time for wheels.

[94cylcamry]

Hey all,

I've finally got it in my head that I want to keep my car. It's a 94 Camry LE 4cyl...picture's in my profile. Now that I know I want to keep it...it's time to start throwing some money at it. So here we go:

Right now it's rocking the stock rims, and I wanted to get some nice rims and lower profile tires. However, I had no idea what the tire ratings meant. So I found this simple thing on the Pepboys website:

http://www.pepboys.com/car_care_corn...ng_your_tires/

I'm starting out with stock 14" steelies and P185/70R tires, whatever that means. Following the above thing...if I wanted to get 15" rims, the tire size would be P195/60R15? And if I wanted 16 inch rims, I would get P205/50R16 tires?

Does that simple thing work with Camry's? I don't know what those ratings mean, but that sounds pretty simple. I thought I'd check in here before trusting just Pepboys.

Thanks!

PS: If I get 16" rims and the corresponding tires, but invest in no lowering springs(wasn't exactly planning on it...yet), will my car look very high, or will it look the same with just wider rims inside the same size tires? I'm a little confused about that as well. Thanks!

[cykaaro]

Try this tire calculator http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp
You can compare different tire/rim sizes. I've gone 17" myself. Many go 17's or 18's if they're changing the rims.

Put in your vehicle and go from there. Stock for the camry V6 ['92 for me] is 205/65R15 which is width / sidewall / rim size basically.

Try searching as there's a plethora of threads on this subject.
cheers!

['_']

If the overall diameter of both the 16" or 17" wheel and tire is the same as the stock diameter, then your fender gap should be the same. The gen3's have a pretty big gap so I would lower it first and then decide to get the wheels you want.

[94cylcamry]

Hmm..alright thanks guys. And I assume if the overall diameter is the same, then the speedometer would not be thrown off?

['_']

Yeah, it should not be thrown off. However, my speedometer reads ~6-7MPH too slow when I'm going 65MPH and ~3-4MPH too slow when I'm going 35MPH. I verified this with the radar signs, my GPS, and with another car driving behind me at the same speed. Anywho, my setup is 215/50R17 and the overall diameter is the same as the stock.

[Venom_5]

go baller-status:

Work Meister's - 17x8+35

[Toxygene]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

go baller-status:

Work Meister's - 17x8+35

Nice Works! I like checking out http://www.memoryfab.com/wheels/ for some interesting Japanese wheels and I see those come up quite often.

As for tire size 185/70/14: 185 is the width of the tire in mm; 70 is the height of the sidewall measured in a percentage of the width so 70% of 185; and 14 is the size of the rim in inches.

As for wheels, you will need to make sure about offset as this determines how far in or how far out your wheels will look in reference to your fenders. I believe some people refer to that as either being flush with the fenders or being tucked. From what I understand the Camry normally wears wheels with a positive offset. Offset is actually measured from the center of the rim's width and that's where things get tricky.

Positive offset wheels are any wheel with a mounting surface forward of the centerline.
Negative offset wheels are any wheel with a mounting surface behind the centerline.



The tricky part is if you have a 17x7 wheel with a 45 offset and a 17x8 wheel with a 45 offset. They will not look the same on the car. Oh and to complicate matters more, offset is measured in mm as well even though the wheel is measured in inches. So a 45 offset wheel means the mounting surface is 45 mm forward of the centerline. If you take a 7 inch wheel, divide that in half to get 3.5 inches, convert that to 88.9mm subtract 45mm from 88.9mm to get 43.9mm which represents where the edge of the rim will sit measured from the mounting surface. You can get an idea of where your wheel will sit in relation to your fender.

Oh and don't forget that the more positive you make your wheels, the quicker your car will turn in initially when you corner but then you'll give up some high speed stability. The inverse is true in that if you get less positive wheels you will give up initial turn in when cornering but gain some high speed stability. Not much but perhaps just enough to notice.

Moving on to the diameter of the wheels: I like to use this calculator: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Just plug in your stock wheel size and play around to see how the wheel and tire size effect your speedometer readings in comparison. It's a pretty neat little tool.

[94cylcamry]

Wow, thanks for all the useful information!

Just a few more questions....

What would be the offset or tire width to stay away from for fear of rubbing? And the Camry bolt pattern is 114.3x5? And is there any merit in investing in "tuner lugs"? I can't see what the point of them would be, but I see them being sold everywhere.

Thanks!

[DAMON]

Originally Posted by Venom_5

go baller-status

says lenny... jk guy

For sure invest in a drop before wheels... but why only 16" wheels? You really wont notice much of a difference with such a small change. The bummer is that even if you drop a gen 3 with springs and struts, it still doesnt look dropped. I guess if you just want a subtle difference without suspension then 16s wouldnt be too bad.

['_']

Originally Posted by 94cylcamry

Wow, thanks for all the useful information!

Just a few more questions....

What would be the offset or tire width to stay away from for fear of rubbing? And the Camry bolt pattern is 114.3x5? And is there any merit in investing in "tuner lugs"? I can't see what the point of them would be, but I see them being sold everywhere.

Thanks!

I had to get extended lugs since my stock ones didn't fit onto my new wheels.

[94cylcamry]

Yeah, wasn't looking for anything tooooooo drastic, plus they get more and more expensive as they go. I'll keep an eye out for any good deals, though.

Thanks!

[cykaaro]

Well, with lugnuts from what I can tell, it will depend on your rim choice and of course choice of lugnuts that will work with a particular rim. The ones I got, the regular lugnuts will not fit in to be able to be used. Only the 'tuner' type will as the are longer and smaller diameter of them allowing them to fit into the holes in the rim where they go. They're put on using a special tool.

[94cylcamry]

You need a special tool? O_o

[cykaaro]

It's kinda like using a key on locknuts basically.

[94cylcamry]

But this is a tool you could buy right? What if you have to change a tire?

And update, my tires are P195, not P185.