Tires for 89 323 LX

[braxus]

I have a 4 door 1989 323 LX. Im wondering if this set of tires will fit without rubbing on the inner part. Im looking at a set of 215/35/17 tires. The wheel offset I believe is 40. Any ideas? Finding info on a car this old is hard to come by today. Im currently running 195/50/15 tires with no issues.

 

[88323GT]

17"s on a BF 323 is asking for trouble. Personally, thats way to big for the car, and ive heard of people trying these and having rub issues. Im using 15"s on my turbo, and its a perfect match for a car this small. But to each his own.

 

[braxus]

Im finding there are almost no options for 17" tires for this size. Im rethinking to 16" now, but Im wondering if the 89 323 can even go bigger then 15"? I checked my 15s and they are very close to the shock in the back. Anything wider will rub. But I have no idea what offset my current rims are. I suppose with a 0 offset instead of plus 40 would work. But then the tires may stick out of the wheel well. Anyone successfully use 16s on this car? Or is 15" the limit?

 

[braxus]

Well I went to the tire shop and we checked the sizing the hard way. They had a set of 16" wheels there (Sacchi S2 16x7 40mm offset) and the mounted them on my 89 Mazda 323. They were close to the suspension parts, but still room for movement. They mounted a Nexen N3000 summer tire in a 205/40/16 size and checked clearances again. Everything just fit in there. The tires were close to the rear shock and the front strut, but not enough to stop the tire from turning. The fender wells were close to the tires edge on the other side, so if some really heavy weight was put in the back seats, it may come close to hitting the tires in the rear. Better shocks would help there. So this 16" combo technically fits ok.

About shocks- for the 89 I noticed KYB GR-2 shocks and Tokico HP shocks. Is either of these recommended to stiffen up the suspension in the rear?

 

[braxus]

Ok. I got the wheels today- since 16" are being discontinued and this was remaining stock. However come spring I'll be looking for tires. Im wanting summer treads. I've narrowed it down to 3 tires.

The Nexen N3000, the BF Goodrich Geforce Sport, and the Federal 595. All are close in price. Both the Nexen and BFG tires have sidewall reinforcing for better cornering. Not sure on the Federals. If you had a choice between each of these three- which ones would you go with and why?

 

[braxus]

Well I decided to go with the 16" BFG KDW2 tires. But I also got a set of 14" winters to put on my car with a set of Honda rims. See pics.

I got the General Altimax Arctic tires put on. I drive a small Mazda and its amazing how much more effort the 195 series I had on was to steer then the 175s I have on now. Its like I got power steering back- light to the touch. Anyway they roll real nice on the road. Handling doesn't feel too squishy so far. I had to get shorter lug nuts due to the hubcap hitting the taller Honda lugnuts. These tires were put on a set of 14" Honda rims, so I had to get ball seat lugnuts for this setup. And yes my car is old- but still going well after 20.5 years.

 

[Stinky_Sullivan]

185/40 R17 would have the exact same height and width as 185/60 R14 tires. If you use 16" rims, a 185/45 R16 would be the same. If the rims have a different offset, that might require some tweaking on the tire size. Stock offset is 45mm. The rear can be pushed out a bit as long as your suspension travel doesn't cause the body to come down onto the tire. The sized I listed would give you the same exterior dimensions as a stock tire so the only question is how the offset of the larger rims differs from stock.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Use that calculator to figure out what tires you can use provided you can get them.