OK I admit it I need some help. After reading hundreds of threads here on this site about wheels for the Fit I have only become more confused. I have a 08 SS Fit Sport that is not dropped and honestly I would rather not drop it. I live in Arizona and frankly the roads here are a little rough in a lot of places and most are in a constant state of construction, not to mention all the freakin speed bumps in the parking lots. I could see rubbing be a real issue. Anyway to get to the point, I would like to “fill” the wheel well and have the tires stay the fender wells as the stock ones do. I also don’t want any rubbing. Is this possible? Do you think 15" wheels would be a better option? If your running one of these setups I would love to see some pic’s. Please include your wheel manufacturer, size, offset and what tire your running. Thanks.

 

well if you're looking to fill the wheel wells without dropping I'd say 17"s with a 205/40 tire spec will do trick, but you would have to sacrifice performance and MPG.

 

I think if your looking to fill the wheel wheel more you should do it with more wheel than tire so I would go with some 17x7 with no less than a 40 offset. If you don't plan on dropping you shouldn't have any issues rubbing with that. I had 17x7 with a 42 offset and would only rub with probably about 900lb+ in the car and that is only if I hit a bump or divot too fast.

Here is my motegi ff7's that are a 17x7 with a 42mm offset had a 205/40/17 tire on there and like i said would only rub when had lots of weight in the car and hit a divot or bump to hard. As of right now i plan on selling them because I want to drop the car now and it isn't going to be possible on these because of the offset.

 

I recommend 16" wheels as the biggest if you still want comfort. You do sacrifice comfort along with gas mileage with bigger wheels.

 

Make it simple on yourself. Buy some 15in wheels and have the OEM tires mounted and balanced on them.
Go to online tirerack. Search for 15's for the Fit. You can view them on the car before buying also.

15x6, 15x6.5in, 15x7in. Keep the offsets (et's) between +50mm and +40mm.
When you order, just get the wheels. Not the wheels and tire packages. WHen they arrive, just put the boxes in your Fit and have the OEM tires pulled and mounted onto the new wheels.

 

agreed! I went with a 15x7 +40(brings it closer to the fender which helps fill the wheel wells alot) I would reccomend a slight drop. the tanabe gf210's on my car work great and very rarely rub. and I go up the lovely crappy gilbert road (between riggs and baseline) and it doesn't rub one bit. just run the stock rubber on some nice 15's and call it a day. 16's would be nice too though. with a 205/45

 

for looks and minimum real gap over stock suspension: 205/40x16 or 205/40x17 tires on 42 to 45 mm offset. For economy (best mpg) 175/65x15 on 42 to 45 mm offset wheels. The extra width stance minimizes gap and looks cool.
195/55x15 tires 23.44" dia
205/45x16 tires 23.26" dia but they are a little heavier so tad smaller dia is better and not enough speedo error to care.
205/40x17 tires 23.45" dia perfect OD but heavier so you'll lose some mpg.
175/65x15 tires 23.95" dia but lighter weight and less rolling resistance better mpg.

 

I second that recommendation and I would add that you get 16" 195/50 tires as opposed to the usual 205/45.

The 195/50's seem to fill the wheelwell up better and further reduce any chance of rubbing.

On 7" wide wheels they are at the upper limits of recommended rim width which makes them look just a bit stretched and that looks very nice.

 

I doubt you can tell the difference in those tire selections filling the wheel well as you can see from the diameters on 42-45 mm offsets. And 195/50x16's on 7" rims will need higher tire pressures to 'flatten out' the tread against the grond. At lower pressures that might be desired for ride comfort the tread will be concave to the ground which leads to handling and wear problems.But good luck, all these comments may not be helping your concerns.

 

I rather doubt that Falken would recommend 7" rims for their 16" 195/50 tires if that would result in "handling and wear problems."

 

Did you check to see what pressures they recommend for a 195 tire on a 7" rim?

 

This is how my wheel well looked on 17x7 45 offset 205/40/17 not lowered

 

Falken makes air pressure recommendations based on load index, not rim width.

Rim width is not factored in to their pressure tables.

 

Ask them. I suspect they will raise the recommended pressure when the rim width is greater than the bead width compared to the usual pressure recommendation when the bead width is the same as the rim width. Not by a lot; maybe 5 psi. If they don't think so its their tire and they know the construction.

 

Falken lists the section width for my ZIEX 329 195/50 tires at 7.9" and tread width at 6.9".

No mention of having to increase pressures anywhere on their site, but I will try to contact them somehow. I couldn't readily find any contact info.

 

I did find their contact info and will post their answer when I receive it. In the meantime, here is their recommended pressures for my 16" 195 tires mounted on a 2007 Fit:


Tire - ZIEX ZE329
Size - 195-50-16
Speed Rating -V
Load Index -
Front 84 @ 32 psi
Rear 84 @ 29 psi
Overall Diameter - 23.70
Approved Rim Width - 5.5 - 7

 

The 329 has a section width of 7.9" (a little wider than 195mm) but the bead width (the width across the inside beads of the tire, that is where it sits inside the rim flanges, uninflated and uninstalled) is not stated. Usually its pretty close to the tread width, perhaps 6.9". In that case a 7" rim works fine for the recommended pressure. If 8" had been max rim width range then a few extra psi would be beneficial for both wear and performance.
Having a max cold pressure of 51 psi doesn't mean thats where you should run; I suspect the pressures recommended would be around 30 to 33 psi for a stock FIT. good luck, the tire specs look good.

 

The 329 16" tire has a section width of 7.9" (a little wider than 195mm) but the bead width (the width across the inside beads of the tire, that is where it sits inside the rim flanges, uninflated and uninstalled) is not stated. Usually its pretty close to the tread width, perhaps 6.9" (the tread width I didn't find). In that case a 7" rim works fine for the recommended pressure. If 8" had been max rim width range then a few extra psi would be beneficial for both wear and performance.
Having a max cold pressure of 51 psi doesn't mean thats where you should run; I suspect the pressures recommended would be around 30 to 33 psi for a stock FIT. good luck, the tire specs look good. Nice choice.

 

You want to fill the gap without lowering? The only way I think this will work if you use 195/60/15 tires instead of the stock 195/55/15 tires. This will throw out your odometer/spedometer also. I beilieve the stock suspension bottoms out with the stock wheels with 800 lbs. So if you increas the diameter of the tires/wheel, the car will probably bottom out with 600 to 700 lbs.

Also, the lower the tire profile, the more noise you'll likely to experience on bumpy roads.

I have 205/40/17, but there's still more than 2 inches of gap on stock suspsension. Also, I wouldn't recommend 17's for someone who doesn't like the rough ride.

 

We were in the same situation as you but have 50 + years experience with race and A/X prep.

You can go with wheels/tires that are closer to the fender arch to appear to fill the gap or if you truly want to 'fill' the area between the tire and fender arch you'll have to lower the springs about 1 to 1.5" at the most so you keep comfortable ride.
!95/55x15 tires & stock wheels improve the 'fill appearance'by using 1/4" spacers between the wheel and hub but check the your engaged threads are at least equal to the lugbolt diameter. That makes your wheels same as 49 mm offset and 'pushes' the tire out closer to the fender arch. The spacers cost about $20 the set at most auto parets houses.

Larger tires 205/40x17 or 205/45x16 on wheels with 42 to 45 mm offset will make the stance wider and the tires appear to take up more space even though they are the same diameter as the 195/55x15's The change in offset from 55 to 42 mm pushes the tire out and appears to be closer to the fender arch, though it is not. We chose the 205/40x17's without lowering and really like that; the larger wheels enhance the 'fill' though it really does nothing actually. It just looks like it.
If you lower, the tire choices remain the same but this time the wheels need 45 to 48 mm offset to avoid rubbing.
Good luck.