You might have something else later that week too they came in today

BTW what was the final tire size you went with..??

 

Yeay Yeay!! Springs....or badges...or both? (I figured you'd ship together.)

I went with P205/45R17 - based on how much room the P195/45R17 appeared to have, I'm taking a shot with this size. I'm hoping that with the mild drop I'll have, that I'll get a bit of additional negative camber and have no issues - we shall see as the story unfolds.

PS - I opted for Falken ZE-912 all-season ultra performance tires, too, as I've read very good things about them and they were the best deal with Edge Racing - $78/each versus $140/each for Toyo T1R's. I don't plan on turning the Fit into a Solo race car or anything, and just the extra tread and slightly more aggressive compound should result in better handling as it is.

 

Both

 

OK, well at long last, the wheels & tires arrived today. I couldn't wait until tomorrow and went out to the garage & mounted them.

I'll post more meaningful pics tomorrow or whenever the weather cooperates (clear tonight), but for now, here's a couple night shots I took in a parking lot a few miles away during my initial test drive.

(And no - so far no fitment or rubbing issues. I'll be keeping an eye out, though and reporting back.)

PICS!!!

 

How do you like the 205 vs the 195..??? also how much wheel to fender gap do you have now..??? Front and Rear...?? .. Also did the goods get there yet..

 

what rims are those?

 

The 205's definitely sit better on the rim - a 215 would probably look best, though. The sidewalls still angle inward a bit - not a look I'm used to, but not bad. I doubt most people would notice it.

I'll take some measurements tomorrow, but basically it's what I guessed after mounting the 195's: the total outward extension of rim+tire is the same, but with the 205's, the tread is 5mm further out, and the sidewall is a straighter. The result is that the top of the tread is more inline with the fender, as opposed to the sidewall with the 195. Therefore the total "distance to impact" from rubber to fender is less. It's also slightly larger diameter, which closes the gap some more.

The suspension is simply too stiff to push down on to test spacing. But I pulled out of my driveway twice tonight, and I have a nasty V-shaped drainage tile at the end which always necessitated backing out at an angle, one wheel at a time in my Audi, and it didn't affect the Fit at all. If I can tomorrow, I will have my wife back the car out and position the car on the end of the driveway and I'll observe & take some more pics to see how it looks.

Even w/o lowering, I have to assume that the upward movement of the wheel under suspension compression brings the wheel up and in at a slight angle, which would allow this tire to tuck in behind the fender w/o impacting it. It's hard to get pics to demonstrate this, though.

Nothing has arrived yet - maybe tomorrow, when I have the afternoon off! I'm torn on attempting the springs on my own. The Skunk2 instructions for the GD make it look pretty easy, with the main concern being securing the axles in the front while everything is unbolted. Sounds like you can use straps and/or jackstands to do this. The write-up even says you don't really need spring compressors. Hmmmm...we'll see. A local shop quoted me over $500 with alignment, which seemed insane, considering a similar shop charged $250 years ago to install just springs in my S4 - no alignment (before I had full coilovers put in later.) The Fit looks lots easier, so it should cost less.

 

Wheels are Enkei NT03-M Hyper Black - 17x7.5 +45mm offset.

Tires are Falken ZE-912 P205/45ZR17.

Purchased from Edge Racing ($169 each rim, $78 each tire, $100 s/h.)

 

o! so 17's do fit its just the offset thats the problem with the 09s.. thats good to know! and nice rims!

 

Installing springs on a Fit is cake work.... the rear springs can be done in about 15min... take the wheels off in back and remove the rear lower shock bolt and the spings will drop out ( after the car is on jacks ) .. you will aslo have to trim the bump stop about a inch or so... and in the front I would say ..... about 30mins tops perside if you are doing it for the 1st time... just be sure to take your time...

PM me when you get the chance....

 

Those measurements are exactly what my rims are right now, from my Civic that just got written off.

My tires are 215/45/17... so, if I were to get an 09 Fit, I'm guessing that they'd mount on without any issues with the fender?

I posted this question before, and a response said I'd have issues.

 

With the 215 you might be questionable up front but in the rear you would be fine... 205 or 195 would be the way to go...

 

When you say questionable up front... are you speaking at stock height, or lowered?

In either case, the rears would be okay... right?

I would consider changing tires, but the tires I have are fairly new, and before I decide to sell the rims or tires, it would be ideal if I could use them for my next car. That being a new FIT or an EP3.

 

Both....with the 215 width you would have to have a good offset to make them work up front.... 45~52mm ET to have any chance of it coming close to clearing the front fender...

 

Seems like the 16x7 with 35offset might work since 17x7.5 with a 45+ fits so taking off half an inch is about 12.5mm meaning 16x7 with 35+ should fit completely flushed with a bit of camber and 195/45/16 tires? Am I right? Just making sure

 

With your wheel the wheel centerline moves 18 mm further out (.71") and the extra rim width moves the outer rim another half-inch so the total outward movement of the wheel rim is 1.21". Thats a lot. Try measuring the horizontal distance from your stock tire tread edge to the fender ardch flange. I have a sneaking suspicion its not that far. Still:
A 195/45x16 tire has about 6.8" of tread width and is only 22.90" in diameter. Compared to the stock 185/55x16 stock 09 tire (6.7" and 24.07") thats a lot less diameter and thus that shorter tire just might make it simply because the tread height is over 1/2" lower and thus the tire under the camber change of the suspension just may tuck under the fender arch but it will be close.
Your fit might look like a grocery cart then so I presume you intend to lower.

Incidently, a 17x7.5/45 wheel pushes the cL out 8mm for offset and 18 mm more for the wider wheel. That is only 26 mm, 1.02". What makes you think a wheel of 16x7/35 with rim pushed out 1.21" will work as well?

I'd go for a 45 mm + offset wheel.

 

I took a leap when I got my 17x7.5" +45 wheels with P205/45R17's mounted. I test-fit the same rim with the (rare) P195/45R17 mounted, as it was actually the closest to stock tire diameter. But it looked goofy on the rim (too narrow on 7.5" rim) and it looked like a P205 would fit. I even took this leap right after another FitFreak member claimed to have bought the same set-up and reported that they didn't fit.

He reported this, but then never reported back with any details, much less any pictures.

The bottom line is this: a P205/45R17 mounted on a 17x7.5" +45 rim is, as far as I can see, the maximum size you can run when it comes to 1) outward extension of rim & tire, and 2) tire diameter/height.

So what should people do? First, follow this link:

Wheel / tire size calculator / comparer - RIMS-N-TIRES

Next, plug in my set-up (above) as the "stock" set-up and then plug in the wheel/tire specs of the combo you're considering. Any larger diameter tire or any further outward extension of rim or tire, and it's probably going to be problematic.

Finally, please note that I am experiencing some minor rubbing in the front, BUT:

a) this was only after lowering the car (RS*R springs, approx 1.2" drop)
b) it's only with multiple people in the car
c) it's with factory alignment specs (= 0 degrees camber)
d) AND I'm not touching the fender, just the fender liner

I've ordered SPC camber bolts and believe that once I've installed them and dialed in the maximum -1.75 degrees camber the bolts allow, the occasional rubbing should end. I think the tire is just barely touching the fender liner to begin with, and this should solve that problem.

Note that before lowering, I had ZERO rubbing.

Using what I've shared above, 99% of people pondering wheels (and springs, for that matter) should be able to make an educated purchase of wheels & tires. There's really no reason anyone has to guess on this.

For pics of my set-up so you can see what I'm talking about:

Picasa Web Albums - Tom - Misc Pics - H...#

 

looks good. Do you have more pics of the side to see how much the stick out. I plan on rolling my rear fenders and pulling them a tad and the front with just a roll with about -2 camber. So it anything I might try the 16x7 with the 35offsets if anything ill borrow a friends rims and add spacers to see exactly how much it will stick out.

 

Here's another Picasa album with some pics taken after the wheels went on, but before the springs went in. Should give you some idea.

Picasa Web Albums - Tom - Enkei NT03-M ...#

The rear wheels/tires have lots of room - I may still pick up some 5mm spacers for the rear for a more uniform F/R look.

I'm personally not sure what is to be gained by rolling the fenders. Neither front nor rear have much fender/sheet metal actually extending inside the fender well. Even if you roll the front fender, the plastic fender liner is still right there, at the same height, same location. A tire coming up far enough to hit the fender is going to hit the liner. So I'm not sure much room is going to be cleared unless the fender is rolled (gaining 1+ mm) and the fender liner is cut away, as well.

Of course, how far one has to go comes down mainly to the size of the tire one plans on using. That's a whole other topic, but unless a person is force feeding a Fit's engine and building a track monster, anything over a P205 on a car this small and this light is (IMO) over-tireing the car.

 

Thanks for the pics. Yeah the rear you still have room to play with. Im not to worried about the fender lining since you can always cut into so you dont rub. This car will not be track anything crazy. Just a daily car that I want dropped, flushed rims with a tad stretched tires.