255/40 R-18 Falken Azenis RT615

[SGTalon]

I'm going to get new wheels and tires next week and am trying to get the fattest ones possible(FWD). Will these fit on a 97 Talon TSi? I will hopefully go with a 18x9 wheel with a 255/40 R-18 Falken Azenis RT615. I hope to lower the car about an inch with the Tokico Illumine shocks and struts (later on - do not have installed yet). Thats the only information that I have on the tire and I'm not that experienced with tires so any information will be much appreciated.

 

[HokieDSM]

There's no way you'll get those to fit under the fenders, no matter what kind of offset you run on the wheels - its just too wide for a DSM fender without some serious modification. With proper offset wheels, they may be mountable, but a 9" rim will definitely stick out the sides.

Lowering the car a inch, while it doesn't seem like much, will make it that much harder as well.

 

[cait sith]

You can fit them if you do the following: Run more camber, Roll AND PULL your fenders.

Pulling your fenders is the most important part. It's not easy, it's not fun, but you can do it.

If you feel uncomfortable with pulling fenders, then get some bolt on fender flares and cut out some of the fender well.

 

[jtmcinder]

A 26" diameter 255 on a 2G DSM and then expect it to tuck in? I don't think so. You can't pull our fenders out enough for this to happen. And if you cut out enough to make this work you will have cut through an important seam in the unibody.

- Jtoby

 

[SGTalon]

Darn! Eventhough I would like to put on fender flares and go with the wider tires, I don't have the time or money. How about if I go down to a 18x8.5 with 245/40's is that enough to get them to fit? Or should I go with 235s? Thanks again for your replies.

 

[jtmcinder]

245/40/17s. The only "excuses" for 18s are huge brakes and 285/30/18.

- Jtoby

 

[cait sith]

A 26" diameter 255 on a 2G DSM and then expect it to tuck in? I don't think so. You can't pull our fenders out enough for this to happen. And if you cut out enough to make this work you will have cut through an important seam in the unibody.

- Jtoby

Which seam is this/exactly where is it located? Did Mitsubishi actually engineer critical structural rigidity through the fender well? If so....

 

[jtmcinder]

The rear fender lip on a 2G is where two pieces of the unibody come together: one forms the upper wheel well and the other forms the rear quarter-panel. These two pieces are only connected (welded) in the fender lip itself. So, if you remove the fender lip for any reason, you disconnect two pieces of unibody and pretty much trash the rear of the car. This is why we are careful to tell people to roll the fender lip, at most making little cuts at a right angle to the edge, never trimming the lip off. You really really really don't want to disconnect the upper wheel well from the quarter-panel.

Yes, this might seem silly, but this doesn't make it onto my Top Ten list with regards to stupid things that Mitsu did when designing our cars.

- Jtoby

 

[cait sith]

The rear fender lip on a 2G is where two pieces of the unibody come together: one forms the upper wheel well and the other forms the rear quarter-panel. These two pieces are only connected (welded) in the fender lip itself. So, if you remove the fender lip for any reason, you disconnect two pieces of unibody and pretty much trash the rear of the car. This is why we are careful to tell people to roll the fender lip, at most making little cuts at a right angle to the edge, never trimming the lip off. You really really really don't want to disconnect the upper wheel well from the quarter-panel.

Yes, this might seem silly, but this doesn't make it onto my Top Ten list with regards to stupid things that Mitsu did when designing our cars.

- Jtoby

Aha! This is actually not that bad. Granted, you'll have to rebuild/reweld the rear, but I know many a FC generation RX-7 that have done major cutting to the rear wheel well and have similar, if not exactly the same design in the wheel well bonding. Not to mention countless other cars that have similar construction.

As far as body modification goes, I think if those two pieces are reaffixed together once more properly though welding, I wouldn't think that there would be that much of an issue if my experience from other unibody vehicles with similar construction remains uniform.

 

[jtmcinder]

OK, but if you are going to do this, keep in mind that we have a stretched monocoque body. You will want to connect the wheel well to the quarter-panel BEFORE you cut the weld at the fender lip. You don't want to just go in there are rip out the fender lip and then re-connect what's left of the wheel well to what's left of quarter-panel. At a minimum, you want to brace the parts as they are stock before disconnecting them from each other.

Interestingly enough, by some readings, the latest edicts from the SEB strongly suggest that the fender-modifying rules that apply in SP and SM would allow you to do what you suggest. This would allow those running 285/30/18s to lower the car as much as those on 245/45/16s, which would go a long way to making 2Gs in ESP competitive against F-bodies and such.

Won't help us against the Evo8s, of course.

- Jtoby

 

[cait sith]

Here's another way to fit those big tires under your DSM. It's on a skyline but you get the idea...

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Sorry, I just love that picture.

Anyways, yes, by what I was suggesting, what you're actually doing is completely modifying the shape of the fenderwell to accomidate those wider tires. A good idea would be to talk to a few road course race shops that build unibody cars up for wider tires. I'm sure they have a good strategy.

 

[jtmcinder]

Agreed, but also look at the rules under which you will race. The rules in SCCA's SP category (which carry over to SM) are now being interpreted (by some) as allowing modifications to the unibody when flaring for wider tires. Most of all, there is the suggestion that you should draw a line straight up from the center of a stock tire on a stock-offset wheel and any part of the wheel well and/or quarter-panel from that point outwards is fair game. (This ruling came up recently when protests were filed against some Corvettes that had modified tubs between the rear wheels; this was declared to be illegal and the "mid-point of a stock tire on a stock wheel" concept was made more clear in the ruling.)

As an aside, none of this changes the fact that the beautiful Cobb WRX was illegal because it had modified rear doors to blend in with the other modifications made to fit very wide tires. There is no allowance anywhere in the SP or SM rules to allow changes to the doors as part of the flaring process.

- Jtoby

ps. funky car ... my first reaction when I saw your picture was that a control arm must be broken