General Offset and tyres

[allanhelen]

OK new 14"wheels should be here next week

They have an offset of 43mm so I was planning on taking off the 3mm spacers upfront and going with 20mm spacers which i know would widen the front track but I think that would be a better option than using 15's and narrowing the track also I don't fancy leaving the 3mm spacers on with 15's as I don't like the idea of using 2 spacers together. Would this increase in track affect the handling in a negative way? or would it be OK?

I was planning on using 15mm spacers at the rear as on research it looks as though they may be clearance issues on the rear with 20's (see I have used the search!)

I still need to be able to use the car four up so I was wondering the best tyre size to go for on 5.5 rims I was thinking 185/50's but I would ideally like 195/45's but I am pretty sure I would have clearance issues any thoughts? BTW the car is lowered by a good 30mm too

 

[J333EVO]

There really are many many threads on this subject all the information is there already.

The Seicento Abarth 14" 5.5J wheels are ET36 with 10mm spacers FRONT only as standard, therefore the front is ET26. This means that you have a increase on front track which is good and no issues with wheel hitting suspension components or wheel arch rubbing

If you have ET43 then I would run 20mm spacers at front and 10mm spacers at rear going on a 5.5J wheel so ET23 front ET rear this is only 3mm out from what Fait themselves did with the Abarth wheels.

When going this big get a proper hubcentric spacer again use search to find what others have (FK, Eibach, H&R, Techno2, wheelspacers.co.uk to name a few off top of my head), you will not find any 10mm hubcentric spacer made by anyone other than Fiat themselves, there spacers are good have proper locating ring centre, so i would buy those for the rear as better than a normal 10mm spacer.

On a 5.5J wheel 195/45's are considered too wide, so 185/50 are your best bet.

HTH, Aaron.

 

[balidey]

On a 5.5J wheel 195/45's are considered too wide, so 185/50 are your best bet.

HTH, Aaron.

Does the 10mm really make them too wide? I thought 195/45-14's would be a good option. i know some people run wide tyres to 'protect' the rims more and also give a wider tread contact, so is there a reason why not to in this case? Anyone else running 195/45's on a 5.5J?

If its a case of trial and error, then i don't have the funds to fit 4 new tyres, then have to throw them away and replace them all, just for the sake of 10mm. Infact, the overall diameter is less by about 10mm using the 195 over the 185's, so should give slightly better acceleration too (although probably hardly noticeable)

 

[mase]

yes it does make a difference, 195 tyres are recomended for wheels at least 6" wide....

i have 185/50/14's on my 5.5j wheels and they offer a good ammount of rim protection.

the thing u have to worry about with a low offset like 23mm is that if the car is lowered anymore than -40mm u will almost defo catch the tyre when cornering hard or going over bumps.

 

[J333EVO]

Not only is the 195 wider than a 185 overall, it has a lower side wall profile so therefore it actually has a wider foot print on the ground than the 185.

I have had a 195/45 on a 5.5J wheel and found it fine, but most tyre fitters/manufacturers will say its to wide 6-7" is ideal size for that tyre.

 

[mase]

I have had a 195/45 on a 5.5J wheel and found it fine

those white ones?

the guys at the local tyre place gave me grief about those when i went to get the tyres removed

'oooo these tyres are too wide' 'bit risky, where they on your car' blah blah blah.

:bang:

 

[arseofbox]

Its not that they wont fit the rim, but they bulge outwards once you put load on to them - increasing the loading and also increasing the local pressure near the point of loading (more than the specified tyre). It'll affect handling adversely too.

 

[balidey]

ok, thanks for the advice guys, looks like i'm getting the 185/50-14's then.

 

[allanhelen]

the thing u have to worry about with a low offset like 23mm is that if the car is lowered anymore than -40mm u will almost defo catch the tyre when cornering hard or going over bumps.

I thought it might be the case that 195 were not really an option

Aren't the clearance issues on Cinqs mainly at the rear? (unless you go silly) I will only be running a 23mm offset up front so that should be ok with a -30 drop? Depending on what spacers i can find it will either be 28mm or 33mm at the rear so I presumed that should also be ok if I go with 185/50's

Does it also make a difference what brand of tyres I use? I was thinking of the A539's (mainly because of the price) but if that is critical to clearance I could use something else. As I said origionally I need to be able to use the car 4 up, so i want to be doubly sure before I part with any cash as the Cinq budget is exhausted for now

 

[J333EVO]

I've told you what spacers to run at the rear so as to avoid rubbing 10mm ones giving ET33, they are available from Fiat for £32 and are the best 10mm spacers you can buy. yes you may get away with 15mm spacers giving an ET28 but witha drop in ride height i would expect some rubbing if fully laden'heavy cornering.

Unless they have came back into stock, then Yoko 539's in 185/50 14" were out of stock in UK two weeks ago, Yoko distribution centre for the UK is based in Milton Keynes and through a source was told they had no delivery date on them back into UK.

I would go for Conti Sport in that size unless you are comitted to Yoko's and have somewhere that has some of the last batch in stock.

 

[CaneyJ]

I am running your 14" tempra, cinq style alloys. I PM'ed you but for forum benefit I run mine with 20mm hubcentric, bolt on's on the front (wheelspacers.co.uk) and 12mm hubcentric, long wheel bolt/stud (H&R-expensive!) jobby on the rear. I also use 185/50 conti rubber.

I still get a tiny bit of rear wheel catching on the arbarth sideskirts but no longer on the rear arch edges.
I run a 30mm suspension kit drop (Apex).
15mm might be safer on the front also as I am yet to MOT it for legality but it should come out fine.

 

[J333EVO]

I am running your 14" tempra, cinq style alloys. I PM'ed you but for forum benefit I run mine with 20mm hubcentric, bolt on's on the front (wheelspacers.co.uk) and 12mm hubcentric, long wheel bolt/stud (H&R-expensive!) jobby on the rear. I also use 185/50 conti rubber.

I still get a tiny bit of rear wheel catching on the arbarth sideskirts but no longer on the rear arch edges.
I run a 30mm suspension kit drop (Apex).
15mm might be safer on the front also as I am yet to MOT it for legality but it should come out fine.

You have no issues with MOT at front, of that I am sure as there are a number of Cinqs running Sei Abarth wheels with et hspacers who have never had an issue with MOT's.

As i have said already on this thread and many more, Sei Abarths run 5.5J 14" ET36 wheels no spacers at rear 10mm at front, so ET26 at front, I can't make this any simplier than i already have, use that as a guide and you can't go wrong as Fiat knew what they were doing.

I get no rubbing whatsoever anywhere on my 35mm lowered Abarth kitted Cinq on 6J 14" wheels because i followed the these simple guide lines.