The rims we all seem to pair our 17 tires with are either 7" or 7.5" wide. What does the additional .5" on this rim mean in terms of tire fitment? I'm planning on 215's on my 7" rims. Does this mean you have to (or could) run wider tires on the 8" rims and if so how wide? What about rubbing, particularly on an H-Sport lowered MINI? I guess this would also eliminate the need or ability to use spacers? BTW the reason for my post is because I'm considering BBS RK's in 17x8.

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On the Dock, waitin' for a boat: B/B MCS w/Black interior, custom Leather, 1,2,3, H/K, rain, SSR Comp's w/Yoko's

 

KerMini,

I have the H-Sport springs on my car and I can honestly give you recommendations since I have experienced issues with the different wheel widths. The first thing I will tell you is I had a set of Hamann HM4's which were 17x8 and had an offset of 43. I had severe rubbing issues with this wheel due to the 8" wide width and running 215/40-17's. I'm not saying you can't use an 8" wide wheel but you should use the link I've included to check clearance. I orginally had the factory S-Lite's with Dunlop 205/45-17's which can not be mounted on a rim width larger than 7.5". I then purchased the Yokohama Parada's which were great on the HM4's but had rubbing issues with the wheel. I'm now running the ADR M-Classic's in 17x7.5" with a 45mm offset and I have had no rubbing issues at all using my tires. You can run different wheel widths as long as the offset matches the clearance you need. Use the attached calculator and save yourself the grief I've endured by having to have multiple wheel/tire mountings.

http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html

Good Luck!

Jason