I was trying to play it all back in my head. Memory loss at its best. Anyway, it made you pay attention!

 

In tuner terms, this is called "filling out the wheel wells" (even space around the tire) and the Swifts do a pretty good job, or as close as you are probably going to get. You might try going down to a 45 profile tire to get some of the uniformity back. For whatever reason, aftermarket wheels lessen this effect, probably because the added width take away some of the "overhang" look that you are referring to.

Some people are going to be WTF about this, but I understand what you mean. I don't want a car that looks lowered, but is low. Like the way, a BMW 3 series is, which has about as much fender gap in the rear as a slammed Fit - stock, but it also trims out the space around the tire nice and evenly.

edit: Illustration

 

I am so lost at what he said about proportions and stuff like that??

 

Thank you for that. That makes sense now. Do not trim the body, is all I can say.

 

Wow, my Swifts are going on next week, and I was worried about this exact same thing. I hope it doesn't bother me too much. Maybe I'm weird, but I've always really liked the stock stance of the Fit (especially with lines of the Mugen package). I'm going to the Swifts for the performance more than to change the stance.

 

It made me remember how I messed up my reinstall. I was trying to put it back without the big rubber, part #13, and all hell broke loose. Part #12, the bearing, actually opened up and exposed the ball bearings inside at one point, freaking me out. The grease prevented the ball bearings from slipping out though. whew.

Yeah, it's basically just me being anal.

the illustration looks like someone with mismatched eyes!

 

The forward rake is even more pronounced on the GD models and removing the rear seats make it all the more noticeable.... I had put some 16"X7" wheels with 38mm offset and 195 X 45 16" tires on my car for a while and they did look better than my 15"X7" 41 mm RPF1's with 195-55-15 tires... The exaggerated offset, weight and low aspect ratio of the tires made the torque steer, braking force increase, acceleration loss and loss of ride quality very noticeable.... The filled up wheel well,"flush" look thing isn't worth what is sacrificed in comfort, handling and performance that is given up to be stylish.

 

You're talking about a lot more than I am.

My "beef" is with just the look of the wheel well when you look directly at the face of the wheels, not the along the side view you would need to notice offset (aka, flush). Although it was an idea I talked about in an older thread (about possibly added a spacer, but I changed my mind about it).

There is no amount of wheel or tire changing that will solve what I'm talking about. It has only to do with the center of the wheel vs the center of the arch or the wheel well. The problem with Hayden's illustration is that he didn't match the size of the well, making it appear that I'm talking about changing the size of the tires. Bigger tires will FILL the wheel well, closing the gap in front and rear of the tire, but it will also close the gap at the top of the tire even more... keeping it out of proportion while I'm currently lowered with the Swifts.

A better example... when you jack up the car, watch how the look changes as the height of the car changes (while the tire stays on the ground).

Like I said, there are only two solutions... move the height of the car back to stock, or re-cut the wheel well's arch.

I do like the handling of the Swift springs alot... and since I don't want the hassle of cutting up the car (nor could i afford it)... I'll just stick with it as it is now.

I really like the RPF1 Type IIs. They're kinda light weight, have a much closer offset to stock (+45) and I kinda like the style of it... but holy crap, they're expensive.

 

I know what you are talking about... It is the short length of the control arms from the torsion beam to then stub axles the rear wheels attach to..... The wheel swings in an arc instead of moving vertically up and down.

 

no no... still too complicated.

I'm talking just the simple look.

for example, at the currently lowered height with the swifts, you have say, 4 inches from the edge of the tire, to the front and rear of the well. then about 3 inches to the top (out of proportion). in stock, it's 4 inches in front, rear and top (proportion).

As you jack up the car, the top spacing gets even bigger.

that's all i'm talking about.

 

Yeah the wheels swing in an arc like on the swing arm on the rear end of a motor cycle except the arms between the pivoting torsion beam are shorter so if they are not perfectly horizontal as when stationary the wheelbase length decreases when the torsion beam is higher or lower than the hight of the center of the wheel... Around a sharp corner when the beam is flexed the difference in wheelbase from one side to the other will be different, or when only one side hits a bump the same thin occurs .... The old VW Beetles did the same thing because the used a transversely mounted torsion bar instead of springs and the pre 68 models with swing axles had varying caster, camber, tow in and wheelbase changes on turns and over bumps.... Now that was complicated.

 

Goob!!! Stop being so anal and enjoy the look and ride of your car on Swifts.

I am hoping today to get a call my snowblower is repaired and I can pick it up in the Fit before the storm comes. I doubt if I will see my wheel wells tomorrow. Anyways they are full of ice and snow.

 

We will be having icy conditions here in a few hours.... This weather covering such a large area is supposed to be the largest winter storm situation in weather forecasting history.... It might be kind of fun to get out and drive in... I'm glad the old lady has a Subaru.

 

My only time in Texas was stuck at Dallas airport in ice storm. When we finally got a taxi we were pretty much the only car on road into Dallas other than a few in the ditch. That was a fun trip. Flew into Chicago and find the flight to Dallas was cancelled. Found another airline that would try it.

 

Oh man...

if I wasn't plowing the snow with my car, I will be soon!

And I have to do deliveries on the next set of snow fall... should be fun!

oh, Black3sr... it's hard to enjoy the car, when you're stuck in the house and not out driving! No one to hang out with yesterday.

 

You fellows up north have to deal with winter driving conditions that get pretty wild an challenging...I have had to drive and work outside in the white stuff on ice covered everything and enjoyed it a lot until I'd step off a curb to walk around to the drivers side door of my truck, slip, fall and bust my ass... How often do you guys fracture your tail bones????

 

i've been lucky, when I fall, it's straight on my ass, usually to one side... even though some friends said I don't have an ass. wait....

 

You think I could get away with 17x7 rims with swifts on or would I have to stay stock with 17s?

 

I've been running 17x7 and 17x7.5 wheels, almost, since I first bought my '08 GD3. I have 205/40's on the 17x7's and 215/40 Yokahama AD08's on the 17x7.5's (for autocrossing). I had Skunk2 springs originally and didn't like the ride or handling. So I put a set of Swifts on , and have been happy ever since. The balance between ride and handling suites my driving well. Even the AD08's don't rub, unless I hit a pretty big bump, while turning (no fender rolling, either).

 

Oh yeah, watch your offset. Stay around +42 or so...