after installing 17 or 18" wheels...

[Hepnotic]

...does the car ride higher? do i need to lower the car to compensate if I were to get 17s?

i can afford a set of new tires and rims, but i cant afford to get new springs after it, and i dont like my car to ride high.

[NoCones]

all depends on choosing the right tire...go here and play around with sizes:

http://www.secret-secret.com/turbo/DIY/tirecalc/turbotire.html

so, basically, you compensate for the bigger wheel with a shorter sidewall on the tire. With a 17" wheel, I'd go 215/40R17.

[2kgtx]

Don't go 215/40R17 without a drop it looks like the car has been raised their is so much clearance between the wheel and wheel well, id go something with a 45 series I have 205 45R17 and before I dropped my car they didn't look all that bad I saw a car with 215 40's and it looked bad.

[CarbonB2000GT]

But then that will raise his ride up. If you go with the 215/40/17, it will look great when your drop it. So if your planning on lowering your car then thats what I would get.

--Josh