Hey,
Eventually I would like to upgrade from my stock 15" wheels to 17" wheels. I've heard alot of people talking about spacers etc, etc, and I would like to know what I will have to do to put 17" wheels and tires on my maxima. Also what do the numbers mean when it says 205/60/17? I know that the last one stands for wheels size, but what do the others mean? Sorry I'm a newbie
Chris

 

first number - width of tire
second number - height of tire
third - size of tire

I put 17s on my 94, and you do not need to do anything special. But I would recommend springs and shocks.

 

205 - tread width in mm. Not the actual width of the tire body (section width).

60 - tire tube height expressed as a percent. So in this case, 60% of 205mm, which is 123mm.

17 - rim diameter in inches, but u know this already

Here's a good tire size calculator to figure out some tire sizes. http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Most people try to fit 235/45/17 if they're going 17" rims since this is the widest tire most have fit, but lots of people have 225 or 215 width too.

Get a wheel of the right width (which will dictate your range of tire width choices) and the proper OFFSET is key. 235 width tires need 30-35mm offset and spacers might be needed if it's higher than that. Narrower tires will give you more leeway with the offsets since 35-30mm offset rims are rarer.

 

When i put my 17's on, they did seem to be tucked into the wheel wells a bit. I asked someone about spacers to make them even with the wells, and he said it would totally screw up my alignment.

 

Thanks ya'll