A couple more wheel questions!!

A couple more wheel questions!!

Hey everyone,

Just another question about getting new rims. I have the 04 Corolla S with 15" rims and stock tires (195/65/15). I want to get new 17" rims and 215/45/17 or 215/40/17 kumho tires. The rims I want are the ICW Trident 786 H in hyper silver just FYI. Also I want to do a 1" drop on my car... will that look good? Does anyone have pics with 1" drops with 17" rims? I mean I want my car to look good and I don't want that gap, but at the same time, I also don't want to risk anything by having the car damaged in some way by lowering it too much. I'm also kinda strapped for cash...

Now, I've heard from different people that by changing the tires and rims the read out on the spedometer will be off. I spoke with the guy at the rim store and he said the 215/40/17 tires are the recommended ones for the rims I wanted and he said that the spedometer should work fine... Is he BSing me? On the site http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html I calculated some of the different sizes and it was +/- .1 to 3 mph off from the stock.

If any of you have the same car as I do and have your rims changed, does your spedometer read out correctly? If I choose the 215/45/17 tires (assuming it'll fit on the rims), then according to that site, if the spedometer reads 60 mph, I'm actually traveling at 59.1. If I choose the other ones and if the spedometer reads 60 mph, I would be really going ~57 mph...What do you guys do about this, cuz this might be a problem if I speed hehe?

Lastly, I've been hearing people say you need to have strut bars and other suspension aids when lowering your car or changing rim sizes otherwise your car in the long run will deteriorate and things will break (ie. shocks blowing, etc)... Like if you don't have those stuff in addition, the car would be damaged in some way. But I've also seen people without strut bars and stuff so I'm confused. Would I need a strut bar or any other things? Cuz I thought if I just lowered my car and changed the rims, everything would be fine and that was it...

Thanks a bunch!!

Here's my answer in short form if u get any size tire other than stock ur speedo is going to be off regardless, technically 225/45/17 would be a close match to the stock tires but this setup will rub if lower the car, so 215/45/17 is ur best bet.

Strut bar, springs/coilovers, sway bars(optional parts) all help in good handling even bigger wheels and tires help with good handling.

But if u plan on lowering the car with aftermarket springs other than TRD/Eibach then be prepared to change ur stock struts/shocks cuz they cant handle that type of drop. Aftermarket coilovers do the same to the stock struts/shocks as well. The only coilover/dampers system that do not kill ur stock parts are the TRD Sportivo(i think?) and the TEIN SS system for they replace ur stock spring coils and stock struts/shocks. Hope this helps

Ok thanks!

All I want to do is lower my car and change the rims... that's it. So according to what people are saying, I don't really need a strut bar or anything like that... so I'm not gonna get one. I'm not really going for performance - I'm just going for the looks.

Second, when I lower the car I'll most likely use the Eibach pro-kit which drops about an inch I believe with their springs. I heard the Eibach was a good brand to lower the car a little without sacrificing comfort. Would putting on these springs pose a problem to the car in the long run? I got confused when you spoke about the blowing of stock shocks... I thought when you wanted to lower your car, you get new lowered springs (shocks) to replace the old stock ones?... so in that case, how would you "blow" out your stock shocks? I really hope that I don't have to change springs/shocks every 4-6 mths... I plan to have it in as long as the car lasts or I wouldn't lower the car in the first place.

Your springs are rapped around a structure that holds it into place... The structure is the thing that blows, not the spring. With the Sportivo or Tein SS, the whole kit comes with a new, stronger strut thats able to support your drop.

Eibach makes TRD springs from what i hear.

Sway bars and Strut bars arent needed, they are just aftermaket products to help with handling. If anything, when you lower your car or get new wheels, you might want a camber kit to keep yourself from wearing out your tires too fast. Might wanna ask someone else about that though and i dont think its a big deal with such a low drop as what you want.

Actually it's Hotchkis who makes TRD's springs

So if I use Eibach pro-kit to lower the car, I heard you wouldnt have to change the stock struts since the springs were meant for them, unlike the Teins. So if I had those on, I shouldn't have a problem in the future cuz other people who have had the Eibach springs on for some time said they've never had problems.

Please let me know if I'm just imagining things...

Thanks

You dont need a camber kit... a simple alignment ($20-$30) will do. Get your lowering springs and wheels/tires and you'll be good. Im running 215/45's and my speedo is off by maybe 1 mph or so. Your shocks will be fine for a long time... they will wear slightly faster than stock but not that much faster.

Go to the "info" link above in the header and click the "tire size calculator" that will tell you exactly how far off each tire size is