Yet another Fiero

[Dr_Evil]

Greetings.. I am yet another Fiero owner in the National Capital Region. 

Now that I am here, I have a question about rims:

What is the best tire recommendation for 17x7's? Front/back.. I would REALLY like to have at least 235's on the back if possible.

[GoFast88]

I have tried and are using 14", 15 and 17 (205)" on my 2 fieros. The 17 are by "far and wide" the WORST riding and the Best handling tires that I have used. I prefer the 15's (235) because of the ride.
   

[FieroBUZZ]

Welcome!!!  Do you know the offset?  I had 235/55/16 that just hit the spring in the rear (on 16x7 42mm offset).  You may need coilovers to clear some combos.

235 rear and 215 or 225 front is a nice look.  I don't subscribe to the tire rotation theory and Fieros look better with a slightly wider tire in the back. 

*** Fixed the super wide tire size...whoops***   

[aaron88]

Tires are going to be really hard to find in 235/45 R17, but 245/45 R17 are easy to come by.  You should have a 35 mm offset on the rear rim though.  Also you are going to need a rim width of 7.5 to 8.5 though.

Aaron

.

[34FieroGT]

235/45R17s aren't that difficult to come by, but they are definately not as common as 245s.  I went with 215/45R17 up front and 235/45R17 on the rear a couple of years ago.  You can take a look at the original thread:

http://www.fierodrivers.com/forum/index.php?topic=773.0

The only thing that I didn't mention in that thread was the offsets for the rims.  The rears are 17x8 with a 35mm offset, and the fronts are 17x7 with a 48mm offset.  The greater offset in the fronts was a combination of a couple of things:  I'm running 11.25 brakes which moved the wheel mounting surface out a bit, and that the 17x7s were only available with that offset!  HTH

BTW: I have no clearance issues with these rim/tire combos.

[aaron88]

Those rims are perfect for me.  Where did you get them?  I didn't know your fronts were 48 mm offset.

[34FieroGT]

Aaron, I though 17"s were too big!  Last I heard you didn't want to go any larger than 16"...    Anyways, I got them from TireTrends (http://www.tiretrends.com).  They are OZ Chronos Evolutions, but I don't believe that they are being made any more.  The fronts, with the 48mm offset, were designed for Subarus.  I'm sure that OZ has other styles that would work just as well.  Good luck!

EDIT:  It appears that TireTrends no longer carries OZ wheels.  You can also try 1010tires (http://www.1010tires.com)

[aaron88]

I ran into a few really big problems with the 16” rims:
One; there was very little selection for tires that were the right fit
Two; the rims with the desired offset don’t seem to exist
Three; the desired offset for the front rim causes interference with the front suspension on the 16” rims but not the 17”

So far I have found two and only two (not including your discontinued rims) rims that are the right bolt pattern rime size and width with the right offsets both available in the same style.  Even then I may have to bore out the Subaru hub size.

FRD 30’s from FRD Racing (apparently a Canadian company) and
TSW Sting’s


Aaron

.

[34FieroGT]

Check these out:

http://www.1010tires.com/wheel.asp?wheelbrand=OZ&wheelmodel=Superleggera+%2D+Race+Silver

They may not the style you desire, but they are available in the sizes that you want.

[Dr_Evil]

Welcome!!!  Do you know the offset?  I had 235/55/16 that just hit the spring in the rear (on 16x7 42mm offset).  You may need coilovers to clear some combos.

235 rear and 215 or 225 front is a nice look.  I don't subscribe to the tire rotation theory and Fieros look better with a slightly wider tire in the back. 

*** Fixed the super wide tire size...whoops***   

The rims I have looked at are 17x7 42mm offset. Does that help?

[FieroBUZZ]

As the guys said, a 35mm offset is great for the back.  You may have problems with a 42mm and a 235 tire, if you have stock springs.   A 225 would not hit.  It may be just that my 16" with a 55 profile is a bit fatter than a 17/45 or 40.  One problem is that tires of the same size but different manufacturers seem to be different physical sizes as well.

[Dr_Evil]

Thanks for all the help! 

I now have something to work from when I purchase the rims/tires in the next week or so.

BTW, the rims are Motegi RT5