littlelee17

Hey everyone!


I have a question about my winter tires. This will be the first winter that I have a AWD car and I am very excited. I have the 2012 Acura TL SH-AWD Tech pkg and I love the car. I bought winter tires (Toyo Observes) and a multifit 17 inch wheel (steel). I installed them, corrected tire pressure, and took them for a drive. I looked at my wheels and they are very close to the caliper. I would say I have about 2.5mm of clearance. They fit but barely.


Has anyone put 17s for snows before and have they had any issues? I don't know if its the best option. I would assume that if I had some fun in the snow and some snow went into the inside of the wheel the caliper would clean it off pretty well?


Please any help would be great!

Edward'TLS

What is the mileage on your brake pads ?

New pads, with full thickness, will also push the calipers out.

I learned this the hard way on my 1st car, and the solution was to grind down the calipers in order to stay clear from the wheel spokes.

wreak

If you've already test drove the car than you're fine, the base model has the same size brakes and uses oem wheels that are 17". I know steelers are probably more restrictive on space but still you don't need much clearance.

littlelee17

I believe the brakes were just serviced. This car is a pre-owned it looks like they put new rotors on. Yeah I drove the car and it seems fine!

Edward'TLS

^^^^^

If the brake pads are new, and nothing is scrapping, then your 17" steel wheels are ok.

HeartTLs

iTrader: (5)

An alternative choice to grinding down calipers is getting spacers to make the wheel stick further out. Personally this is what I'd do since spacers also add to the aesthetics of the car.

andysinnh

I run 17" TL alloys on my '12 SH-AWD with no problems. The clearance issues are usually on the radial side, not the lateral side of the caliper - so if you're not hitting anywhere, then you're good to go. The only downside with multi-fit wheels are that the center bore hole is typically much larger than the hub itself (since they need to fit multiple vehicles). If this is a problem, you'll notice a vibration at highway speeds since the wheel is not centered to the hub. Steel wheels don't see it much because of the way they seat - but just keep an eye on it to see if it vibrates. For multi-fit alloy wheels, you typically get a set of hub-centric rings to bring the wheel center hole down around the hub.

andy

TheDingo

^ this. Don't grind down your calipers. haha.