Staggered Rims

[SpeedySolara]

For the past few months I've been shopping for staggered rims to fit my big brake kit and need some fitment advice from the wheel pros here. I read up a lot on the tutorials and have checked out other members' cars but no one seems to have rims wider than 8" in the rear. Below are 2 sets of rim measurements.

Exclusively for IS300's
Front: 18x7.5 48 Offset
Rear: 18x8.5 45 Offset

For any 5x114.3 cars
Front: 18x8.0 38 Offset
Rear: 18x9.0 38 Offset

Please give me your input and advice as to fitment, including the spacers I may need. The least amount of body modification (fender rolling, etc.) the better. Feel free to recommend other rims with different offsets/widths. Thank you in advance.

[sahuddleston]

you may want to pm kenny - he is the solara wheel guru.

[SleeperSolara]

you may want to pm kenny - he is the solara wheel guru.

Him and Milt.

[Toy1mzfe]

I have a 8.5 rear at +35 offset shaved fenders. I think it can be pushed to +30.

[angmedic911]

+1 for Milt aka Camrazy, he knows his fitment or should I say sic azz fitment.

[Mr_Krispy1183]

Ty,

You can definitely run 8.5 +30 up front, that would get you pretty flush and not rubbing too crazy (although you should probably bend up the metal tabs that hold the splashguard trim. As for the rear, I don't see why you couldn't run a 9" wheel, you'd just have to ensure that the wheel/tire combo doesn't rub the strut (rubbing the fender can be solved by rolling and even pulling if necessary).

The other thing to think about is the disk type of whatever wheels you look at. Low disk gives you more lip but limits brake clearance, med-to-high disk gives adequate BBK clearance, but with a smaller lip. This also affects concavity or curvature of the spokes/face as well.

[Mr_Chunkz]

9" wide with a 38 might rub strut
Perhaps throw a 10 or 15mm spacer in there and add some camber?


Im toying with some wheel fitment ideas with my solara too.. since its down and I got nothing else to do.

[Toy1mzfe]

I had put +50 8.5 in the front before without a problem. Just a FYI.

[CamryOnBronze]

I had 18x8.5 +40 all around with a +5mm spacer in the rear, making the effective offset out back +35. Tires were 225/40/18 all around, which is a very mild stretch, and clearance was SUPER close in the rear with k-sport coilovers. There was a small rubber sleeve on the coilover that I had to trim down about 2mm to clear, and I still had a rub line on the sidewall of my tires. With JIC coils, I had about 1-2mm more clearance out back. Up front, they cleared my Rotora BBK, but that is more dependent on wheel design and disk shape.

I was not completely flush in the rear, but close. I was also running factory camber. I would think you could fit a 18x9 out back with a +30 offset or lower, but you may need to run some camber and/or a 215/40/18 tire to clear the fender.

What are you going for? Stetched/hellaflush, or just semi-flush fitting wheels that fill up the fender wells without insane stretch/camber? I personally wouldn't stagger on a FWD car, why are you set on a staggered setup?

[akora12]

^Excellent advice, much of what I was going to say.

[indiglosolara]

What kind of Big Brake kit are you running??

Also what suspension???
This will help in figuring out what width and offsets and tire size you are going to want to run.

Just to point out some examples and combinations I have tried in the past.

Currently I am running:

17x8.5 + 40 front
17x8.5 +25 rear
225/45/17 Falken ZE912 tires. Minor stretch but not aggressive.

JIC Coilovers droppped 3.5" tucked (tire) in the front and rear with only me in the car.
Front running -1.2 degree chamber
rear running -.50 degree chamber

I have the rear fenders completely shaved. Fronts I have the fenders rolled but due to the bulky 45 series tires, I rub on the front when coming up driveways (even at a angle) only at ONE spot which I am going to fix. Easy to do..

I am FLUSH rim to fender both front and rear. Also keep in mind I am NOT running spacers. Even if you run the same offsets in 18's or 19's as long as you run the appropriate tire you shouldn't run into any major issues.

I have another set of wheels which is a little more aggressive.

Work
17x7.5 +24 offset front A Disk
17x8.5 +19 offset Rear O Disk

With this set-up you will be VERY flush up front even tho its 7.5". Due to the A Disk and offset the rim to fender is really close. The rim actually sits outside the fender line about 2 maybe 3mm and rear it sits out about 5mm. You will definately want a more agreesive stretched tire for this set-up like using the Dunlop DZ101 tires which have a natural curved sidewall to help with rubbing issues.

I used the Dunlop DZ101 tires on my xB. I had 17x7" all around with a +33 offset front and +13 offset in the rear. Flush Fender to rim and the natural curved side wall help me with rubbing issues. I had the same set of wheels with Toyo's before and had tons of rubbing issues due to the tire.

In the rear if you plan on running anything 8.5" or wider I would stick with a offset range of +30 to +25. Before I had coilovers I had SSR SP1 19x8.5" with a +35 offset and running tein and tokico I had rubbing issues on the strut in the rear. Front was fine. Depending on HOW Aggressive you want to go there are allot of combinations you can play with.

If you plan on using the combinations you listed above, My recommendations or opinions are listed below. Make sure if you get spacers to get HIGH quality ones from either MACKIN or H&R or another known brand)

Exclusively for IS300's
Front: 18x7.5 48 Offset (run 15 or 20mm spacer) 215/40/18 tires
Rear: 18x8.5 45 Offset (20mm spacer) 225/40/18

For any 5x114.3 cars
Front: 18x8.0 38 Offset (no spacer need, you wont be flush but still look clean) 215/40/18 tires
Rear: 18x9.0 38 Offset (10 or 15mm spacer) 225/40/18 tire you will need the stretch tire due to rim width and offset.

Remember I am ONLY giving information based on my experience and the trail and errors I have been through. I am sure other will have there input and like Damon said. It really depends on what you are really looking to do.. FWD cars don't really require the staggered set-up unless you are just trying to have the wheels sit flush. I would run the same width and just staggered the offsets.

[CamryOnBronze]

^ AWESOME fitment advice. *imaginary rep*

[indiglosolara]

^ AWESOME fitment advice. *imaginary rep*

Hahahaha... Thanks!!
I'm not fitment King like Milt is.. but I do like FLUSHNESS of wheels..

[Mr_Krispy1183]

Flushness is fun, but the other part that I think most people don't understand right away is that the suspension plays a big role as well. Kenny, i Know you're good with your JICs and all, but what others may not realize is how unfeasible it is to run a super aggressive setup and not rub like crazy. Stiffness in the suspension is a requisite to being able to safely be flush without immediately popping tires/separating tread from sidewall/etc. I only say this from experience, and that's why I stopped trying to be uber-flush on struts/springs. I'm happy with my current stance though, as most any SoCal SG will validate.

[indiglosolara]

Flushness is fun, but the other part that I think most people don't understand right away is that the suspension plays a big role as well. Kenny, i Know you're good with your JICs and all, but what others may not realize is how unfeasible it is to run a super aggressive setup and not rub like crazy. Stiffness in the suspension is a requisite to being able to safely be flush without immediately popping tires/separating tread from sidewall/etc. I only say this from experience, and that's why I stopped trying to be uber-flush on struts/springs. I'm happy with my current stance though, as most any SoCal SG will validate.

Very True... Suspension plays a big role in wheel set-up as well.
Which is why we need to know what kind of suspension is he running on.

With more information we can def. point him in the right direction.