205/40 or 215/40 on 18x8.5?

[Philip J. Fry]

18x8.5 final offset et25, I rubbed in the front with Kumho Ecsta ASX 225/40.



I'm looking at either 205/40 or 215/40, but I can't decide. I have this great program at work where I can get "buy three get one free" pricing on tires. I looked into it, and I cannot get Falken 512s, which I was going to go with in 215/40.

I'm either going with Yokohama S.drives in 205/40 or Hankook Ventus V12 Evos in 215/40. Any information/advice on how these run to size (small, true, or big) or how they stretch would be greatly appreciated.

[aar0n.]

How much lower do you want to go?

[Philip J. Fry]

I'm 24 1/2 fender-to-ground in the front and 24 3/4 in the rear, so maybe another 1-1.5" if it ended up looking stupid at the current ride height.

[aar0n.]

Well 205/40/18 is good on bagged cars unless you want to be somewhere in the 22-22.5 inch range on coilovers. Personally, I don't think it's almost ever necessary for a car on a static drop to run anything smaller than a 215/40. Idk anything about how the Hankooks run in size and you already took out Falken 512s which would be the ideal choice, so that's the best info I can give you haha

[Philip J. Fry]

My wallet wants me to go with 215/40, but I wanted to make sure I had enough stretch to not have to deal with rubbing issues again. Bags are not in the near future for me. I definitely want to avoid having to raise my ride height now (which is what I would have had to do staying with the 225/40s). I'll try to do some more research on 215/40s that run a little small. I did remember coming across a chart of tires from someone on here.

[aar0n.]

18x8.5 et25 with 215/40s should be fine. I had 225/40 Falken 512s on my old Brocks which were 18x8.5 et25 after spacers while a decent amount lower than you and they never rubbed. Those Kumhos are definitely meaty, the 225/40 512s had some stretch even on an 8.5

Brocks for reference

IMG_4805 2 by aar0n., on Flickr


IMG_6440 by aar0n., on Flickr

[twastheglow]

My wallet wants me to go with 215/40, but I wanted to make sure I had enough stretch to not have to deal with rubbing issues again. Bags are not in the near future for me. I definitely want to avoid having to raise my ride height now (which is what I would have had to do staying with the 225/40s). I'll try to do some more research on 215/40s that run a little small. I did remember coming across a chart of tires from someone on here.

Are you referring to this or is there something else I don't know about?

stole this from sumthaiguy on a different forum.
its a list of tires (i assume they are good tires to stretch) and how well they run true to size

SMALL:
Falken ST115
Falken ZE-512
Falken FK451 (Discontinued)
Fuzion ZRi
Nankang NS-II

TRUE:
Nitto 555 Extreme
Michelin Pilot Sport
Dunlop SP Sport
Hankook 104
Toyo T1S
Toyo Proxy 4
Yokohama S.Drive
Avon Tech M500
Nitto Neo テク Gen
Ultrac Giugiaro
Nexen N3000

LARGE:
Continental Contisport
BF Goodrich g-Force KDW
General UHP
Bridgestone S03
Kumho SPT
Federal ss595
Pirelli P-Zero Line
Goodyear F1 Line
Falken FK452
Cooper Zeon 2XS
Kumho Ecsta Supra 712
Ultrac Sessanta
Proxes T1R
Wanli S-1099
Nitto Invo
Wanli S-1088

[Philip J. Fry]

^ That's the one. Thanks, I couldn't find it again for the life of me.

[twastheglow]

^ That's the one. Thanks, I couldn't find it again for the life of me.

[Philip J. Fry]

18x8.5 et25 with 215/40s should be fine. I had 225/40 Falken 512s on my old Brocks which were 18x8.5 et25 after spacers while a decent amount lower than you and they never rubbed. Those Kumhos are definitely meaty, the 225/40 512s had some stretch even on an 8.5

Thanks for the reference pic, aaron. That makes me believe that 215/40 will be fine.