Will 19" or 20" rims fit on my 2000 GLE? I dont want to mess with the suspension or the body at all. Also, will the speedometer need to be calibrated due to the size of the wheels? How much will these larger rims effect the ride of the car? Thanks and sorry for all the questions. Chase

 

19 is a big as you can go without altering the speedo.

 

freeze is right anything over 19 will affect it, not sure by how much

 

you can get 20s w/ 30 series tires and depending on how wide you go, it will barely effect the speedo

unless your max is lowered, get 19s...i've seen 20s on a few 5th gens and 2 of them weren't lowered...they both also had 35 series tires so the wheel took up quite a bit more room than the stock rims...made the car look raised

 

Ehh... some high school level math should give you the answer

all you really need to remember circumference = 2*(pi)*r , everything else is mostly common sense multiplication, subtraction... etc.


-Tom Z.

PS.. i remember someone here had an excel worksheet setup to figure out the diff's in speedo among different tire sizes

 

here ya go:

http://www.glue.umd.edu/~nauman/tire.xls



or you can use the tire calculator on that miata site if you want.

 

if you do 235/30ZR20 at 90mph, your speedo will read 90.25mph...not really a big deal

 

how much is the ride of the car affected by 19's?
A_T_W

 

who makes a 235 30 20 tire? or should i say rubberband!

 

closest i can find is a pirelli 275/30ZR20...30 is the smallest they make and these pirellis are 332 per tire

 

275 is way too wide. To all tire mfg's a 235 30 20 would proabably sell less than 1% of the time. Not too much profit in it for them is there.

 

I thought about going the 19" route but the ride in my friends VW is rough!!!! I did the 18"s and ride is not much different than the factory 17"s except that steering response has changed, lighter wheels I suppose. The Nitto's make a big difference in traction however.....the factory Bridgestones suck.

 

Will 20"s fit on the back of the max without moding the fender??????? Never ever put a 235-30 on a 20 or a 245-30... If you can fit the 20's on the rear get 245-35-20 from pirrelli p 7000. As far as ride and speedo go the ride will be more firm than the factory 17"s adn 16"s. If you do 20's or 19's you can't keep the factory suspension it's just plain bad. My 19"s ride rather good only on hard as bumps will they be rough. My speedo with 245-35-19 is 2 mph under.

 

I had 20" on my max and the only tire that will work is 245/35. The Nittos aren't that pricey! I recommend 19". 20" are to bad of a ride!