Will 17" rims with an offset of 40 be okay with 215/45ZR17 tires? I just saw a picture or these tires on an 02 neon and it looks awesome! I always wanted 17 for my neon but a lot of them have barely any rubber. These have a good "chunk" of rubber while still mantaining 17". A calulator said it will be 4.1% slow on the speedo, but I don't care. I just want to know if these will fit okay. Thanks guys

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...68_67_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...68_64_full.jpg

Cars mods:
-17" SRT-4 wheels
-Custom 1" wheels spacers in the rear
-215/45ZR17 Kumho tires
-Dropzone lowering springs

Are spacers required to use this tire size? What other 17" tire options do I have? The rims I know for sure will be 17" w/40 offset. I just need to figure out what tires to get.

Brian

 

Your in a SRT-4....you want grip....not ride height or low profiles.... I would honestly go with a tire that grips as much ground as possible.......but if you are insistent on big sidewalls....

Why not try running a 205 50 17? It's a little taller...and just barely a smidgen smaller then the stock 215's... and it's roughly the same height as them as well.

 

Yes the 215/45-17's will fit very well, however if you went to a 40 series sidewall tire you would have very little if any speedometer issues.
Oh and stock on SRT-4's are 205/50-R17 (17x6)...i was under the impression that you we couldnt have 50 series sidewalls on a 17" tire if your running stock struts b/c the tire would rub on the strut perch...the SRT's have a different perch thus they can run thicker tires. You should be able to run the 215/45 or 40-R17 and maybe even a 225/40-17 but just barely. (unless you go to the SRT or aftermarket struts)
And if your really going for grip your better off going for the 17x7 rather than SRT stocker 17x6...

 

a 205/50/17 is almost virtually identical in ride height to a 215/45/17.....we're talking....1/2in in difference. Not much at all. If we were talking 215/50/17 or even a 225, I think you would indeed be correct.

 

Wait are we talking about the cars ride height or the tires overall height? If he wants to know about the cars ride height then yes the 1/2" difference wont be anything noticable, but if we're talking about the tire height inside the wheel well, we only have so much space till we start rubbing on the strut perch.
For instance, right now i'm running the stocker 195/50-16 tires, and that leaves me about 2/3" between the tire and strut...now in my case i would be going up 1" with only 2/3"-3/4" space left and i have to take that space off somehow so i would need to get a thinner tire in a 45 or 40 which would give me another 1/2" or more to work with. (unless i changed struts)

So unless i'm missing something here...

 

I'll measure the clearance (on both sets) of my wheels when I put them on this week. The 17s are going on for a bit...since this winter is horse****.

 

Seriously, we got more snow here in November than December-March combined...WTF???

 

Well, I cant say for sure since I drive a Stratus, but I know a 50 wheel will fit on a Neon. However, I cant speak for the SRT-4's and 03NeonRT you could very well be correct in your statement.

I would think that the 50 would fit...but I also overlooked the fact he's lowered as well...so a 50 definitely wouldnt work anyhow....

Either way, I'd definitely want the widest, grippiest tread I could get on an SRT-4.

EDIT:

I also have 225/45Z/17 Toyo's on my car currently and I have 215/50/17's going back on the car shortly. My car is also lowered.

 

I hope you guys didn't misunderstand me. The mods I listed are for the car in the two pictures I gave you, not what's on my car. I'm just interested in the tires in the picture.

 

Yeah i'm pretty sure i got what you were saying in your first post...and my opinion is you should go for the 215/40-ZR17 just because you will have no speedo problems and still have a descent sized sidewall.

Truthfully i wouldnt go with the SRT wheels like i said before simply b/c you could just spend a few extra bucks and buy some wheels to make your car look more "custom" and they would be wider...17x6(srt) Vs. 17x7(better!).

Oh and no spacers required unless you go to 18x7.5 or larger...