Bubonic wrote:
My current tire specs: P205/55R16 89S
Questions:
1) If I get 17" and/or 18" rims what tire size do you guys think would be optimal?
2) Do the tire size choices for the rim I want depend entirely on my preference? If so, what factors do I need to consider?
3) I am considering lowering/slamming my car. Do I need to put that into consideration when choosing my rims & tires?
4) If I decide to lower my car, will lowering it an inch or two affect the way my car rides significantly?
5) If I lower my car just an inch or two, would it be less stiff and bumpy than dropping it farther than 2 inches?
6) What would you guys estimate lowering a car to cost and do I need to buy parts for the process?
Here's the rim I've been eyeballing.
Lots of questions... and a whole bunch of options... Tires that fit a Vibe go through a pretty good range. I put 17s on my 08 Vibe, and went with a
225/50 tire. A
235/50 would probably also fit. You need to know what kind of driving you're gonna be doing... what kind of roads you drive on, the temperatures you will be driving in and all the rest.
I have a Summer tire and a Winter tire for my Vibe. Living in the hills of Maine, it's good insurance when the going gets snowy and slick to have a good set of Winter snow tires on the car. There are options galore when you are picking a snow.
My driving style is easy, so for Summer I went with a long lasting quiet tire. Really improved the ride and road noise characteristics compared to the original
205/55 16 RS-A tire that came with the car. I couldn't safely do a really low profile tire due to local poor road conditions. If you run a
225/40 18 on these roads, you're gonna bend wheel. Many have. That's an option I don't have.
If you lower your car, it will ride a bit harder/harsher than stock. If you slam your car, it will feel pretty jittery on anything other than new smooth pavement. Adjustable coil overs are an option... allowing height changes as road Surfaces allow or use demands. When lowering a car you have to consider tire clearance issues a little more. Wheel offsets, tire widths and diameters will have to be explored to keep from having contact and possible fender/tire damage issues. Again, your local road surface conditions will pretty much dictate what you can do, or how low you can actually go.
Lots of Genvibe members have successfully installed "Plus" sized wheels and tires. I didn't lower my car, so I can run a fairly wide Summer tire that is fairly flush to the outside wheel well edge, with a wheel offset of 38mm. The
original Pontiac 16 inch steel and optional alloy wheel offset is 39mm and
the 17 inch factory alloy is a 45mm offset. The larger the number, the farther inward that the wheel sits in the wheel well. If you are going to lower your Vibe, you'll probably want to find a wheel closer to a 42-45mm offset.
The Vibe wheel well is roomy. Someone a while back mounted a set of
225/60 16 snow tires on factory steel wheels to get some extra clearance under the car for use on rough Winter roads and had no problems with fender/tire contact. Check out what Genvibe members have installed. Mad Bill's Big Boots Vibe project a long time ago, got a
275/40 17 tire into 4 Vibe wheel wells. That was pushing the envelope quite a bit, but they fit, but you wouldn't be able to lower the car a millimeter. His Vibe looked great.
That's a nice Tenzo wheel in the picture. They seem to build a quality wheel and would look great on a Vibe.
Give us a little more info on what you intend to do with your Vibe (track it? autocross?) the road conditions you drive on, temperatures and stuff like that, and we'll be able to give you more suggestions! Pictures of your car are always good, too, since we are all Vibe fans.
Suspension modifications can start around $300-$400 hundred bucks for minimal lowering springs, and easily slip upward to over $2,000... it all depends what you want to do and what kind of aftermarket suspension bits you want to use.
