I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: tyre fitments
I’m really not sure if anybody will be able to answer this, but I’ve ordered the wrong size of tyre for my NC. I’ve ordered a set of PS4 205/55/16, when I should have ordered something with a 45 profile.
However, they were very cheap (under £300 for the 4) and I’m trying to work out if they will fit, as by eye I think it’s going to be very tight. Is any else running coilovers with a set of 55 profile tyres (I believe my car is on Tein coilovers, but I can’t confirm what set).
I suspect I’m going to have to cancel the order, but thought I’d check to see if anybody else has the same setup, just in case…
Hello NewNCOwner
My 2014 Sport Tech Recaro fitted with Tein suspension, sensibly lowered, is on its
winter tyres & wheels 205/55/16 Nokian, the wheels are o/e Mazda wheels from an
1.8 litre MK3.
No rubbing no problems at all, I have used these tyres & wheels successfully for 4
winters.
As NickD advises “they will fit fine”
Regards
Keith
Thanks all for the feedback, I cancelled the fitting anyway as I’m not well. I have until the end of the year to take advantage of the discounts that are available.
The thinking was that these tyres would be on the car for daily use and wet track days, then the Nakang tyres go on for the dry track days.
My wife’s 2 series has 205/55r16s and they look huge in comparison, it’s hard to imagine how they won’t rub when looking.
Do you have a photo of the car with its winter wheels on so I can get an idea of the clearance?
If you have 205 45 16 tyres on your car, which are smaller then standard, then 205 55 will look lots larger to you. If you have smashed it to the ground and had it set for 45 profile tyres, then, potentially you may have clearance issues to the wheel arch liners going effectively 2 sizes up. If the car is on 205 50 tyres now and has no clearance issues, then there is very little likelihood of issues with a 205 55. If there were to be any I suspect you would have already noticed it. This car was running Mazda lowering springs, in the picture is is on 205 50 16 tyres, at a later date it was on 205 55 16 tyres. There were no clearance issues.
Same car on 215 45 17"
Nick, does the suspension reach an end stop due to the damper unit (if you move the suspension without a spring is the available stroke fixed because of the damper) ?
Or does the suspension bottom up due to a fully compressed spring ?
If its the latter, if you change the spring position (to change the static sag position) or change the springs from stock the bottoming of the suspension will change and will be dependant on the spring/position of the spring - this means if the suspension is modified it could be a possibility that during a heavy bump or heavy braking it can move until the wheel hits the plastic within the arch or the chassis.
(genuinely asking because I’m interested to know a bit more about a car suspension. Its completely different to the stuff I normally I work on)
This is the best picture I have, I’ll get another one in the morning: 0-20731 — ImgBB
It’s currently on 215/45/r16
I have no idea how much it’s been lowered, I only got the car in October and all the modifications had been done, and the guy I bought it from didn’t know the exact details.
It would depend on what you had as a spring and damper set up, but any sort of half decent damper is going to have a bump stop, on the damper rod as allowing rod to bottom out is not going to do the internals any good. Also allowing the spring to become coil bound as a method of bump stop is not good practice either as you have no suspension at that point. So the normal limiting factor is the bump stop, which is there for a reason. People do cut these shorter, but they do assorts of other silly stuff too.
Your current tyres are smaller in the sidewall than standard by about half the thickness of your thumb. (6mm)
The tyres that you have ordered will be about the width of your thumb bigger than these in the sidewall. (16mm) Or another way the tyres you have ordered would be the thickness of your thumb bigger than the OEM size tyre. (10mm)
And to put your mind at rest ever further, they are only 3mm bigger in the sidewall than the 17" wheels above which are not only an inch wider in overall width than your standard wheels, they are 10mm less offset so stick out more. So those 17" (poke) a full inch further out than the tyres you have ordered.
Thanks again, went back to place the order, and they have sold out!
So back to the drawing board.
The shortlist is:
Avon ZV7
Rainsport 5
GT Radial Sportactive 2 (have seen decent reviews on these for wet performance)
The idea being that they are for general driving, not worried about tyre wear as the car won’t do many miles and they will also be the option for wet and cold trackdays, dry trackdays will be taken care of by a set NS2Rs.
Or of course there is the option of picking up a cheap set of 17s and getting yet more options (although oddly it might turn out to be cheaper!)
I’m also acutely aware that I’ll be hard pushed to spot the difference on the above in a blind test!
