would 245/40/17s be possible on a 03 sunfire with a 2" drop. need much larger tires to hook up but am not sure if i will be able to put them on without rubbing or hitting anything



running rich? turn the boost up

What's your rim size? That tire size seems fairly wide. Definitely not too tall though. Usual tire size for 17" rims are either 215/45/17 or 225/45/17...

2004 Cavalier Sedan

yea, i had 215's on my old 17s but would like to actually move in 1st and 2nd gear. rims at millie miglia with a +35 offset. i beleive 7.5inches wide


running rich? turn the boost up

On Summit the recommended wheel width is 8" or wider for the 245/40/17 tire size.


2004 Cavalier Sedan

take off easier and they wont spin...

you can fit 245's but they are tight and rub depending on your offset.

I run a 225/45/17 and dont spin unless I want to.

I'm planning on running 245's as well. And I'll be getting custom wheels made up, likely 17x9's. I need to figure out the backspacing I want to order. I dont care about poke because the fenders will be flared anyways. I'd love to run 16" wheels but the widest streets I can find in 16 are 225. My 275 hoho's will be on 16x10's though.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
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I've decided on 235/45/17. It is a 7" wide rim. That's pushing it on that rim but I'm okay with that. And that is about the same width and height as my slicks so I think ill be fine clearing everything. And its kinda hard to take off easy on a .48a/r turbo. Either @!#$ngit or no go


running rich? turn the boost up

its not hard at all to take off on a .48 a/r.... its all about how you drive.... a wider 235 wont show much difference in taking off than a 215 will, its all about how you drive it.

its kinda hard to stay on the verge of boost because it builds so quickly. once i get into boost, its just eats the tires until about 40


running rich? turn the boost up

sounds like you need a driver mod.....

Could be a lot of things in my opinion, tires, tire pressure, boost levels(22psi right?), not much throw in the clutch to play with

I dont think its driver mod here. I know that with my car, once rolling and at any point during 1st gear if I even roll into full throttle I'm spinning the wheels, and if I grab 2nd too hard it will continue.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Leafy (Club Jeffie FEA man) wrote:I dont think its driver mod here. I know that with my car, once rolling and at any point during 1st gear if I even roll into full throttle I'm spinning the wheels, and if I grab 2nd too hard it will continue.

but I bet you could keep the car out of boost until 55mph... you said it right therem once rolling and you go full throttle, then you spin. But if you take off nice and easy, you dont spin. No matter how small the turbo. I can spin through first, second, and third if I choose, but I can also take off easy, and shift easy, not hit 1 psi of boost and not break loose..... hence my driver mod suggestion instead of wider tires.

But being able to put that power down instead of not putting your foot in it would be nice. I'm also looking at wide rubber because I was over heating 205's on days over 70*.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

If I can pull a 12.862@111.57 on a 225/45/17 Falken Azenis RT-615 with a 2.0 60' with only 25psi in them, then I think thats putting power to the ground.

Just look at the ratio of 1st gear... not much gear there at all.

i would prefer to have the widest tire i can to be able to hook up better than to stay out of boost. i can run a hell of a lot faster if im in boost and spinning 205's then i can trying to stay out of boost


running rich? turn the boost up

you ever look into getting radials? they will hook better at the track than any street tire will.

I looked into radials, then decided if I actually gave a crap about times at the drag strip I would just buy hoosier dot drag slicks.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

i have slicks on 15" rims for the track. i daily drive 50 miles a day usually so i need a tire with good treadwear but can still grab traction


running rich? turn the boost up

My math says that you would need a +50ish off set to make 17x9 wheels work. Now if only tire rack would let me search by wheel size. Dammit I want to only look up 17x9 wheels with 5x100 bolt pattern and +50ish offset (+52 would be the common offset in that range?)


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer

Im running 245/40/17's on 17x8 +35 on my sedan. Fenders will need a roll and pull to keep them from rubbing.

Leafy (Club Jeffie FEA man) wrote:My math says that you would need a +50ish off set to make 17x9 wheels work. Now if only tire rack would let me search by wheel size. Dammit I want to only look up 17x9 wheels with 5x100 bolt pattern and +50ish offset (+52 would be the common offset in that range?)

Many of the 2006+ Mazda MX5 17x9 wheels have a +45-50mm offset. Honda S2000 16x9s have around +60-65mm offset. Both are a 5x114 pattern, but you might be able to find some dual pattern wheels that have 5x100. I'd be careful that the jbody struts don't cause clearance issues with a high offset on such a wide rim, though. Maybe you're thinking about it backwards, but you decrease your offset to push the wheels farther out

Just some food for thought.




I have no signiture

I'm thinking backwards. If I have a 9" wheel with +0 offset that is 4.5" of back spacing. I want 6" of back spacing so I want to move the center of the wheel outwards 1.5" which is actually like a +38 offset. Looks like I messed it up in my head.


1994 Saturn SL2 Home Coming Edition: backup car
2002 Chevy Cavalier LS Sport Coupe: In a Junk Yard
1995 Mazda Miata R-package Class=STR
Sponsored by: Kronos Performance

WPI Class of '12 Mechanical Engineering
WPI SAE Risk and Sustainability Management Officer