215/45/17 will be the closest to the overall circumfrence of the stock 205/55/16. Actually if they have 225/45/17 get that but if not 215/45/17 is adaquete enough

so you figure the 205 is too small?

definitely but you can still run them but ur speedometer is gonna be off by approx 10mph. I HIGHLY reccommend the 215/45/17 and most ppl will say the same thing too

now traction wise is this gonna be a big difference on the street? why else does everyone think the 215's will be better?

get 215 45 17`s trust me it will look so crappy with 40 series sidewall

check this out for a visual

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

domenico_169 said:

now traction wise is this gonna be a big difference on the street? why else does everyone think the 215's will be better?

Click to expand...

215 has more surface area hitting the ground as opposed to the 205.

k but i am wondering about street and price wise? like i said, only the back tires will be used at the track, cause ill be unsing slicks. here's the site i was lookign at.
http://wheelz1.com/17_Inch_Wanli_Tires.html
not sure which ones to get. is the price diff worth the perfomance on the street?

well the way i see it there are more positives for the 215. mainly, it will fit your stock diameter, so your speedo is not off. and the wider, the better. so for the extra 13$ per tire id say go for the 215/45/17. im glad i went with the 225s on mine and when i need to replace them im sticking with the 225's

those tires really arent that expensive either. i was originally looking at goodyear eagle gs-d3's 160$ per tire. i dont know much about the WAnli tires but hey they could be decent for a good price.

hold on, i just saw your post about online tire places...are you looking for 16 inch tires?? because the ones you are looking at are for 17inch rims?

205/40 and 215/40 will be way too short. Here is a couple of pics of my car which has 235/40/17 on it with an Eibach prokit drop. These are less than 1/4" shorter than the 215/45/17.

225-45-17 is my recommendation. No smaller than a 215-45-17

I would go with what he said......

well im looking for 17 inch tires, and 16 inch slicks. so yeah, i think ill go with the bigger ones, and i think ill order from wheelz1. they seem pretty good.

I recently had some 205/45-17 tires on my DSM, and they looked HORRIBLE. They were far too small, even with a 45 sidewall. Ihave 225/45-17s now, and I think that is the minumum looks wise. I would even consider a 235/45 or a more common 245/45 on a DSM. They are portly looking cars.