I'm thinking about running 205/40-18's on a 8" wheel.

The overall tire diameter will go down to 24.46" (factory is 25.33", so a 0.87 inch difference, adding .43" to the arch gap and drops the car an additional .43 inch). The speedo error will be +3.56%.
The added arch gap i'm not worried about as my coilovers will adjust down.
The tire won't be too stretched, i'm going with the new Pilot Supersports which have a tendency to be wider than the spec indicates, so it will fit more like a 215 tire i'm guessing.

With the front 'corrected' offset ending up at +25 on front and +15 on the rear, how do you guys think this will look, and will there be any negatives from this setup? I know I'm getting some weight savings on tire/wheel weight, maybe some more acceleration with the smaller diameter, and I will probably get better handling, and better gas mileage (albeit slightly less grip at the limits).

Thanks any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

i would stay with atleast a 9" width wheel.. that 205 tire is too small for our cars

 

Anyone else have feedback or experience with running a smaller tire setup (compared to factory specs)?
I've done more research and I'm convinced as long as there's a soft enough rubber compound tire being used, it will be fine with the friction coefficients and such, and the MSS tires have plenty of headroom in the 'max load' that I don't think the car will be too heavy for the tires either.
I'm just not sure how it will look and how it much it will affect handling.
By 'corrected' offset, this would be an 8" wheel with a 30 offset, running a 5mm spacer in the front and a 15mm spacer in the rear.
Thanks and appreciate the feedback...

 

Why?...stick with 235/40

 

235's on a 8" wheel isn't the look i'm going for.
235's on a 9 or 9.5 would be the look though, but if i can get this stanced right with the 8" wheel, I'd rather do that, with my reasons being:
1)less weight, better acceleration
2)less cost
3)improved fuel mileage

If i'm really off base here that's fine, not going to hurt my feelings--i'd rather ask stupid questions and learn something though, than just assume that because no one else is doing it, then it must be wrong-- or the more common trend, that just because everyone else is doing something, then it must be right way or even the only way to do it.

 

well...I think it will look stupid, never a fan of a smaller than stock tire. you "may" get better acceleration off the line due to the smaller tire (provided you can get traction), giving up over an inch of width will not give you better handling, however. and your speedo will be off, and it'll look dorky! but hey, it's your car!

 

While talking to a mini cooper driver at an autocross event, he said he had to run smaller tires for his 100 hp car to get going.. I'm sure it'll work lighter is always better but at the end you will eventually need bigger tires to keep traction. I'm pretty sure the car stock had trouble with traction on a 235 tire. Might as well do a 7inch wide wheel!

 

No way in hell I would run a 205 on a 8" wide wheel. I'm running 235s on a 8.5" and that's narrow enough for me.

While MPG may slightly increase, reducing the contact patch on the road isn't worth it

 

I see where you're coming from, but if the offset gets the wheel out flush with the fender, the tire sidewall slightly stretched and sitting at zero arch gap (almost tucked), that there's only two times that it could look 'dorky': when the front wheels are cranked/turned enough that you can see the whole tire out from the car, or if you are looking at the rear tires from behind the car (which you wouldn't see unless you were crouched on the ground, or 2-3 car lengths behind it). As the car just sits there, I think it will look the same as what a wider tire looks like (but you must have the offsets and the drop correct to pull this off).

 

Do what u want dude^^^We have given our opinions..

 

I'm +30 up front with a 235/40 on a 8.5" wide wheel and I'm not close to rubbing. I even ran a 245 up front with no issues.

Your front wheel is a half inch narrower and the offset is only 5mm more aggressive than my setup, yet you want to run a tire that's 30-40mm narrower. That just doesn't make sense IMO.

 

It'll also look dorky from side view with wheels pointed straight ahead as the 205/40 is a tiny little tire!!

 

alright cool. thanks everyone. appreciate those who provided reasons for their opinions. I'm not going to experiment with this. as happyboy was just saying, even from the sideview it will look stupid because of the size of the tire. plus i'm now convinced it WILL be dangerous.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but a smaller tire diameter will decrease fuel milage .. more revolutions for the same distance traveled.

BTW it will look terrible .. JMHO ... sorry.

 

No it won't, and I speak from experiance as I busted tires at les schwab for 3.5- 4 years and I'm a tire nut!

More revolutions per mile? yes, but unless you are compensating by doing the math ahead of time and knowing just how much more you can push the speed limits you'll average very close to the same mpg's, you'll actually get better mpg's as stated by the OP because it is a lighter/ narrower tire, so not only does that mean less rotational weight the engine doesn't have to work as hard to turn the tires, plus since they're narrower there is less road friction.

The speedometer will be off be 3.xx% as stated but as long as you don't try and compensate for that and still go by what the speedometer read out you'll gain mpg's.

If you try to compensate for the 3.xx % (which is only 96.xx when your speedo reads 100) you will create more rpms and therefor lose whatever mpg's you might have gained......