How much offset is too much?

Kinja'd!!! "Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury)
11/17/2018 at 15:22 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!0 Kinja'd!!! 5

OK, there’s a great deal near me on some nice wheels and winter tires from an NC Miata complete with TPMS sensors , 16" like the wheels on my Mazda5. Various websites show the offset on the Miata wheels @ 55mm, whereas the wheels for the Mazda5 are listed as being 42-48mm.

Kinja'd!!!

Could I use these on my 5 without experiencing suspension issues? I expected the offset for a RWD car to be less than a FWD one, but this doesn’t seem to be the case with the NC.


DISCUSSION (5)


Kinja'd!!! Berang > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/17/2018 at 15:39

Kinja'd!!!5

In terms of just fitting, offset matters less than backspacing. The backspace determines how close the wheel/tire are going to be to the car. The offset is more important of a consideration to handling, since it will change the scrub radius.

Found a graphic that should make this clear:

Kinja'd!!!

Remember that more backspacing means less clearance between the inside rim and car body. Less backspacing means more clearance, etc.


Kinja'd!!! That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/17/2018 at 17:00

Kinja'd!!!1

They may work but look funny. I just put 48 backspace wheels on a car made for 38, with 10mm spacers it looks perfect. Without them it would look...odd. 


Kinja'd!!! BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/17/2018 at 18:48

Kinja'd!!!1

I would think that you’d be okay. It’ll be close. Worst case scenario, you’d need a 10mm spacer which is relatively inexpensive.

ETA: my concern would be not fitting over the calipers. As for suspension issues, you’ll be fine. 


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
11/17/2018 at 20:31

Kinja'd!!!0

OK, so it looks like spacers would be what I need. I thought they would be too far out, but now I see that I had it backwards. The bigger question is whether this is going to be a strong winter. I’ve got a fresh set of all-season Michelins on the car, and I’ve never had a problem in the 6 years I’ve lived in the midwest, even when I had performance tires. But $200 for that set of wheels and TPMS sensors seems like too good of a deal to pass up, even if I just buy them for the wheels and sensors.


Kinja'd!!! BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
11/17/2018 at 21:05

Kinja'd!!!0

I’m in the NE so I can only speak to us, but the early snow plus the crap ton of walnuts that my tree produced indicates a truly terrible winter.