Rims?

I want to put some 17" or 18" rims on my 1997 Eclipse GST. Its all stock so its not lowered or anything. But i need to know what the ideal rim size is for this car. I've heard that 18's present some problems with wheel well rub but ive also heard that 17's are a little bit too small. Also i talked to a guy who works at firestone and he was saying that it could be pretty expensive to run 18" rims on it. What do you guys think?

These thread might blow up, but for racing pruposes i'd do 17's. 18's look alot better but they are a bit heavier. 19's are too big for any racing, but damn they fill the wheel well up really nice.

Thats my 2 cents.

17's look fine and they are good for racing.

17's look fine and they are good for racing.
:werd:
17's w/ 225/40 or 45... looks good

I say 18's for looks. But they will still look little until you lower it. I love the way my car looks slammed 2 inches on 18's. I'd love to see how sick some 19's would be on it though...whoa.

And what was this question about 18's rubbing? Dude, you can run freakin 20's on these cars, the wheel wells are huge. You won't have any problem with 18's. But of course whatever wheels you buy be sure to get the right offset and back spacing and everthing.

Why would it be expensive to run 18's?

For reference I use a 225 40 tire.

He was saying that it would be expensive since its an aftermarket rim size rather than a stock rim size since they carry more of the stock rim sizes. I would much rather go with 18's because I plan on lowering it. The weight doesnt bother me that much only because i dont plan on really racing it. I am going to be doing some mild engine upgrades but thats about it.

IMO if its going to be raced it should get 16's for drag or 16-17's for auto-x or road course, 18's being for show or if you dont care about performance as much. The only reason I would go over 16's is to fit bigger aftermarket calipers in there, or so you can run a lower profile tire and thus reduce the side wall height for cornering. As far as widths go, I wouldnt go less than 7 or more than 8 inches wide. In my opinion, for what most of us will use our cars for 16x8 or 17x8 is the ideal size as we dont need as good of tires to make it stick, but the rim isnt so huge that we're getting all sorts of parasitic losses from extra rotating mass either.

Get 18's if you're going for looks with a little performance. I have 17's on my RS and I had to slam it pretty good to get the rims to look like they "fit" the car. 19's also look pretty sweet, but you can definitely kiss away all your performance with rims that big.

I found some that a guy is wanting to sell off his 300zx and if im not mistaken a believe they both have the same bolt patter..correct me if im wrong. The only problem is i think they'll be a lil too wide...they're 17x8.5s. They're really nice black gloss with polished lip, practically brand new. wants to see them for $500. I wish i had a pic of them. Im not sure what brand they are but they have worked really well on his car and he races quite a bit.

Make sure the bolt pattern is right. You can fit 8.5" rims on these car with the right offset. You might want to bolt one up to see how it looks.

Damn your car look just like mine.

yeah but i like yours better haha. I cant wait to get a decent set of rims on and then lower it.

what size rims are on your car silvr?

Offset!!

17x7.5 with 215/45/17 tires

Offset!!
:screwy:

LOL, i mean if its wider than 7.5" the offset would be of real particular importance.

i dont know too much about tires and whatnot...total newbie question but what exactly is offset?

ah ok i had a general idea of what it was but that clears it up...thanks

I just checked the offset for both cars...The problem is is that i dont know if they were worried about the offset when they put the rims on the 300zx...but stock 300zx's are set ET+20 and eclipses are ET +40ish...but they do have the same bolt pattern...is there any way of puting them on the eclipse without messing something up?

Putting them on the car wont mess anything up. Just make sure they clear everything without rubbing. Expecially when turning in the front and suspention travel.

That's my main worry is rubbing especially because of how wide the tires would be.

You will have to put then on and just see. I dont think they will work out to well though.

Well i at least figured that id try...those are really nice rims for $500. Worst comes to worst my brother can have the rims for his 300zx and he can pay me back with a FMIC with hard piping and a boost controller :grinyes:

You could also get you a set of spacers if you must have some rims. But I agree with silver about the rubbing, mainly no the front end.