DaveNagy is correct ... the lower the offset, the more the wheel (tire) is pushed toward the fender.
Rather than considering the width of the wheel, you should be concerned about the width of the tire (in conjunction with the offset).
Of the factory wheel/tire combos, the 205/45 tires on 17" ET50 R85 wheels puts the edge of a tire closest to the struts (and also to the fender). As far as aftermarket goes, I've read about someone running 215/40 tires on 17" ET37 BBS RZ wheels, but they also reported slight rubbing in certain situations. The new Panasport 16" wheel is ET35 and is supposed to work fine with 205/50 tires (3mm farther away from fender than 215/40 tires on 17" ET37 wheels).
The above fitments seem to define a "comfort zone" between 70.5mm outside the mounting face of the wheel hub to 152.5mm inside.
Two things to bear in mind:
1. Lowering the suspension will undoubtedly change this "comfort zone".
2. Specified tire width doesn't necessarily mean actual tire width.
A couple of questions:
1. Anyone running 17" ET37 OZ Superleggera - what tire dimensions?
2. Anyone running wider than 215 tires - what wheel offset and tire dimensions? |