, I haven't ordered the wheels because I'm worried some of the cars aggressive looks might be lost on the smaller diameter wheel and the larger sidewalls. This loss might be further enhanced by the fact that the Eibach Pro Kit has already taked away some of the vehicles downward rake. From this pic it doesn't seem to make to much of a difference though. As you can imagine, I don't want to fork out 3K plus on tires and wheels and not like the end result. I'm sure that from the rear the 285's on 10.5 wheels will look fantastic, I just don't want it to look like a wrinkle wall pro stock from the side.

Checked out HDDP's gallery . . . lots of good picks, thanks again

 

are you sure a 10.5 will fit in the back end of the crossfire??? i dont think it will

 

I went to rims-n-tires.com tire and wheel comparison and it looks like they should. The wheels are 18x10.5 with a 22mm offset. This would require that I have 3/4 of an inch of clearence both inside and out. I'm positive I have more then an inch of room on the inner fender well, and I'm fairly confident of enough room at the fender. I think some on this site have used 20mm spacers on the stock wheels with no issues. 20mm is roughly 3/4 's of an inch. Does this sound correct?

 

i just thought that the tire would rub. but maybe thats only with 19s a 10.5 rim would be something like a 325 on it. thats a beast of a tire

 

After going to 295s in the rear on a 9.5 inch wide 19" rim, I did have some rubbing on the inside of the fender well at full articulation in the up direction. That being said, I've since added a small spacer (5 or 10mm I think) and it cleared that right up.

A 20mm spacer may just do the trick. I would recommend you order just one wheel and tire and then have the shop fit it there or bring it home and try it with the 20mm spacer. If it does not fit right, then I'd return everything and eat the restocking fee.

Some tire stores can do that... but some won't if the tire has been mounted. Check your local shops.

Cheers!

 

a 295 would be nice. maybe you should just go for a 10 inch rim it sounds like that would work

 

Good point MMZ_TimeLord. If I remember correctly you are running a 19x9.5 with a 35mm offset. So a 5mm spacer would make for a 30mm offset and a 10mm for 25mm total offset . . . correct? The wheels I'm looking at are 22mm offset, just like the factory 19x9 . . . it's just an inch and a half wider and an 18" diameter. So if the offset is the same and it's 1.5 inches wider . . . 3/4 of an inch of extra clearence would be needed inside (suspension side) and out(fender well side). My theory is, if some members run 20mm spacers with the factory wheels and have no fender clearence issues, I should be fine. Because 20mm is roughly 3/4 's of an inch. Does this sound correct or has my dyslexic mind gotten the better of me? In a totally unrelated issue, is there a spell check I can use when posting on a thread without leaving this site? Just trying to avoid looking like the dunce that I really am.

 

Yes, you are correct I have 19x9.5 with a 5x112 bolt pattern and a 35mm offset. I believe your calculations are correct for the spacer plus the offset as well. The larger the offset the further out board the wheel sits IF the offset is a positive offset (I think ours is). So, if the offset on the stock rims is 22mm, and you add a 20mm spacer, it will have a total offset of 42mm. I had a 35mm offset so I think it was a 10mm spacer I used and that makes it 45mm total. You may have to go with an even larger spacer. With any spacers, make sure you get hub centric spacers. Anything else is asking to break a lug bolt or loose a wheel on the road.

Don't forget to account for tire bulge too... with a higher sidewall there will be more bulge. Generally tire manufacturers will list a cross section width based on a certain rim size. If you are putting a 285 on a 10.5 inch wide rim, expect it to not bulge too much. I on the other hand WANTED the tires to bulge. It's my theory that the rounder sidewall shape allows a bit more give in the turns and for bumps. Not sure if I'm right, but the ride is nice.

Good luck!

 

the best thing i can tell you for spellcheck is by a mac!

 

Voyager I'm sending this from work so a mac is out . . .oh well
TimeLord, not to be difficult . . . as I am looking for a conformation on my thinking and I respect your opinion. Check out www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp and plug in our stock size rear tire and wheel info 255/35 19 on 19x9 et22 (positive) and then plug in your 295/30 19 on 19x9.5's et35 . . . check out the clearence specs. Then add your spacers of 10mm by adjusting your et to 45mm as you stated, check out the clearence specs. The spacers can't be adding to the positive et because it is showing less suspension clearence with the spacers then without. That can't be correct, the further you push the wheel out with spacers the greater the suspension clearence and the tighter the fender clearence becomes. Kick the offset to 25mm with your 295's and you will see things get closer to the fender. Now, just for fun plug in the 285/35 18 on an 18x10.5 et 22 and everything looks like it will clear without any spacers at all. Does that sound correct or is this something I'll never quite understand

 

Re: Time For New Tires - 08-16-2008 , 03:11 PM



Below is a post I made the other day regarding this in anothe subject area.
Look at this web site www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html.






I reciently drove my XF coupe from Minnesota to Denver. I'll be returning to Minnesota next week but I had one rear Michelin Sport SP with a cut side wall. I found what appears to be the only tire that size in Colorado and installed it was over $400. The 18" front wheels offer no problem finding tires but the rears are another thing. They aren't on anyones shelves. I went to Discount Tire and they located one that someone ordered and didn't buy. My only other option was ordering one and waiting a week. Anyhow, this got me thinking about going with 18" wheels all around to make tire selection easier. With computer controls on just about everything on todays cars it's important to keep tire diameters the same as the original. I thought about buying two original XF 18" front wheels but there's a problem with that. The bolt pattern for front and rear wheels are the same, 5-112mm, but the offset and back space are both different. The front wheels have an offset of 23mm and the rears are 34mm. The front backspace is 5.78 and the rear is 6.61. Ok, using stock front wheels won't work for the rear. After market wheels using the stock demensions for front and rear with front tire size original and 255/40/18 tires on the rear will give the same tire patch on the ground and the exact same diameter/revs per mile as the stock 255/35/19 original setup. For now I'm ok wih my tires but looking down the road switching to 18" all around looks to be a way to reduce costs, keep handling as good as original, make finding tires easier and offer a chance to do some customizing.

Bruce