245 45 16's Vs ride height

[dog man]

Hey guys

Now that I've got my dream wheels (16" Spiders) I find that I'm hesitating fitting them because of the rear tyre size.

I took the 245's off the (rear) Spiders and fitted them to my (rear) Imolas just to pass the MOT. But...

I dont like the increased gap between the top of the tyre and the rear wheel arch created by going down to 45 profile.

Now is it just because these particular 245's are used with maybe 3-4mm remaining? Because otherwise I'm not sure what to do.

It's kinda spoiled the thought of finally fitting Spiders!

Alternatively could I fit a tyre with a higher sidewall? Or is lowering the ride height the only real way to sort the gap out?

It'll be a shame to have to start getting into lowering the car because I'm perfectly happy with the standard suspension and everything. No doubt if lowered the flood gates open up to tons of other stuff I 'should' fit in order to maintain the handling or can you just lower a Chimaera without spoiling the handling?

[SILICONEKID340HP]

No matter how much you increase the wheel size 16" 17" or even 18" the total diameter should be close to the original setup.

245/45/16 626.9mm

225/50/16 631.4mm so only about 5mm difference

Your front tyres need to be 225/45/16 608.9mm

Front wall height needs to be 1" smaller ..

Ive seen 16" spiders with matching tyres on four corners (same wall hight), something looks wrong .

Edited by SILICONEKID340HP on Sunday 24th July 23:50

Edited by SILICONEKID340HP on Monday 25th July 12:59

[dog man]

So 18" spiders are the same size with tires as original 15/16's with tires?

Well however small the difference, it's not doing it for me sadly, I dont like how it looks.

I hope with the actual spider wheels fitted it may look somehow better.

Trouble is once you have the 5 stud conversion done you cant go back or can you?

[JR]

SILICONEKID340HP said:

No matter how much you increase the wheel size 16" 17" or even 18" the total diameter should be close to the original setup.

So far so good but then you forget that the original tyres on the OP's car, which he like the look of, were 225/55/16s.

OP, you could put the original 225/55/16s on but I'd consider 235/50/16.

[J400GED]

I've put some figures together below showing standard 15 inch tyres and then optional sizes for 16 inch rims. I would be wary of going wider than a 225 tyre for fear of the tyre binding on the body/chassis whilst steering.

Chimaera Front Tyre Radius/Diameter
Later non-PAS tyres 205/55/15 tyre = 303.25mm/606.5mm
Later PAS tyres 225/50/15 tyre = 303mm/606 mm
Optional 16" tyres 205/50/16 tyre = 305.7mm/611.4 mm
225/45/16 tyre = 304.45mm/608.9 mm
These sizes will keep your 16 inch tyres close to the original profile specs and therefore shouldn't cause problems.

HTH

Ged

[SILICONEKID340HP]

I went from 17" to 16" on the front for a few reasons

1 The front wall height looked to low profile next to the rears
2 I had bad bump stear with the 215/40/17 tyres

Now 16" front 17"rear, both wall height are within a few mm so look more factory fitted.now running 245/40/17 225/45/16 they do look better.

What would happen if both rolling radius were the same front and rear.

[dog man]

ahh, 225's on the spiders, yes! of course! Doh!

I think I'll try that.

[portzi]

As Daz says 4 tyres all the same looks odd. I have 50's on the front and 55's on the back, maybe a little big for some peoples choice, but I have a little extra road clearance over those troublsome sleeping policeman.