yeah that's what i was trying to say. as long as you lower the car for more than 1.5", alignment will be out of spec for sure i have 1/2 finger gap front and 0 gap in the back

yes my speedo is off a little. when it says 80mph, i am actually going maybe 83 or 84. too minor for me to care

 

How many fingers is it considered 1.5" lower? Thx!

 

1.5" drop? umm.... maybe 2 finger or a bit more? 1.5" drop isn't much at all

 

OIC, thanks!

 

If it helps, I just got my car aligned by Darin over at West End Alignment (the best guy ever for alignment) and he said that my car came in with 3 degrees of camber and he maxed out my adjustment at just over 2 degrees. FWIW, you will always need an alignment after you alter the cars ride height.

And yeah, I hate my 30 series front tires. It was cool that it made my car sit better but the ride harshness is thru the roof as compared to the 35s. But I had to do it, I can't stand rubbing. But the point is that you can have 35 series front tires, correct diameter, better peformance and probably cheaper... If you go 19s. 245/34 and 275/30s are correct in 19s....

 

Yeah, you mos def need an alignment after you alter the ride height. Do you have springs or Tein CS?

 

I'm dumped out on Tein S springs and front Bilstein struts. Couldn't find a set of CS.. =( If I could do it over, I think I'd go Bilstein PSS.....

 

wow, -3, that was bad at -2 i guess that's what a lot of us are running at huh

i wonder what it would be like when i drop my car more

 

Henry, there won't be much of a difference unless you drop it a lot more. Mine is at a tucked rear tire and zero finger front and my last alignment was maxed out at -1.8. I don't think I can go any lower with my car without rubbing or making it look too ridiculous.
Dan

 

oh that's good to know. your car's height is EXACTLY what i was looking for dan, so seems like i only have a bit extra work to do

 

I would definitely go with 20's period. I had 19's and in the begining its was nice but after a while, I was not satisfied with the size so I went with 20's. If you get 19's, you may end up buying 20's later so save yourself some money and go with 20's.

As for a ride, there are not much difference between 19 & 20. With 20", you still get about same amount of rubber because you are going to end up with bigger diameter tires.

If you are going directly from 18" runflat to 20's ask a guy name "killerbyte".

He just bought my 20" Maya GR5 for his SC430 which I was selling. I end up selling my tires too. He has 245-35-20 Falken ST-115 in the front and 285-30-20 Falken FK451. I went with "killerbyte" to put the wheels and tires. After installation was complete, I left and he called me and told me that even with 20's, the car felt smoother and better than the Run Flat.

I am pretty sure he can tell you more details. Why don't you PM him since he just put those on last few days ago.

 

wow wait, someone is riding on stock wheels now? damn, what's coming

but yeah, i can relate too. we changed from stock 18s with runflats to 20s with low profile tires. the ride quality actually inproved A LOT with the 20s. go figure

 

Thx for the info & advice. Most people I know try to retain the same tire diameter as the oem tire to keep the speedo accurate. I'll go w/a bigger tire diameter if the ride gets too stiff.

LOL, about the runflats rominl

 

If you are going to get 20's, you should get 245-35-20 for the front(some people have 255-35-20) and 275 or 285-30-20 for the rear.

Here are some specs of the tires diameters. These are just estimates and diameter of the tires may differ depending on the manufacturer.

Stock 245-40-18 (25.8 inches)

Front possible fitment.
245-30-20 (26.0 in) 255-30-20 (26.2) 245-35-20 (26.8 in) 255-35-20 (27.0 in)

Rear possible fitment.

305-25-20 (26.2 in) 275-30-20 (26.5 in), 285-30-20 (26.8 in) 255-35-20(27.0 in)

I am pretty sure there may be other sizes that may fit but these will give you some idea.

I personally have 245-35 & 285-30/.

With 20's you may loose some performance due to most tires size being larger. Also, as you mention, your obdometer will be off by a little. You will be going faster than what your obdometer say but not by much.

 

People on here are very friendly. Thx for the advice. I'll keep it in mind. I've seen the 245/40/18 oem tire diameter range from 25.6 - 25.8. With that in mind, I was trying to match that in 20" staggered & the closes I found possible would be 245/30/20 (25.8 - 26) or 235/30/20 (25.6) for the front & 285/25/20 (25.6) for the rear. I know, I know...the 25-series rears have very small sidewalls. :