Hey everyone,

I have a '94 civic EX coupe and it came with 17 in. rims when I got it. The tires are 215/45/R17. I run stock suspension and usually have no problems with scraping. However, whenever I take fast turns or have 3 people in my car, the wheels start to scrape on the wheel wells.

I am thinking about changing to 15 inch rims but may end up keeping my 17's and changing the tires when the time comes. Will changing the tires to 205/45/R17 help?

I notice that a lot of the people here also run on 17's, I'm just wondering if you guys also have the scraping issue. If you run 17's fine, how do you do it?

Thanks!

 

i'm liking the 15" rim idea, you'll appreciate it a little more. what offset do you have, you need a 205/40/r17 tire size, with maybe a 40 mm offset for it to fit. your current tires are too large.

 

if you do a little drop like 1.5 drop you won't rub. the stock suspension has alot of travel to it, where a after market won't give as much, thats why they are a little rougher ride. the tire size may help but i think you will still rub (had the same prob back in the day)

 

Unfortunately I don't know the offset of the rims I have now. Basically just getting some ideas and figuring out the most cost effective way to improve on my car.

I appreciate the help.

 

I'm not quite understanding how dropping it will solve the scraping issue. Wouldn't a drop only make the large wheels on my car scrape more?

 

no it won't see your stock springs will go up down alot more then aftermarket. stock springs travel more for a comfortable ride say they travel 3 inchs down a aftermarket will travel less making it a stiffer ride and will help on the body roll when taking turns at fast speeds. trust me thats how i got my 17's friend of mine had stock suspension and he rubbed i had 16's we swapped and i had coilovers and it was dropped so there was no fender gap i never rubbed even with people in the car . basically aftermarket springs won't go down as much as stock springs

 

Alright, I see what you mean now.

Hehehe, but I basically don't have money to get good suspension yet. College budget you see, hehehe. Thanks for the input.

 

Forget the suspension. Aftermarket springs may be stiffer, but if you can rub now when turning or hitting bumps, you'll still rub if you have stiff springs and hit an even harsher bump.

Basically...The tires are too big for the car. You need a lower profile and a narrower width tire (205/40-17s). You may also need a rim with a different offset and/or width.

You could also go with 15s or 16s. Typically, the smaller the rim diameter, the cheaper the tires and rims are to buy. Sell your current wheels and tires to recoup some of the cost.

 

Thanks for all the info guys!

 

that sums it up right there