Which rims to buy???
I think the 19x8.5 and 19x9.5 is great for the sedan, you will create slightly more understeer with the staggered setup, but you will also gain a little traction.
For tires you will want to stay as close to stock sizes as possible and also keep the front and rear tires as close to the same diameter as possible. This will keep all the electronic gremlins happy.
I would say a 245/35/19 front and a 275/30/19 rear would be good, you would be off by about 1% front to rear (the rear is .2 inches smaller), a 285/30 would be almost the same front to rear, but also more difficult to find a tire in that size. With this setup you would be about 2% smaller than stock in overall diameter. A 245/40 and a 275/35 would be closer at about 1% larger than stock sizes, but again the 245/40 would be hard to find and would increase your chances of rubbing.
EDIT: I just looked on Tirerack and they have a good selection of the 245/40, 275/35, 245/35 and the 275/30. They have Bridgestone S-03's, Dunlop 9000's, BFG KDW2's, Goodyear F1 GS-D3's, etc. in all 4 sizes. So, if you want tires slightly smaller (2%) than stock go 245/35 and 275/30, if you want slightly larger (1%) go with 245/40 and the 275/35. If you do not want to lower your car I would go with the larger size as it will use up more of the gap.
I like Bridgestone S-03's, and Toyo T1-R's, but they are not cheap. I have heard good things about the BFG g-Foce line, but never tried a set. I have had good luck with Falken's and Nitto's for a less exspensive tire, I was running their GBR-451, and I like the new RT-615 a lot from the looks of it.
Tirerack has a good selection of tires in the all the sizes I mentioned above. All this sizing stuff is pretty confusing, and I am not sure that I did a good job of explaining, so let me know if you have any questions.
Here is a link to a good tire size calclator that may help also:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
For tires you will want to stay as close to stock sizes as possible and also keep the front and rear tires as close to the same diameter as possible. This will keep all the electronic gremlins happy.
I would say a 245/35/19 front and a 275/30/19 rear would be good, you would be off by about 1% front to rear (the rear is .2 inches smaller), a 285/30 would be almost the same front to rear, but also more difficult to find a tire in that size. With this setup you would be about 2% smaller than stock in overall diameter. A 245/40 and a 275/35 would be closer at about 1% larger than stock sizes, but again the 245/40 would be hard to find and would increase your chances of rubbing.
EDIT: I just looked on Tirerack and they have a good selection of the 245/40, 275/35, 245/35 and the 275/30. They have Bridgestone S-03's, Dunlop 9000's, BFG KDW2's, Goodyear F1 GS-D3's, etc. in all 4 sizes. So, if you want tires slightly smaller (2%) than stock go 245/35 and 275/30, if you want slightly larger (1%) go with 245/40 and the 275/35. If you do not want to lower your car I would go with the larger size as it will use up more of the gap.
I like Bridgestone S-03's, and Toyo T1-R's, but they are not cheap. I have heard good things about the BFG g-Foce line, but never tried a set. I have had good luck with Falken's and Nitto's for a less exspensive tire, I was running their GBR-451, and I like the new RT-615 a lot from the looks of it.
Tirerack has a good selection of tires in the all the sizes I mentioned above. All this sizing stuff is pretty confusing, and I am not sure that I did a good job of explaining, so let me know if you have any questions.
Here is a link to a good tire size calclator that may help also:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Last edited by jran76; Oct 27, 2005 at 04:43 PM.
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