Im thinking 18's maybe 20's Help

[Day]

I want a nice size rim but... im from Detroit(PotHole City) and I dont want these things to get bent. What should I do to prevent this, besides move from Detroit? And how do you decifer the tire size (ex. 235/40x18) <-- What does that mean... Give me some suggestions

[mission008]

well first I would try to decide what size wheel you want. an 18" and a 20" are very different.
I personally like the look of 20's. As for the 235/40/18 . . . well the 235 is the width of the tire, the 40 is the size of the sidewall, and the 18 is the size of the rim that it goes on. If you are in "pot hole city" then you might want to look at the 18's with a little thicker sidewall, or you can get some 20's with a 40 sidewall and be careful

[Day]

Thanks alot... if i get the 20's with the 40 inch side wall will I need to raise or lower my shocks... I would like to maintain the same wheel height. 18's and 20's dosent matter I just want to look good and be safe. What do you recommend in this case?

[mission008]

you can keep the stock ride height for either wheel...if you get a 20" wheel I would get a 235/40/20 tire...if you get an 18, I would go with a 235/50/18....both of those are the closest match the the total stock size of your car. if you want to try and calculate it yourself to check up on different options you can go to this Tire Calulator and you can compare the differences in sizes of aftermarket wheels to your stock size.

www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

[Day]

Ok great.. one last question.

What is the perfered tire? I dont have autobahn so I only can go 110mph. I just need durability and stability

[mission008]

thats a question that I cannot answer...there are so many good tires out there. I would just take a look at a bunch of different brands, tread patterns, prices, etc and compare them and see what you like most.

[jony14511]

22"s or better

[mission008]

jony14511 said:

22"s or better

whats that supposed to mean?

[Mr. Javi]

day said:

OK great.. one last question.

What is the perfered tire? I don't have autobahn so I only can go 110mph. I just need durability and stability

It all depends on what you want and also what is your budget, keep in mind that there is mainly 2 types of tires a hard tire and soft tire, a hard tire will not wear out rapidly, but give you a much stiffer ride. The softer tire will wear out quicker, may be last a season or two, but give you quieter and softer ride.

Some samples of hard tires,

• Nitto Extreme 555 (I know about this ones, I had them)
  
• Falken
  
• Yokohama
  

Softer tires,

• Michelin
  
• Pirelli
  
• Dunlop
  

You want my honest opinion, I go with a hard tire like Nitto or Yokohama they will last you a bit longer, if you lived in sunny California you can get away with a softer tire.

[unirok]

Too bad our OEm rims didnt come in 17 or 18

[bufo]

unirok said:

Too bad our OEm rims didnt come in 17 or 18

How about 17 inchers from a 2nd Gen?

[TheLoveThatNeverDies]

Just one little thing I wanted to mention in reference to tire sizes - The middle number ("40" in your example) does indicate the sidewall hieght, but it's not in an actual unit of measurement. It's actually the ratio of the height of the tire’s cross-section to its width. All of the other numbers are units of measure though (the "235" is in mm, and the 18 is in inches).

Just wanted to clarify that, as that little tid-bit escaped me until just a couple years ago...

-Shawn

[mission008]

^true that

[TJM]

here is another tire size calculator that's a little easier to use
www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

[jony14511]

pUT SOME 26" RIMS ON IT LOL

but 20's will look good with Thin tires

[BACK2LIFE]

i deal in tire installs everyday. if you want to go 20 inch, which would look a whole lot better than the 18 inch in the wheel wells. you would need to go with a 255/35r20 it sits in there real sweet with no rub . you have to be sure you get wheels for your vehicle with the correct offset though and you can fit 20x8 with a 235/35 or 40r20 they look frail though or do 20x8.5 with a 255/35r20 wich is low on the side but wider looking(watch out for the potholes) 22's would look marvelous but your suspension and expensive ass wheel bearing hubs will pay for it sooner or later

[mission008]

he lives in "pothole city" why would he go with a 35 sidewall.