yaris and 215/45/17 tires – advice is needed

[alex343]

Hi
I'm a newbie with cars at all.

My situation: Yaris 2014 (1200cc) got to my hands with very low mileage, some styling, and 215/45/17 tires.

I got is at it's now. It has http://www.lovebodykits.com/en/product-inside.php?product_id=292&sub_category_id=78&category_id=12"]Viper3 styling and I assume to make it look better and higher, the previous owner put 215/45/17 tires/wheels.

Action place: Phuket. I don't speak Thai so it's not easy to go to the garage and ask for help. It's better to prepare for that. The car is mostly used only on the island, rarely outside on highways. 

 

Everything was fine until recently I found out: if I have 2+ pax on the back seat and moving 80+km/h I noticed (it's was hard not to notice) rubbing on back wheels, mostly on "waves" – the outside part of a tire.  

 

I was going to change tires anyway (they have low run but 4+ years old as the car was standing in the garage) and rubbing speeded up my actions.

I need an advice.

I understand that it's cheaper just to put 205/45/17 (don't see any problems, are there any?).

I'm not sure what offset I have, but it looks like et51. That size is among recommended. Will it certanly help to prevent rubbing or I need to check anything else?

 

Another option – to replace wheels and go with R15 (185/60/15) or R16 (195/50/16). I'm afraid going down will also decrease clearance – because of the bodykit it's minus 2-3 cm of the original one. Even now I sometimes catch the ground with a front skirt. And it's more $ as I need also new wheels.

BTW, in the trunk, I have a spare (175/65/14) from a factory.

 

Just want to ask what do you think the best to do in my case?

 

Any help is appreciated and maybe you can recommend a place in Phuket where they speak English? 

Thanks!

[Kwasaki]

Previous owner has OTT on rim & tyre spec, Thais tend to do this to make it look sporty, also with skirts panels it can all come with problems.

 

I always go on about 'Cockpit outlets ' as peeps here know but take it to one and get your shocks and suspension looked at and tested for clearance of tyre and bodywork.

 

I had rim and tyres 205/45/17 on our 1.5 model 2010 Yaris but the OME shocks were uprated to a harder sports type.

 

[transam]

There isn't a lot of difference in rubber dimensions on you ride, but.....If the back spacing of the trendy wheels was not thought out you may have a "contact" ploblem..

[canthai55]

https://carfromjapan.com/article/car-maintenance/wheel-offset-and-wheel-backspacing-explained/

[alex343]

On 2/25/2019 at 12:16 PM, Kwasaki said:

I always go on about 'Cockpit outlets ' as peeps here know but take it to one and get your shocks and suspension looked at and tested for clearance of tyre and bodywork.

thanks a lot, will go the them. I've never been to their place

Is there smd who speaks English well?

 

On 2/25/2019 at 1:49 PM, transam said:

There isn't a lot of difference in rubber dimensions on you ride, but.....If the back spacing of the trendy wheels was not thought out you may have a "contact" ploblem..

Yes, I know.

I found this YARIS Wheel & Tire Guide http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5021 

 

And also a discussion about 215/45 (same tires I have now) on Yaris http://yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34905 and they say  "215 tires are too wide".  So that's why I was looking for 205/45 buy might be not the solution as yes, it's also about rim offset

 

 

On 2/25/2019 at 5:31 PM, canthai55 said:

https://carfromjapan.com/article/car-maintenance/wheel-offset-and-wheel-backspacing-explained/

Thanks. Need definitely to measure mine as have no idea about its specs 

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, alex343 said:

On 2/25/2019 at 12:16 PM, Kwasaki said:

I always go on about 'Cockpit outlets ' as peeps here know but take it to one and get your shocks and suspension looked at and tested for clearance of tyre and bodywork.

thanks a lot, will go the them. I've never been to their place

Is there smd who speaks English well?

Little English speaking best to take a Thai friend who you can communicate with, I usually get by with my animation skills and some Thai.

Your problem is not big one it will be easy for them to understand what you need checked.