bhango

Hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster.

I recently purchased a 1993 SC400 and, after some minor maintenance and upkeep, I'm looking to replace the stock chrome wheels which are starting to flake.

I am looking at upgrading to a 18x8 +45 wheel with a 245/40/18 tire on a stock suspension setup.

I'm not too worried about a sunken look, but would prefer to have the wheels slightly more outset than stock without having to roll the fenders.

Would this wheel and tire setup work? Would the tires rub or bottom out?

Note: These are the wheels that I am currently looking at.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

you wont have any problems with those at all, they wont rub or bottom out .

bhango

How sunken will these wheels appear? Could a +5 or +10 spacer be added to make the wheel and tire appear more flush without any issues?

Thanks *****.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

yea an 8 will be pretty sunken, the stock wheels are 7 I think so its gonna be pretty similar, im sure you could slip a little spacer on there without any issues.

ASTERiSK

If these are just stock wheels then I don't see why you're worried about them fitting. If you're looking to fit an aggressive setup then we could help you with offsets if you told us how much camber you plan on running.

Studiogeek

iTrader: (6)

If your fitment goals are modest, they will be fine. Instead of buying twice, I'd consider waiting until you can find/afford wheels with the fitment you desire. It can come cheaply if you are not in a hurry and you will feel so good every time you walk up to it.. One inch over stock may be anticlimactic on mount day. AND you have to possibly invest in tires for them.

For reference, this is a 9.5 +45 with a 38MM spacer and -3 camber. EDIT: This photo is pre-camber.

If you don't know about it, THIS (and a few questions) is all you need to understand Sc fitment.

bhango

Thanks for the reply Asterisk.

The wheels I'm looking at are 18x8 +45, somewhat larger than the 16x7 +50 that are stock.

Without running a negative camber, what is the lowest possible offset that I could run to negate the sunken look, without any fender modifications?

bhango

That looks fantastic Studiogeek, but I would personally prefer to run something not quite so aggressively offset. The width of the wheel looks great though... Is it possible to run a 18x9 or 18x9.5 without any issues? If so, what is a ballpark offset so the wheels would be slightly inset from flush?

I have to replace my tires anyways, so I figured now would be a good time to ditch the stock wheels.

Sorry about all the questions, but you folks on CL seem to know what's what.

Studiogeek

iTrader: (6)

Bhango,
Thank You.
This is what i had before the spacers. Not a rub EVER! 18x9.5 285/35ZR18 +45 on a sagging stock suspension looked like this:

These were innocent, ignorant, happy tires that knew nothing of getting "Shanked" by fenders and wheel well goodies.

bhango

Wonderful. This is more towards what I'm looking for at the moment: a setup that is larger than stock but doesn't need any modifications to the fenders. More worried about rubbing at this point in time than the ultimate flush appearance.

Thanks for the help.

ASTERiSK

For a really flush look the front is gonna have a 10-15 offset lower than the rear. I plan on running -5 camber with 19x10 and 19x11 +20 all around (gonna run a 15mm spacer in the front for LS400 BBK later on).

I used "WillTheyFit.com", considering if you were gonna run as much camber and stretched tires as me you're looking at a 65.4mm sunken compared to my poke. Now if you had no camber then that would be 25mm less, which is still about 40.4mm sunken. My fenders are rolled and I'd say it gave me about 15mm more clearance.

Remember, offset is by millimeters. Also each degree of camber is an extra 5mm clearance. If you add more camber or spacers subtract that total from your actual offset to get the correct offset you're looking for flushness.

You shouldn't worry about this not fitting, especially if they're stock wheels. +50 offset or around there is pretty much stock and you shouldn't worry about any sort of poke.

With lowering the height you're always gonna have natural camber (unless you had adjustable upper control arms). If you're at like stock height then you probably wouldn't even need to worry about too much poke. It's best to roll or shave your fenders though, better safe than sorry.

Dougspeed

iTrader: (2)

I'm currently running a pair of 18x8 up front on 225/45/18 tires with a +30mm offset and they are pretty flush to the fenders. If you're going to be running a similar size but keeping the stock height, it may look better.. at least imho that you run something like a +35 to keep it from looking like it sticks out since it doesn't have the negative camber that the lowering provides to make it appear more flush.
Or you can just add a spacer to push out the wheels that you're thinking about more.

bhango

Thank you for the information, it helps immensely. Good to know that there are a variety of things I can do to accomplish a good looking wheel and tire setup. Also, that site is very useful for comparing sizings.

Thanks again Asterisk.

bhango

It sounds like I might have to go with spacers to get the wheels I'm looking at to look properly offset on my SC. Do spacers impact any aspects of driving or safety?

If not, is a +10 spacer feasible?

Thanks for the help Doug, I quite like how your wheels look.