Technical Rim Question

[BigBlak]

I have a GS400 the owner i bought it off told me that the springs are cut as low as they could be cut without getting custom ones so it sits low. use your imagination in order to give me advice. My question is im looking forward to getting some rims for my ride and was wondering since my car sits low and i have 17' stock wheels on it already would upgrading to 18' rims with low profile tires be pushing it ? like would they scrape ? the reason for this question is because i always thought that i would need to raise my car back up to stock height in order to get rims for my ride . so if anyone could help with that i would appreciate it i have pics but they have no detail in what im asking but here they are if it helps a little bit. and oyeah can someone explain the ofset system to me. Im trying to make everything black so i want black rims, if anyone has suggestions on a brand and style that would look good with my ride i appreciate your time, im going for the stealth look not too much flashy. like black with a chrome trimming .

[Zippyguy]

This might help. The original work is found on this page: http://www.lgwnorcal.net/articles/wheelfitment.html

GS wheels fitment

The stock GS 17" wheels, as far as I know, are 17x8 with 235/45/17. I have owned two sets of aftermarket wheels for the car, 19" VolkRacing AV3 19x8.5 +38 front and 19x9.5 +38 rear, and now I have the 20" HRE 540R 20x8.5 +32 front and 20x10 +43 rear. I would classify my 19" setup as a conservative setup as it doesn't flush totally with the fender but have zero rubbing issue, whereas with the HRE, the setup is very aggressive and is flush perfect with the fender, but has slightly rubbing which was fixed relatively easy.

The following are the wheel sizes that I would suggest for the GS (if you don't want to have a staggered setup, just put whatever for the front in the back). When I say the setup is conservative, it means you don't have to do any fender modification. When I say aggressive, that means you probably have to do the rolling or shaving. And in the case of professional, then some major suspension changes would have to be made in order to fit the wheel, and should be left to professionals hence I won't go over how here.

18" Difficulty

18x8 +32 18x9 +32 conservative

18x8.5 +38 18x9.5 +38 conservative

18x8.5 +38 18x10 +44 conservative

18x8.5 +32 18x10 +42 aggressive

18x9 +38 18x10 +42 aggressive

18x9 +35 18x10 +35 professional

19" Difficulty

19x8 +32 19x9 +32 conservative

19x8.5 +38 19x9.5 +38 conservative

19x8.5 +38 19x10 +44 conservative

19x8.5 +32 19x10 +42 aggressive

19x9 +38 19x10 +42 aggressive

19x9 +35 19x10 +35 professional

20" Difficulty

20x8.5 +38 20x9.5 +38 conservative

20x8.5 +38 20x10 +44 conservative

20x8.5 +32 20x10 +42 aggressive

20x9 +38 20x10 +42 aggressive

20x9 +35 20x10 +35 professional

** on 20" wheels for the GS, keep in mind that the wheels are out of spec so the overall diameter is off by about 6%. Your speedometer would be off, meaning that when the speedometer says 80mph, you are actually going at around 85mph already. Plus, because of the 1" larger diameter overall compared to 18" or 19" (with tires), you have to be careful with your lowering. From my experience, if you lower your car to 2 fingers, provided that you have the correct offset, you shouldn't rub (or very slightly) the top of the wheel well. If you go 1½ finger gap or less, when going over uneven road or dips, you will most likely rub the top part of the wheel well. Over time you will see part of the rubber wheel well flap got rubbed away. Moreover, with 20", you will rub when you put your steering wheel at full lock (either left or right) and mostly when backing up. This is due to the bigger diameter and when you turn, you rub the front and back of the wheel well (this is one reason why 20" are the biggest rims you can put on the GS with reasonable widths).

When it comes to tires for the GS, the following setup are preferred:

Wheel Size Tires Within Spec?

18x8 235/40/18 245/40/18 yes

18x8.5 245/40/18 yes

18x9 245/40/18 255/40/18 yes

18x9.5 275/35/18 yes

18x10 275/35/18 285/35/18 yes

19x8 235/35/19 245/35/19 yes

19x8.5 245/35/19 yes

19x9 245/35/19 255/35/19 yes

19x9.5 275/35/19 yes

19x810 275/30/19 285/30/19 yes

19x8 235/40/19 245/40/19 no (fat setup)

19x8.5 245/40/19 no (fat setup)

19x9 245/40/19 255/40/19 no (fat setup)

19x9.5 275/35/19 no (fat setup)

19x10 275/35/19 285/35/19 no (fat setup)

20x8.5 245/35/20 no

20x9 245/35/20 255/35/20 no

20x9.5 275/30/20 no

20x10 275/30/20 285/30/20 no

Keep in mind different brands of tires, even with the same profile, will be different too. So for very marginal setup (read: aggressive), the tires might provide the 1 or 2mm that makes all the difference. Tires like the Bridgestone SO3 and Dunlop P9000 are very rounded and "meaty". The rounded corners will help to avoid rubbing. On the other hand, from my experience, Nitto, Pirelli, Yokohama, etc... tires are very "square" so they might enhance the rubbing factor.

[sakataj]

would also help if you know how much he cut off the stock springs? man i hate cutting stock springs....

[BigBlak]

would also help if you know how much he cut off the stock springs? man i hate cutting stock springs....

i left the guy a email about the springs how low they are and he sent me this "i think it is 1.25 inch, the brand in intrax, maybe you can look on the website im not sure".... hop you can give advice now wit this .

[SKperformance]

throw the springs in the garbage and buy a proper set before doing any thing else.

[sakataj]

throw the springs in the garbage and buy a proper set before doing any thing else.

im with him here....

[BigBlak]

ok new springs i got u . but my question was since im trying to go 18' with low profile tires should i stay aftermarket or go stock? to avoid scrapping of the fender ? and oyea is that brand like bad or sumthn ?

[sakataj]

ok new springs i got u . but my question was since im trying to go 18' with low profile tires should i stay aftermarket or go stock? to avoid scrapping of the fender ? and oyea is that brand like bad or sumthn ?

go aftermarket...but if you doing coils go ahead and do shocks, imho its easier/cheaper (labor if someone else does it) and smarter in the long run! nah the springs are ok, but i wont ride cut springs period. you shouldnt scrape fender on good springs/shocks/18's

[BigBlak]

ok new springs i got u . but my question was since im trying to go 18' with low profile tires should i stay aftermarket or go stock? to avoid scrapping of the fender ? and oyea is that brand like bad or sumthn ?

go aftermarket...but if you doing coils go ahead and do shocks, imho its easier/cheaper (labor if someone else does it) and smarter in the long run! nah the springs are ok, but i wont ride cut springs period. you shouldnt scrape fender on good springs/shocks/18's

so since the springs i got are cut and not adjustable i should go aftermarket ? can you tell me what i would need for this process? springs etc. and yea how much would all of this run me for ? send me links for the products you would suggest thnx.

[dcfish]

throw the springs in the garbage and buy a proper set before doing any thing else.

BINGO........Need I say more ?

[BigBlak]

Suggestions!!!

[Hillsndale]

i left the guy a email about the springs how low they are and he sent me this "i think it is 1.25 inch, the brand in intrax, maybe you can look on the website im not sure".... hop you can give advice now wit this .

Maybe your springs are not cut, maybe lowering springs from Intrax? Intrax

And no, I don't have any wisdom, but a lot of guys run Tein coilovers: Tein Prices They sell lowering springs too.

As far as wheels, Zippyguy gave awesome info on fitment. For style, I'm not good at visualizing so all I can suggest is look at as many pictures as you can find until something jumps out.

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