RUBBING what works? OFFSET questions and answers

[andrek]

I've got 15x 6.5 rims on my Fit, 195/55 tires and haven't lowered it.
The off set is +35.
If I load my car with 4 or 5 in, the back tires start rubbing on both sides. And it only gets worse as I fill the trunk...
I guess the best would be an offset between 40-45. I don't think 195/50 tires would solve the problem, but only make it take more weight before it starts rubbing. The only limitation would be the depth so that the rims don't hit the calipers, which depends much on the wheel design, like it's been said.

And just to clear thing up, spacers only makes things worse in this case. Is you add a 5mm spacer on a +35 wheel, it gets +30... The tires hit the outer walls on the wheel wells, and adding a spacer would push the wheels out...
What you can do is polishing the inside of your wheels center, taking about 5mm off it and pushing it in... As long as the calipers don't hit the rims... Despite of what it may appear, it will work fine and safely as long as the job is well done.

[fit_4_a_king]

WOOT - the SSR's are +42 and the Sparco's are at +53!!! Looks like I have some rims to switch around between cars! If anyone's interested I may be selling the Sparco Racing RR's when I get the Mugen NR's...

[dougiepants]

Well I have RG's +35 and SA3R's +42 I have heard both will work fine

[JDMGD3]

Ok the stock wheels are 15x6.5 and have a +53, that means the hub of the wheel is outward toward the face of the wheel just a bit over 2" which is a good amount. Knowing that, this means the axle hub is much closer to the edge of the fender then most cars.

I have heard some people talking about using spacers on wheels with a lower offset then stock to avoid rubbing the tires on the fender but a spacer only lowers an offset not increases. My worry right now is I want to use 205 tires, 20mm wider then stock but I am thinking with a tire thats almost an inch wider, I might have to run a wheel with an offset that is fairly high like stock and run a bit of negative camber for the tires to clear the fender. It would be nice if someone made some fiberglass wide fenders for the front to cure this issue.

[Halo]

There is a thread floating around here with fit's rocking 15x9's and like a 5+ offset..looks like this was acheived with skinny tires and extreme negative camber plus fender rolling, of course this is not functional since you screw yourself from your cars full suspension travel...I am using 15x8 0 offset wheels on my Miata. If your plans are to keep the car then I would suggest to anyone to roll the fenders and run wider wheels, instant wide track
;- )

[Halo]

http://tycoons-den.com/Mobiles-den/fit_off/kansai4.htm

[JDMGD3]

There is no way a Miata and a Fit can even be compared in the same category for obvious reasons. For one, the Miata is a RWD platform and in about 99% of cases, RWD cars can accept offsets much lower then FWD cars. Also Miata's stock wheels dont have a offset as high as the Fits stock wheels.

Rolling fenders doesnt actually give you alot more space to work with, maybe 12mm at the most, about 1/2" depending on the car. So whether you want to use that extra 1/2" for a lower offset wheel or a bit wider tires, its possible by rolling the fenders. Personally a wider tire benefits the overall handling of the car much more so then a lower offset wheel.

[JDMGD3]

Nice link Halo. Ya some of those Fit's are running pretty low offsets, most likely +30 and below but I just remembered after seeing those pics that alot of these JDM rides, the owners use tires narrower then recommended for the width of the wheels, thats why the lips of the wheels sticking out so far out of the sidewall of the tires. It looks great but from what I know, it is now safe at all for daily driving, this is also how they are able to clear fenders with such low offset wheels.

[Halo]

I am running 205/50 tires and they are pretty stretched but I feel the whole safety issue regarding this matter has been somewhat hyped, not saying it's safe but another friend of mine is on the same rim as me with 195/50..he has been riding this way for over a year with no problems..but you do have a point..I also wanted to add that not all people who "roll" fenders are created equal, to some degree it can be viewed as an art..There is a shop somewhere in Riverside that does some awesome work in regards to rolling fenders, this is all they do actually. I have seen some cars come out of there with some pretty beefy wheels..Also I do like the added stance of a wider wheel

[dougiepants]

Ok well I just tried my RG's 15x6.5J +35 on a stock '00 Si and there was not clearence issues of hitting the caliper. I know that the Fit does not have as big of caliper as the '00 Civic Si that I know of. The '00 Si wheel is a +40 offset.

I'm just trying to help kill half of the issues with the offset questions. I know that 1/2 is some wheels will hit calipers and the other 1/2 is massive rubbing on the fenders. So I hope this might help us out a bit on the caliper issue.


Your thoughts...

[azkikersfit]

hi KKIM
i would really like to know refering to your rims 15 X 7 195/50, have u experienced any downfall to it such as rubbin or watever, cos i have my eye on some racing rims 15x7 and ill be puttin on some 195/50 or 205/50 and if u have experience any rubbing on either side wat did u do to solve the issue of rubbing
thanxs

[kkim]

Originally Posted by azkikersfit

hi KKIM
i would really like to know refering to your rims 15 X 7 195/50, have u experienced any downfall to it such as rubbin or watever, cos i have my eye on some racing rims 15x7 and ill be puttin on some 195/50 or 205/50 and if u have experience any rubbing on either side wat did u do to solve the issue of rubbing
thanxs

Sorry, have not had a chance to try them on a Fit, yet. The local dealer wants $1000 over MSRP on these things.

[Zozzancs]

Hi,

My name is Zoltan, I am a hungarian Jazz owner.
I order Keskin KT8 wheels, with 7x15 ET35 dimensions and with 195/50 R15 gumma....after find this topic...
Now I am worried slighly...

[nam_s]

I'm using 16' with +45 offset Regamaster Evo for both front and rear. I've also lowered my ride with Tanabe GF coils. So far so good. No problem at all.

[JDMGD3]

Originally Posted by nam_s

I'm using 16' with +45 offset Regamaster Evo for both front and rear. I've also lowered my ride with Tanabe GF coils. So far so good. No problem at all.

Damn you got Regamaster Evo's? I love those wheels, one of my favorite wheels, forged and very light weight. I believe these were out before the Spoon SW388 wheels and Spoon copied there wheels. The 15" version of those wheels weighs under 9lbs.

[AJ PwR Jr.]

Fit has a really deep wheel wall so if you run +45 offset, the wheels will still tucked it. IMO, +38 will be the best and +35 with 195 tires will definitely work too. If you run lower offsets or wider tires, you gotta alert of that.

[dougiepants]

Thanks for the more info

[Tony@NewTypeGarage.com]

Originally Posted by JDMGD3

Damn you got Regamaster Evo's? I love those wheels, one of my favorite wheels, forged and very light weight. I believe these were out before the Spoon SW388 wheels and Spoon copied there wheels. The 15" version of those wheels weighs under 9lbs.

Actually I beleive the Spoon SW388's are produced and manufactured by RegaMaster. They have the same exact weights.

[JDMGD3]

Actually Desmond is the manufacturer of the Regamaster's. Its very possible that they made the SW388's for Spoon also since they are identical aside from the color.

[ken1279]

Originally Posted by dougiepants

15 x 6.5 +42... What do you guys think? looking to be in the correct spec or will there be rubbing/clearance issue?

This should be okay even without spacers.