When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
18s allows you to go wider. E.g. 275/335
Otherwise most good tires are available in either 18 or 19.
Car looks better with 19s
Can you share what alignment settings/ride height will allow 275/335 18's? I'm running 235 or 245 front and 305 or 315 rear and would like to go up to a wider tire on both ends but I remember reading it takes very specific suspension setup to make it fit without rubbing.
Can you share what alignment settings/ride height will allow 275/335 18's? I'm running 235 or 245 front and 305 or 315 rear and would like to go up to a wider tire on both ends but I remember reading it takes very specific suspension setup to make it fit without rubbing.
Rear is easy, just run a 12" wheel with roughly a 60 offset and at least -2.2 degrees of camber. Any less offset could make the tire rub on the outside, and any more offset (like a stock wheel with a 63 offset) will rip off the lower rear brake air ducts on a .2 (ask me how I know - a 3mm spacer fixed that).
For the front, you need to rotate the top of the strut hats, which adds negative camber and makes more room in the wheel well. Make sure you don't have any shims in the lower control arms, and slide the strut tops inward all the way (once the struts are installed back in the car). This maximizes room in the wheel well, and pushes the suspension all the way in. After that, you will be at roughly -3.6 degrees of camber, and you can fine tune with the strut tops for slightly less camber, or the bottom with shims for more camber. Caster needs to be set at 8 degrees to get the wheel in the center of the wheel well, for no rubbing. I ran a bulgy 265/35-18 BFG R1 on a 9.5" inch wheel with this setup with no rubbing.
If someone is looking to build their own set of 18" BBS E88, I have outer and inner barrels, and brand new seals and hardware I'd sell. You would only need to get centers.
If you want a plug and play 18" solution, I have used 18" BBS Forged Monoblocks I can sell. These are very rare as only a limited run of them were made. (These are not CH-R) They are stamped WCGT. 18x9.0 = 19.7 lbs
18x12.0 =23.0 lbs
Could you PM me a price on these please?
Oh - and offsets too..
Could possibly pick up in SF or have them delivered to Palo Alto, either could probably work.
Rear is easy, just run a 12" wheel with roughly a 60 offset and at least -2.2 degrees of camber. Any less offset could make the tire rub on the outside, and any more offset (like a stock wheel with a 63 offset) will rip off the lower rear brake air ducts on a .2 (ask me how I know - a 3mm spacer fixed that).
For the front, you need to rotate the top of the strut hats, which adds negative camber and makes more room in the wheel well. Make sure you don't have any shims in the lower control arms, and slide the strut tops inward all the way (once the struts are installed back in the car). This maximizes room in the wheel well, and pushes the suspension all the way in. After that, you will be at roughly -3.6 degrees of camber, and you can fine tune with the strut tops for slightly less camber, or the bottom with shims for more camber. Caster needs to be set at 8 degrees to get the wheel in the center of the wheel well, for no rubbing. I ran a bulgy 265/35-18 BFG R1 on a 9.5" inch wheel with this setup with no rubbing.
Thank you for the tips! I have 12" wheel unfortunately it's 63 offset but I can just run the factory 5mm spacer to get to 58, is that too low? Rear alignment is -3.4 camber
Front I already rotated the strut hats and I believe I don't have any shims in the LCA, tops are slid inward I actually have -3.7 front camber. Caster i'm at 8.4 do I need to get that back down to 8? Unfortunately my front wheel is a 8.5 not a 9" so I may be stuck with a 255 or 260
Thank you for the tips! I have 12" wheel unfortunately it's 63 offset but I can just run the factory 5mm spacer to get to 58, is that too low? Rear alignment is -3.4 camber
Front I already rotated the strut hats and I believe I don't have any shims in the LCA, tops are slid inward I actually have -3.7 front camber. Caster i'm at 8.4 do I need to get that back down to 8? Unfortunately my front wheel is a 8.5 not a 9" so I may be stuck with a 255 or 260
Can you also share ride height settings?
63 offset is perfect, just remove the 5mm spacer from the hub. -3.4 sounds like way too much camber in the rear, and I don't think there's much benefit, unless you are running slicks. I'd put 1 full degree of positive camber back in. My tires wear perfectly even at -2.5.
Sounds like the front is ready for a big tire, but if you put a 275 on a 8.5" wheel, it will fit really bulgy and fit improperly. I'd put a 9 or 9.5 up there for the appropriate tire. That being said, I've been very happy with a 9" front, and I even run a huge front sway bar, softest rear bar setting and a squatted rear. Essentially, I'm searching for rear grip because I trail the car a lot, and on paper the car should push, but it doesn't.
Caster should be 7.5-8 regardless of ride height because it centers the wheel nicely, but over 8 almost guarantees that it's going to rub in the front.
I don't know what my official frame-measured ride heights are, but the ground to fender arch center measurements are 25.5" in the front and 25.75" in the rear. This equates to very little rake (probably 10-15mm), as I felt rake only contributed to the rear end coming around.
Found some very similar GMG branded wheels on line.
I noticed you run Michelins, I assume 305/40/r18 in the back?
Can’t for the life of me not seem to find those.
What would you recommend for tires, Nittos? If so how do they compare to Michelin r’s?
Found some very similar GMG branded wheels on line.
I noticed you run Michelins, I assume 305/40/r18 in the back?
Can’t for the life of me not seem to find those.
What would you recommend for tires, Nittos? If so how do they compare to Michelin r’s?
Thanks!
Switching to PM for the wheels
For the tires I've run Nitto NT01's in 245/40-18 and 305/35-18 for over 5 years and consider them my baseline. This way I can tell if any other changes help my lap times. Car in the pics above is not mine.
For the tires I've run Nitto NT01's in 245/40-18 and 305/35-18 for over 5 years and consider them my baseline. This way I can tell if any other changes help my lap times. Car in the pics above is not mine.
I've run 31+ sets of NT01s over the last 7 years. Looking at my logs, 14 of those were on 245/40/18 and 305/35/18, and 9 sets of 275/35/18 and 335/30/18. The 275/335 combo is consistently 1.5 seconds faster on a 2 minute lap. The key to getting great performance of these tires is to run a wide enough wheel to square up the tire on the rim without pinching it.
I've run 31+ sets of NT01s over the last 7 years. Looking at my logs, 14 of those were on 245/40/18 and 305/35/18, and 9 sets of 275/35/18 and 335/30/18. The 275/335 combo is consistently 1.5 seconds faster on a 2 minute lap. The key to getting great performance of these tires is to run a wide enough wheel to square up the tire on the rim without pinching it.
Holy crap 1.5 seconds faster? I think I'm going to have to do some experimenting soon. Problem is not sure if there's a common Pirelli DH in 275/335
04-29-2020, 01:43 AM
