Moving from 16" stock to 17"
 

I'm looking at getting a 5th gen prelude later this year. the stock wheels are 16" but i'd like to get my own 17" wheels. i'll probably slightly drop the car with some springs/shocks. don't want to drop real far, but enough to counter the wheel size.

my question is what do i need for speedo correction and will adding these wheels and lowering result in a camber problem? one of my friends never mods his car right and ends up with 17s and 18s that bald on one side really fast. i'd rather do it right and not have that kind of problem.

got any suggestions on shocks/springs?

thanks.

oh and i'm looking at the BBS RD 17x7's and the Moda R6's as well.

What size tires are you getting?

Usually different offset wheels can cause alignment problems. It may not be as much of a size issue then an offset issue that cause more wear.

The speedo should be fine withing 1-3 MPH as long as you plus size correctly, meaning that you get a lower profile tire with the larger wheel. The overall diameter of the combo should stay the same.

Lowering is the biggest cause of camber problems. I'm running right now dropped almost 2" and am not using any camber kits, but my camber is about .5' out of spec. No abnormal tire wear as long as I rotate them often.

Springs/shocks - how much do you want to spend? :bandit: ~$900-950 will get you a nice full coilover setup. If you get springs and Koni yellows (great struts), you will end up spending almost the same amount.

im getting 17" koing Helliums for my 95 on stock suspension. i dont think it should go bald faster cuase your raising your car a inch.

Why are you raising your car an inch?

well the wear problem might be from the car being out of specs, usually it's reccomended to do the alignament every 12k miles, but i say 6k miles just to keep the tires longer and better gas yardage

dunno what the stock tires are, but i'd say something around 35-40.

i think i know what offset means, but can you brush me up on it?

yeah i knew i'd have to lower the wall to try to counter the size change.

don't want to spend a fortune on lowering. just want the car to look right with the larger wheels and get rid of some wheel gap. the springs/shocks really won't be judged on handling so anything goes. i still want to do it right, don't get me wrong, just don't need anything special.

i just had my 90 accord aligned for the first time in 4 years (only 25k in those 4 years though) and wow it drives alot easier and smoother. :cool:

Stock is probably 50ish series. A good 17" combo on the Accord is 215/45/17, but it might vary a little on a prelude.

Offeset is the amount that the wheel will stick out. Like when you see cars with the little wheels sticking out really far.. they have a very small offset I believe....

Well, I guess some KYBs and Eiback pro-kit (might not drop low enough though) would do the trick then.

I still like my Teins because I can adjust the damping on them, meaning that I can have a smooth ride or stiff with the twist of a knob.

the tires on my accord are 50s and they are 15in wheels. i figured i'd need at least 40 if not 35 to compensate for 17.

yeah i thought that was what offset was. how do i know what offset i need?

yeah i was thinking the prokits would do it. i'm only going up to 17 so the 1.5ish drop would probably be enough. whats the diff in the shocks?

coilovers are very appealing. would be great for dialing it in the first time but i think after that i'd never touch them again. not sure its worth 900+ for them.

well i had the kyb/prokit combo on my accord and they didn't drop enough. i love the adjustable suspension, i can tune it the way i want when i want. for the accord if you wanna go with 17" the correct size will be 215/45/17 (if i remeber right) and the speedo will be off by 3% only (that's 3 miles faster at 100mph)

thats not too bad on the speedo. within margin of error for any cop.

so i really should get coilovers? hmm..

KYB - not sure if they're adjustable. Not as good for handling, not for use with a drop of more than 1.5" I believe.

Koni yellows - One of the best stand alone struts for our cars. 5 way adjustable. Height adjustable in the fact that you can change the purch (sp) when installing (i think).

Coilovers - My Teins are 16 way adjustable, height adjustable. I've only changed the height once (because I was scraping on everything). It is worth it to be able to adjust the height when you want. If I ever get wheels, I'll lower it down a bit more again. Plus I do adjust the damping from time to time. Right now I'm on 6-front, 8-read (0 is stiffest, 16 softest) and it rides pretty nice and handles great.

how much did those set you back?