I'm not uppity so I don't tell others how to modify cars. They ask for opinions, I provide it, but not in the same tone you love to reply with.

 

Mike one member asks for help or gives their opinion and 9 times out of 10 if you don't like what they are saying you jump all up in their shit and while there are times when you do provide good information allot of time you just seem to like to tell others what to do. Showing someone how and why they should do something is very different from telling them to do something on the basis of "because i told you so" or "because I think its the best" or "because its the way I would do it". Stop being a Internet Nazi and let others make their own decisions or mistakes because in the end that's the only way anyone really learns or grows.

 

How's this. 2012 Sport. Stock Dunlop 7000's rear, Star Spec 205's up front. -2.5 deg. camber.

 

Stock 16" sport wheels with 205/50/16 Hankook Ventus Concept V2 tires.

Centrifugal force technically does not exist. Ask any physicist.
17" wheel/tire combo vs 15" wheel/tire combo that weigh the same will be slower in acceleration and braking given every thing else remains constant but the benefits of the 17" wheel/tire combo in handling will likely outweigh the negative acceleration/deceleration aspect. If you are only going for straight line acceleration/performance.... (lol... couldn't even finish that sentence in regards to a fit)
I'd personally have gone for a 16" enkei for a nice balance. but the 17" does look good.

~SB

 

How would a 17" combo be better for handling? 205/50/15 is prime.

 

Check out my build thread, I ran 205/40-17 with 17x7.5 in more aggressive offsets on coilovers without any rubbing issues on stock fenders.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ss-thread.html

I use to go to the local dragstrip on a semi-weekly basis, and have run the fit with several different wheel and tire packages, everything from 15's to 17's with varying sizes and types of tires.

Believe it or not, the total et was always within a few tenths. In the eighth mile, I was running 10.6 to 10.8 no matter what wheels and tires i was running. And when you are running 16 second quarter miles, you're not fast enough to worry about a couple tenths of a second.

Also, gas mileage barely changes from when I'm running my heavy 17x8.5's with 205/40-17 when compared to the stock 16x6 with 185/55-16. Maybe 1mpg on average.

215/45-17 will most likely rub with a 17x7.5 wheel, which the O.P. is considering running.

Um, we are talking about a cheap underpowered 5 seat hatchback with a semi-live axle rear suspension here... It's not really gonna make any real difference how the weight of your wheels is distributed. It's a honda fit. It's not an Ariel Atom, or Caterham, or Radical SR3. It is a small family vehicle that is likely driven by 99.99% of it's owners to work, grocery shopping and the occasional weekend roadtrip.

I'm with mike410b on this one, bigger brakes certainly look cool, but they do lengthen stopping distances and really only serve to dissipate heat better over a longer period of time, which is important if you are racing on track for prolonged periods of time.

I agree with the above stated comments regarding the benefits of bigger brakes being outweighed by the additional weight of heavier wheels and tires, and Hawk HPS are not very aggressive pads.

Aggressive brake pads will lose their benefit without sticky tires. After that you will need higher temp rated brake fluid and try to duct some airflow towards the rotors to help keep them cool.

205/50-15 has some really good tire options for things like weight, price and performance. If you want to minimize unsprung weight/mass and want to put a good quality performance tire then yes go with a 205/50-15. I really like my 17's with 205/40-17's personally.

 

17" would have quicker response when turning (Given the same wheels, tires, and pressure used if comparing to an identical 15" setup). there's less Sidewall flex on 17".

On the GE8, a 205/50/15 would also be a bit small if speedo/odo mattered, not sure about the GD3

~SB

 

That difference would be so minute it wouldn't make any real difference.

 

I have OEM Sport wheels and tires at the moment. But, I saw Rota Slipstreams come in 16x8 et48 4x100 was trying to see if anyone has installed these on their Fit.

 

here's mine:

enkei t-forks wheels 17x7 ET45
bridgestone RE760 summer tires 205/45/17
on swift springs

no rubbing. check out my blog for picts.

 

Just checking but which difference? (GD vs GE sizes? or the handling difference between the two)

GD vs GE wheel sizes (205/50 16 vs 15) is about 4% off on the speedo/odo so at 60mph you'd be about 2mph off. (and on a GE, your warranty would be up about 4% sooner with 205/50/15 - about 1400 miles early if installed when the car was new)

On my prelude, I went from 13" alloys to 15" alloys (same 1" decrease in sidewall) and it made a world of difference in how quickly the car responded to sharp turns. long sweeping hard turns won't make much of a difference but with sharp turns (especially quick directional changes), It makes a noticeable difference.

~SB

 

I imagine your Prelude went from a 175-195/70/13 to about a 195-205/50/15 though right?

A 205/50 is not going to have much more sidewall than a 205/40 or 45.

 

I went from a 175/13 to a 185/15 on the prelude. The increased width will improve overall grip but only once the sidewall has rolled to it's maximum. It won't impact sudden changes as the delay between turning of the wheel and the car's response lies on the flex of the sidewall.

The difference between the 205/50 and 45 is over 1cm in sidewall height. (Just under 1/2") (drop it down to 40 and you have over 2cm (or about .8") in sidewall difference which isn't much in ride height but will definitely be noticeable in sidewall flex.

~SB

 

The tyre used also effects this immensely. I went from a 235/40 to a 225/45 and the turn in actually improved.

 

Most certainly. Tire is number one in importance but keeping the same make/model and only changing wheel size will make a difference. I ran the same tire on both wheels (Bridgestone Potenza RE920) as I got a set of integra Wheels from my best friend for practically nothing when he upgraded to new wheels. Integra Diameter was different from the prelude so I couldn't re-use his tires (If I remember correctly, they had about 1/3 of their life left on them - if more, I probably would have run them for a while instead of buying a new set).

~SB

 

Going back to the diameter/width/brand/model of tire discussion, I can assure you that when I was running 205/50-15 Falken RT615's on 15x6.5, the Fit handled FAR better than on 225/35-18 Nankang NS-II on 18x8's.

Also, the sidewalls on most street 205/40-17's will be far softer/have more flex under turn in than say, an R comp 205/50-15. I had a set of 225/45-15 Hoosier R6's I planned to run on another car, and you could practically stand on the unmounted tire. The sidewalls were that stiff.

 

Just an FYI for those reading for the first time. 205/50/15 is the wrong size for the fit. 206/50 works fine on 16" sport wheels but is 1" smaller in overall dameter than stock.

~SB

 

Current Set up:

Work XD-9 17 x 7 et47
Kumho 4x 205/40/17
T1R Basics Coilovers

* i only rub liner on big dips at decent speed. I might roll fenders and add a 5mm spacer to rear

 

There is a reason that people that have gone to extremes to make their Fits go fast make a choice to use 15" wheels and tires, to reduce rotating mass and unsprung weight... Even with somewhere around twice the power and torque of a stock Fit, I can feel a huge difference between having 9.8Lb wheels with 17Lb tires compared with 12.8Lb. wheels and 24Lb. tires... When I purchased and installed 15"x7"Enkei RPF1 wheels and 195-55-15 Conti Pro Contact tires on my stock Fit the improvement over the stock wheels and tires was 2nd only to installing a supercharger... I got a super deal on some 205-50- 15 Goodyear GT tires and had them mounted on some 16" wheels I had gotten from JCrimson then bought a set of 16"X6 1/2" Kosei K4R wheels... The ride, wet and dry traction and handling are great but when having to pass a slower moving car on a 2 lane highway I found out how much the added weight slowed me down... This setup is a lb. or 2 lighter than stock and about 1/2" difference in diameter but after being spoiled by the much lighter weight of the RPF1s and Cont Pro Contact tires it feels like a difference of 10 lbs.... I guess the reason they feel like they weigh that much more is due to the fact that they do weigh that much more... Still they are a few ounces lighter than stock.... When I have new tires put on the RPF1s it is going to be 195-50-15"s..

 

I'm currently running 15" Helium wheels with Bridgestone Potenza 195/55 tires...best set up I could find if you consider weight to cost ratio.