Discuss Wheels & Tires for the Fit and Jazz
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I got the pics from a Japanese Fit site, EuroFit-R . I used to live in Japan and can read and speak a bit of Japanese, I'm sorry to say better than Tagalog. My relatives in the PI wonder about me.
But on another note, all the sheetmetal you would want to trim is not visible unless the wheel is off and you look inside the fender. Just remember to prime and seal any metal after you grind places down. On one website a guy tried putting on 195/50/15 tires on 6.5J/15 +38 rims and had the same rubbing problems. He ended up with 185/55/15 tires and had no problems and didn't have to modify the inner fender area. But he ended up changing to 195/45/16 tires on 7.5J/16 +38 rims
Comparison of stock 175/65/14 next to 195/45/15 tires. If you are going to stay with 15" wheels I would get the 185/55/15 tires.
D
Thanks Dojo. When are you coming here so we can polish your Filipino(Tagalog was categorized as a dialect a few years back).
7.5J/16 +38 rims with no rubbing?
Was thinking of getting 7/16 +42 rims with 205/40/16 or 195/45/16 tires.
Of course you're gonna get rubbing with an offset like 38 because it's pushing the wheel away from the suspension.
Ken if you have a wooden baseball bat, I would try to roll the fenders with one instead of grinding away at the metal. Just take the top part of the bat and settle it between the tire and fender and roll away. This will push the outer trim of the fender upwards.
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JET-OUT A Hopeful Future US F.I.T. Owner
The stock size 14" wheel is 5.5J/14 with +45 offset.
Yeah, your right about the offsets and that explains why you have some rubbing in the rear of your fit.
Some guys in Japan get wider rear tires to fit by bending and triming the sheetmetal where the rear bumper attaches.
Maybe this picture will help show the problem.
But this screw is the real problem that has to be dealt with if you want to have tires that fill out the wheel well or large sizes like 18"s.
D
Sheesh.... been there, done that... still having the rubbing on the RIGHT REAR screw that holds up the edge of the bumper. That's about it... RIGHT REAR! And I just found out, I'm not the only one in our group here in the Phi experiencing this right biased rubbing phenomenon.
My last option would be to have a machine shop trim off about 2mm from the rear wheels to make them have an offset of 45. If this fails, I'll have to conclude that there's a difference in the layout of the rear rightside fender/suspension layout compared to the left.
Re Ken's tire choice, I think it's a decision made considering the rallye-stage conditions of the roads here in the Philippines. We kinda need some more sidewall than what's actually recommended because of this reason. That's also why I opted for 215/40/17s when the correct choice should've been in the 205/40s or even 195/50/17 which I saw on one Fit in Hyper Rev magazine, vol. 80.
Would using a zip tie to hold the bumper in place work?
Tried this one too... nope there'll still be rubbing. WIthout the screwhead there, the tire will hit the metal mounting point where the screw was threaded. Same banana...
Thinner tires and/or higher offsets should do the trick. I HOPE...
You are exactly right. The end result for some fit owners is to completly remove the RIGHT REAR screw and bracket. I'm not sure how the end of the bumper is secured after the removal but here is a pic of the before and after.
MYx, you seem to have a lot of experience with this issue and you are right about the road conditions in the PI. I'm amazed you are ok with the 215/40/17's. Think you want to try it and tell us if it works?
But the guy that tried did the mods above was happy to get these to fit and carry 5 people in the car again.
Would you know if this rubbing issue will damage anything? Like, will it remove paint, cause some scratches or deform the metal mounting point? I don't see any yet but I want to make sure so that I prevent rust from forming in that metal mounting point of the screw.
You are exactly right. The end result for some fit owners is to completly remove the RIGHT REAR screw and bracket. I'm not sure how the end of the bumper is secured after the removal but here is a pic of the before and after.
MYx, you seem to have a lot of experience with this issue and you are right about the road conditions in the PI. I'm amazed you are ok with the 215/40/17's. Think you want to try it and tell us if it works?
But the guy that tried did the mods above was happy to get these to fit and carry 5 people in the car again.
D
Wow! Congratulations to the guy who finally had it to work on that screw! Hahaha! I was toying with the idea of using 3M double sided tape to hold up the bumper in position after taking out that screw and mounting bracket. I guess a visit to my trusty bodyworks shop should do the trick. It's just so nice to know that I'm not the only one experiencing this.
ANother thing I noticed when I was working on those two screws at the back was, the angle of the mounting bracket on the left rear fender is diffrent from the mounting bracket on the right. The left side screw is positioned at about a 45 degree slant while the one on the right was about 90 degrees from the flat floor. Perhaps that's why the rubbing is more biased on the right side.
I think the rubbing is limited to the screw mounting area making contact with your tire. Over time and extended use will take off some of the tread on your tire.
I think that MYx is right about the bracket angles making the right side more prone to rubbing problems.
I think the rubbing is limited to the screw mounting area making contact with your tire. Over time and extended use will take off some of the tread on your tire.
I think that MYx is right about the bracket angles making the right side more prone to rubbing problems.
And for those thinking about which size of rims and wheels to get, here's a helpful tool we use to figure out the speed differentials caused by upsizing -- http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Finally had the grinding/sanding procedure done on the right rear screw bracket on the rear bumper.
Initial observations :
1. Loaded the car with 5 adults - there was minimal rubbing still but not from the usual screw bracket area anymore, rather from the next screw lower to that. The one exposed to the naked eye. My tire (215/40/17) slightly rubs about a quarter of the screw head and the peripheral plastic edges of the bumper. But the rubbing is not as jarring as before I had the procedure done.
2. I can say that this sanding procedure of the right rear screw bracket is a good mod for someone on 17s or above with a lowered ride and if his tire choice does not exceed 205/40 or maybe even 205/45/17s.
3. As for the 215/40/17s, a little more trimming of the bumper edges is required and or a limiting of the passengers to a max of 4 should do the trick.
I will observe later as I will travel about 300kms back and forth to one of the outlying provinces from the city.
Good to hear that your issue improved Myx! Tell me more about it when we meet up.
Guys I have a dilemma. I calculated the clearance in our garage and the 185/55/15 tires that Dojo suggested will cause some problems. Our garage is elevated and I can't go up in an angle because of the gate so if change to this size, my muffler will hit the pavement.
Thinking of getting 16" rims with 195/50 tires. I was looking at the Work Wheels site and I am considering the Emotion (http://www.work-wheels.co.jp/wheels/...emt-k1p-2.html#). However when I checked the fitment guide, the 16" rims for the jazz is 7.0JJ+35 with 195/45 tires. The questions are:
1. 16" rims with 7 width with a 35 offset? Won't this cause the same problem?
2. I can't use 195/45 tires with 16" rims because this will cause problems with my muffler. If I use 195/50, will the slight increase in diameter cause other problems like rubbing topmost part of the wheel well (not in the fender anymore)?
After my 300km roundtrip yesterday outside Manila, here's how the latest mod fared...
1. The annoying rubber to metal rubbing is totally gone. Allelujah! managed to take dips on the road flat out this time unlike before when those same dips would cause the awfully irritating noise.
2. There's still some rubbing with the tire and the plastic edge of the bumper, if not the edge of the second srewhead. But these were nowhere as jarring as before the grinding modification. Perhaps using 205/45/17s could be a future option?
Ken,
Ask our turbo guy what his wheel offset is... if he doesn't know, it's probably embossed at the back of the wheel. I don't think it would be practical for you to use such a low offset number... that will most likely result in more fender rubbing because the wheel and tire will be sticking out too much.
Regarding upper wheel well rubbing, I don't think it will... the overall diameter of 195/50/16 is about .1 inch smaller than my set-up and I don't experience rubbing inside the wheel well. But you might experience that right rear fender rub more than what you are experiencing now mainly because of the wheel offset. hehe If you can get a wheel offset of +45, that should be just right with those 16s you're planning. Problems with +45 offset for the front can easily be remedied by adding wheel spacers
There's a good page here to give examples of what's possible - Use the 'Alloy Wheel Finder' in the top-left of the page, and select through Honda and Jazz.
I like the the wheels you plan on getting for your Fit. I think if you want to use 205/45/16 tires you need to buy different offset wheels for the rear wheels. You might want to try +35 in the front and +44 in the rear. If you go with 195/45/16's on all four 7J/16 +35 wheels you should not have any problems except you may scrap your exhaust going into your garage.
The stock 15" wheel (6J/15 +53) has 129mm of the wheel towards the brake and suspension components and 23mm of the wheel away from the hub and towards the fender and bumber bracket and screw. If you use a 7J/16 +35 wheel the ratio is 124mm/54mm, a 7J/16 +44 wheel has a 133mm/45mm ratio.
I think the 7J/16 +35 wheel is better for the front and the +44 offset would give you more space to use a wider tire without rubbing in the rear. I'm not sure about availability and I know the site is in Japanese but the link below list the wheel you wanted.
Glad to hear that your trip went well and that your grinding of the bracket soved most of your rubbing problems.
So are you interested in a Turbo kit for you Fit?
Thanks Dojo... this site was a great help... it's hard to read and understand Japanese especially when I barely passed my Jap language subject in college. hehehe
Re turbo kit... not really a big fan of forced induction. I've heard too many horror stories and out of control costs just to make it work right. Plus I just think the car wasn't really built for it and many parts have to be upgraded to make the whole thing work as good as stock.
I'll just wait for our K20 project in a couple of weeks time.
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