Hey dudes/dudettes!

First time poster here. I have been lurking the forums for the last bit as I am a new Fit owner (used '09 Sport, tidewater blue).

Anyway, I need a nice set of wheels and tires for summer (which I am told happens in a few months here in the arctic :P). My used car came with snow tires on steelies!

I really like the Enkei RPF1 and they seem to be a good balance of well made and stylish.

What tire moden and size are a good pick for them? I want no fender rubbing and I have no plans to modify the suspension on my car (I can't with the insane roads here. I'd lose a bumper for sure and it's my daily driver).

I'm looking at the Enkei RPF1s. 16x7 with a 43 offset. What size tire and brand will fit, perform well on the highway and on shitty city roads for daily summer driving and completely avoid rubbing? What width should I go with? 195? 205? I'm really a newbie with this stuff and don't really understand tire specifications. I've been searching and learning a lot but think I could benefit from some guided advice from one of you fine folk before dumping a bunch of money into tires and rims!!!

Thanks for any help!

 

I have the same wheels, but am lowered on Swift Springs. I put Continental Extremecontact DWS (dry/wet/snow) tires, sized 205/50/16. They rubbed an inner corner of the fender liner (the black plastic) on hard turns. And did a little bit of surface rubbing on another spot, regardless of serverity of turn (as long as you're turning that setup rubs that spot).

However, the rubbing was so minor, that as soon as the tires wore down a little, the rubbing stopped.

That being said, those were all-season tires, so they won't be what you'll be getting if you want full summer tires. Their summer variation is Extremecontact DW (dry/wet). Though, i don't have experience with them.

While you say you won't be lowering the car, i wonder if the stock springs will compress as low as they would with Swifts to make contact on that corner, if you buy the same size tires. For sure that other spot will rub just like i did. If fact, another member, lyonnightroad (spelling might be off), used the same size tires, but on stock wheels and springs... Still rubbed that surface spot.

Also, not all tires are shaped exactly the same, some have a more rounded corner while others are more square. In other words, some are more likely to rub in some spots (if at all) compared to others.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the information. So do you think going to 195 width tires would avoid that little bit of rubbing? Is that a good size to have on these rims or is that too skinny? I really only have a faint idea of all these technicalities at this point.

I'll probably get sporty all seasons to be honest. Even though they'll mostly be used in summer there's still that changeover for winter and the months leading up to that are still pretty extreme here. I live in the coldest city in the world with a population over 600k o__o Do you recommend the all seasons you used?

 

I like the DWS tires. Living in Chicagoland, they handle pretty well, despite my over-eagerness (aka, spinning tires) in the snow.

Don't think you'll be able to find that tire in 195 though. Or at least, i don't recall seeing that size. Obviously, i could just as easily be wrong. But 195 in other brand/model tires *should* avoid the rubbing, if you stick to 50 for the second size. A 55 could get close to rubbing. As for being too thin for the wheel... I'm not sure. I think it should be okay, though i wouldn't go any less on the Enkei wheels.

If you didn't already know, first number is width in mm, second is height as a percentage of the width and the third is what wheel diameter would typically fit (in INCHES!!). So, mm/%/in... Wtf. Who came up with this bs?

 

Haha wow okay yeah that's a pretty mixed bag of dimensions. Though I guess I'm used to it since I work in electronics and everything is mixed. Some things are imperial, others metric...agh!

So it sounds like those tires you use will probably be pretty decent for summer and fall here.

I guess my final question is: is the rubbing with your setup a problem? Can it be remedied somehow? Can it just be left and all is okay? Reliability is really important to me and I don't want to damage my car or anything of that nature.

 

Well, at the beginning, the rubbing (on hard turn) did freak me out. But like i said, after a bit, it stopped and that was it. But, as i mentioned, that rubbing only occurs on HARD turns (if you're moderate, you might not even notice).

Its possible it pushed the fender out slightly, but you'd be hard pressed to notice, since it looks perfectly normal to me.

Beyond that, don't think it does anything else in terms of "damage."

 

Hey Manitoba. Will we ever get Spring?

I bought these in Jan for $100. THey are only a +40 offset. Rota Slips 16 x 7



I then picked up a one year old set of Generals for $400. 205/50/16



Will have them mounted and blanced and installed in a couple of weeks. Others running this size lowered on Swifts like me have had only occasional rub on severe dips. We will see. Maybe finally after almost 5 years I get a decent set of aftermarket wheels.

bill

 

Why buy the same size rims vs. just putting wider tires on the stock 16's? If i'm buying rims im going 1" bigger to fill the wheel wells better. I'm not being negative. Just wondering.

 

A good question! A few reasons:
- The Sport actually comes with 15" alloys in Canada, I do believe. It's due to our harsher climate and terrible roads.
- The roads are absolutely horrible here. If I got 17"s the reduced tire area would mean I would break a rim for sure on a pothole eventually.
- Ride quality is important to me. So upsizing from 15 to 16" is already going to be more noisy for long distance road trips. 17" would be too bumpy and noisy for daily driving to me.

 

I've noticed that with the stock sport 16x6 wheel and moving up to a 205/50 tire I could use a slightly wider rim.I think even 6.5 would be ok and keep the tire from rolling over when cornering.The stock dunlop 185/55 is fine for the stock wheels but I will stick to the 205's.

 

The Stock Sport rims in Canada are 16s by I believe 6.5.

 

Oh, one more question for ya guys in regards to wheel parameters. When you say "+45 offset" is that offset in mm towards the inside of the car or towards the outside? The Enkei rims call it an "inset" but the "+45" is throwing me off. Just want to clarify so I actually understand this!

 

Hmm, interesting. I'm getting conflicting data I guess xD

 

Here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Volk-Racing-TE37SL-17x7-5-4x100-Rays-/201049027845?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Wheels&hash=item2ecf74b505&vxp=mtr

 

Waaay out of my price range. Thanks for the link though! Those'd be close to $3.5k after shipping and duties to Canada.

 

"Out" from center. Or from center towards the face.

In the US, stock alloy is +53 which means it meets the hub closer to the face, or another way to look at it is that the wheel sits deeper into the car.

 

I was wrong... again. THe stock are 16s but only 6 wide.

Here is a good link to read

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ire-specs.html

 

Nice thread. Thanks!