what is needed to run a 17X9 wheel on my car

rolltide

Registered User
I am about to purchase a set of the 17X9 Cobra R reps off ebay for my 95 SC. Can I simply take off the old wheels and put on these. I am going to run Potenza 245/45VR 17's on the car. Are these wide enough. They shouldn't rub, right? I am not planning on dropping the car. Will it look bad? Thanks.
 
rolltide said:
I am about to purchase a set of the 17X9 Cobra R reps off ebay for my 95 SC. Can I simply take off the old wheels and put on these. I am going to run Potenza 245/45VR 17's on the car. Are these wide enough. They shouldn't rub, right? I am not planning on dropping the car. Will it look bad? Thanks.

My car is the one that advertises the 17x9 Cobra R's on the Supercoupe Performance site, so I will give you my $.02

1.) The tire size that you have selected is an EXCELLENT choice!:D

2.) The wheels will look awesome on your car and you will not have to worry about anything "rubbing".:D

3.) I see that you do not plan on lowering the car, and this could be an issue. I recommend a "1-1/2 lowering kit. I had my '91 lowered and it was awesome with the Cobras. I decided to put them on my unlowered '94SC and I had issues with creaking and crackling noises when I went in reverse and turned the steering wheel. I eventually took them off and put them back on the lowered car. The creaking and cracking noises went away when i went back to the original wheels.

Another solution may be to take the car to have it re-aligned if you are not going to have it lowered.
This may solve the mysterious noises that I experienced.
You will love the appearance of Cobra R's lowered or unlowered!

Frank Burrell
Dirtybird91:cool:
 
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Wheels

I just put mine on this weekend. I have 17x9 cobra's with 255/50/17 Kumho 712s. On the 1993 up spindles you will need a 3/16th inch spacer made for the front. The bigger sized tire of 255 will fit the rim alot better than the 245 will. Also if you plan on lowering it, run a 255/45 and if not lowering like you said run a harder to find yet better 255/50 tire. My car is not lowered and in my opinion doesn't seem like it needs to be. I'll try to get some pictures up sometime to show you what it looks like.

I noticed you said you are going to run 245/45/17's, If thats the case, I would definately lower your car.
 
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I went with 255-45s on all four wheels and it looked good with stock springs and a little better when lowered. Recently I went to a wider tire on the rear 275-40-17s and plan to replace the fronts with the 245-45-17s for less rolling resistance, and a more agressive look.

I think the 245-45s are a little to skinny for the rear tires and would suggest at least going to 255-45-17s instead.

David
 
I'm running 255/45/17's on 9" Cobras front & rear.

It's a '90, lowered 1.5" - handles great with a decent ride and no clearance prob's.

Lee
 
Thanks to everyone

Ok, here is the deal. I am now thinking of going withthese tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...rch=false&partnum=55WR7RE750&fromCompare1=yes

or:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...rch=false&partnum=55WR7ES712&fromCompare1=yes

Take a look. Look at the ratings on the Bridgestones. Nice tread design too!! Whatdo you all think. If I go with these in the 50 series, I might not have to lower the car, right? But will they rub up front or stick out too far and make the car look "ghetto". I want a nice ride as I travel a lot so I really don't want to lower the car if it can be avoided. Maybe one day later when the car is not used as my primary car. Will I need spacers and if so where do i get them, the place who installs the wheels? Will these 255's make the car handle and corner any worse or better? That is a nice looking car. I want a hood like that. When I get done with my car, I will be joining this awesome club and posting pics of my 95 Mystic Blue 5 speed Beauty. To all: Thanks and have a great day.

Tony
Sgt/USMC Reserves
 
yes i can confirm that you will need a braket with the wheels you are getting, if yours are coming form OE. wheel distributors, sarasota florida???


unless:
BlckOnBlckBrd do you have the 13inch brake up grade?? where are your rotors from??
if the answer to this question is no, then you will definetly need the spacers for the front wheels only. If the answer is yes, then you may not need the spacers.

i don't know where to get spacers from, i made my own.
If you end up not needing the spacers, PLEASE let me know, i'm very interested. You can email to jkanterakis@umail.ucsb.edu or through my profile

these are the wheels i got. they look sweet, i have the painted style. I run a 255/45 series tire and the car totally looks fine NOT lowered. i didn't look at the tires you had posted for selection but i can tell you i have the BF Goodrich g-Force T/A KDWS 255/45/zr17. i got them installed for about $145 a tire.

yes, your cornering ability will increase.

jim
 
Pics

Sorry about the bad pics, they were taken from a video as I don't have a digital camera, just a digital camcorder

This is my car with 17x9 Cobra R's with 255/50/ZR17s
 

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BlckOnBlckBrd

dam looks sweet. you got the painted ones too.
any way, trying to clear something up here.

first what year is your car, and also do you have a front brake upgrade kit, or do you still have the stock brakes,
if you upgraded where did you get the rotors you have. trying to figure something out for the wheel spacer needed.

thanks
jim
 
I have a 94SC auto and I have 255/45/17's all the way around. he's right...all you need are spacers in the front. no other modifications needed. most wheel/tire shops have them or can order them within a day or two. You can also find them online. Autozone might even carry them.
 
My car is a 1993, and I have the stock brakes... for now. The wheel will clear the suspension without a spacer, but it is impossible to clear with a wheel weight for balancing, so that's why you need a spacer.
 
ok so what you are saying then is that you have something like 1/8 of an inch clearance before wheel weights.

just trying to get info in order, when i go home for christmas i'm going to re-look at the calculations and information i gathered about wheel offsets and the like, and come up with a range of acceptable wheel offsets for the bird, for 17 inch rims.

rolltide, i think you emailed me or something, about different tires front to back. this is generally a bad idea, as it can affect the ABS system. i'm not sure what the tollerances of the system are, but i suppose if the difference is not too much between the diameters then it should be allright.
thats why i'm running all four with 255's right now. when i get some money, i plan on having 245's in the front with 275's in the back, but the aspect ratios will be different, making the tire diameter the same, front to back.


thanks guys.

jim
 
Thanks to all

Thanks for the nice pics of the wheels and tires on the car. My main concerns with the 255's were fender gap and having the front tires stick out too far, but it dosn't seem too bad in the pics. I am going to be ordering my 255/50wr17 Potenzas from TireRack.com later this week and getting the polished silver Cobras off ebay. They seem to look almost as nice as the chrome without the worry of pitting. Hopefully the car will not lose too much ride quality.
 
polished or chrome

Ijust ordered the 255/50WR17 Potenzas for my car ($620 shipped). Now for the wheels. I am getting the ebay special Cobra R's 17x9's. I am deciding between chrome and polished. I have had several people say the polished require a lot of maint just to keep shiny, but on the other hand do you have to worry about the chrome going bad on the chrome wheels. Which are nicer wheels and will look nicer longer in the opinion of any who have had these wheels.
 
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