Sugarphreak:
Whose 205/40x17 tire were you using ? Hankook & Yoko SD'S all worked fine here.

 

One comment about selection of tire size for a given rim.

Lets look at 15x7 rims.

195/50-15 will fit fine but the width of the tire at the rim will look wider than the tread surface width because the tire is a bit narrower vs a wider tire. This technique can be used when going with a wider rim and trying to squeeze a tire in the wheel well on a lowered car. For example 205/50-15 or even 195/55-15 using 15x8 rim.

205/50-15 might look more balanced like it was meant to fit the 7" wide rim.

225/45-15 tires look a little wide on the 7" rim by comparison but it's still pretty good in my opinion.

Generally you try not to put an extra wide street tire on a more narrow rim- this can increase tramlining and noise when driving on grooved highway surfaces.

 

you dont need a wider tire... you need a better tire and much much much more neg camber. Get Kumho v710's in 205/50 with -2.5* camber up front and see if you still need a wider tire.

 

well, MINI-Fit, since you mentioned my setup, my setup is not for
cornering, it is for daily driving and slightly more aggressive gear ratio
than stock for straightline. that was wat i was after.

 

Wheels: DragDR21 15x7 +40mm with Ziex912 195/50/15


Your setup would be good both for cornering and street driving. The Ziex 912 is more street friendly true but still has enough grip (yours are newish).

Smaller diameter tire diameter good for lowered gearing but with a little speedo error.

When speedometer reads 60mph (96.6km/h) actual speed will be 58.2mph (93.7km/h): 3% slower.

I ran the same sized wheels and tires on both my Fit and MINI. Worked pretty well. But the tires were Bridgestone RE-01R so it was more grippy and quite good on comfort.

If your suspension is more aggressive then you can corner better. Otherwise like you mentioned go after softer rubber then max out on the negative camber (tire wear isn't that bad up to about -2 degrees).

 

205/50 Azenis or Hankook RS. The Victoracers V710 are GREAT tires, but make no mistake, they are 50-60 rated tires. The Azenis are 200 rated....

So they'll last only a few thousand miles....

good luck
-bix

 

Excellent question, I got a great "deal" on my rims which came with tires. Tires were Lexani N3000. I suspect they had a lot to do with my rubbing issues. However since I swapped them out I have been over cautious with sizes.

Lexani Performance Tires

 

Do you have stock springs? If you do you might rub because that heavy load in the back might make you rub in the back when you hit bumps. Aftermarket springs are stiffer so as long as there is enough clearence they usually won't rub unless you have tons of weight in the car or hit a bump really really hard.

 

I rubbed bad with stock suspension and these tires with a +42 offset

I switched wheels for a +45 which was ok, but then I lowered on GF210's (only about an inch overall) and it rubbed again.