I have tried the search and could not find anything,
Q. What offset is needed for15x7 wheels with 225-50-15 rubber. The car is lowered about 1.5" from stock and I do not want to roll or cut the lips in the fenders. Some say 38 and others 45 -- so what is right?

 

You should be OK with 38 offset?

 

Thanks Cloudman. I know that 225's are a tight fit on our cars and I'm about to buy some new wheels. It's such a bummer to get them and find out that the tires are rubbing. So what I'm looking for is someone who knows for sure! what offset is needed on 15x7" rims on a lowered car with out going to spacers or modifying the fenders, maybe it's not possible but I seem to remember posts on this subject --I just can not find them. Help Please.

 

I don't have a solid yes/no, but I'm hoping that I can provide some useful info.

I recently picked up my ITR from a fellow autocrosser. The car has 225 Victoracers mounted on Millenia rims which have a same offset as stock. When using the 225's, I need to run 5mm spacers so the tires won't rub. Based on my understanding of ITR's offset at 40-42mm, I think the 45mm offset would be the way to go w/o the spacers.

However... This does not take into account the fact that your car is lowered. My ITR is still at the stock height.

Perhaps a fellow autocrosser has experience with 225's on a lowered ITR.

 

Lowering your car will NOT cause your tires to rub. This is because your tires/wheels will still be within their original range of motion. If your car didn't rub before, it will not rub now.

I have used 225/50 on stock rims and 5mm spacers with no rubbing. I don't know if the wider wheel will make the 225s rub since tires do tend to spread out when mounted on wider wheels. I know that 205/50 on a 38mm offset, 15x7 wheel does not rub anywhere.

If you do decide on the 38mm offset, I have a set of hardly used 15x7 Kosei K1 Racing wheels I can sell you.

salaxx@hotmail.com

 

I have a question about the spacers, I've heard about people only using the spacers in front, Is this recomended? When I get my type r, I want to run volk le37t's 17x7.5 with 40mm offset. On those I would like to plACE 225/45-17'S. I also would like to run the 5mm spacers front and back for better clearance. I was just woundering if I sould plan on all four corners with the spacers, or just front, or none. Thankx for the help.

 

I'm afraid that I'm not really sure. I think it's a trial and error thing. If it were me, I'd plan on getting 4 spacers, just to be safe.

I have 4 spacers, and plan on using them on all corners when I autocross. It's my understanding from the previous owner that w/o the spacers it would rub. Regarding the spacers in the front only; I plan on running 205's at certain autocross events, and will probably not use the spacers there, perhaps that's what they are talking about.

NOTE: The lug nuts have also been replaced with some that are longer. I'm not sure if this is required for all spacers, but I wanted to mention it.

I'm sorry that I can't be more concrete, I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for your info ---- the stock offset on a ITR is +50--it is stamped on the inside of one of the spokes next to JJ15x6 and confirmed by my own measurments, I did some number crunching and came up with some interesting facts. Stock wheel with 205's--the rubber is wider by 5mm on each side from the 195's--obvious!! but now facter in an offset of +45 and you find that a 205 is 5mm narrower on the inside and 5mm wider on the outside, again obvious-- all we have done is move the wheel center line by 5mm to the outside. This fits--I ran this last year with no problems. Next we stay with the +45 wheel and put on some 225's and find that we are 10mm wider on both sides--makes sense right! So where does this leave us in comparison to a stock wheel and 195 rubber?
With +45 offset and 225's we are 10mm wider on the inside and 20mm
wider on the outside!
With +38 offset and 225's we are 3mm wider on the inside and 27mm wider on the out side! Thats more than an inch [ 1"= 25.4mm ]
So by the numbers it seems that you stand a better chance of having no rubbing with a 45 offset But! this is theory and in practice ???????
Hence I'm still looking for someone who can say--" I am running 15x7 wheels with an offset of ??? and 225 tires and it fits perfectly"----before I order my new wheels for this seasons autocross and track time.
Please and Thanks.

 

If you can hold off until this weekend, there's an autocross up here in the blistery NW. I'll look at the tires and see.

I'll probably also run into the previous owner, and I'll ask her for information.

 

nw98typer--- that would be great, I'm not in a desperate rush--we are up our ying-yang in snow here in eastern Canada and the temp is 0 degree's
so it will some time before we get back on the track.