Yet another wheel question!

[s3c chris]

Hi all.

I'm sorry to bring up yet another wheel question but wondered if you can help me?
I have a year 2000 Chimaera fitted from the factory with Estoril wheels and 245 45 16 tyres on the rear and 225 50 15 tyres on the front.

I would like to fit a set of 16" alloys all round using the same size rear tyres and 225 45 16 on the front which is I believe what TVR did on the very last few cars. Standard wheel offsets are ET25 front and ET33 rear.

The alloys I like are available in ET25 and ET35 which just gives 2mm extra inset on the rear wheels. My question is would fitting ET25 alloys on the rear cause a clearance problem? I know of one car running this set up but the rear tyres are 225 50 16.

As usual, any thoughts would be appreciated!

Regards Chris.

[SILICONEKID345HP]

ET 35 wants to be on the back with at least a 7.5 inch rim width "J".

[QBee]

SILICONEKID345HP said:

ET 35 wants to be on the back with at least a 7.5 inch rim width "J".

He's right about the wheel width - you won't get 245 tyres on a 7J rim. 8J would be better.
Also, using ET25 on the rear might cause your tyres to catch on the inside of the outer wheel arch - they must already be pretty close using 245s with the correct ET33 offset - move the wheel outwards by 8mm and you may not have clearance.
Ditto if you fit ET35s on the front. I have done that in the past, but with 215 tyres. I think your 225's might catch on full lock.

[s3c chris]

Thanks for that information.

The 245 section tyres currently fitted have no issues with fouling the wheel arch and were factory fitted from new.
The wheels I am thinking of are the Lenso BSX alloys which are 16 x 7.5 so are the standard size for the rear and 0.5" wider on the front. Hopefully not a problem!

Regards Chris.

[QBee]

s3c chris said:

Thanks for that information.

The 245 section tyres currently fitted have no issues with fouling the wheel arch and were factory fitted from new.
The wheels I am thinking of are the Lenso BSX alloys which are 16 x 7.5 so are the standard size for the rear and 0.5" wider on the front. Hopefully not a problem!

Regards Chris.

If you have to choose between ET25 and ET35, and cannot buy a mixture, buy ET35. You can always space the front ET35s out by 5-10 mm to make them fit, you cannot go the other way with ET25 wheels.
If you use a spacer bigger than 6 mm, you need longer studs, or you risk the wheels coming off!