First Time Rim Buyer

[StrwindXGP]

Hey everybody,

I been reading through the posts on here about rims and tires and offsets and im a bit overwhelmed. Let me start by saying that i drive a GT rolling on OEM 15's (big ballin lol :gap:) and im looking to upgrade to 17's. While looking for rims i usually notice that when i put in my vehicle into seeing what should fit on my car i usually get 17X7 or 17X7.5 rims as a result. I guess my first question is what does the "X7" or X7.5" mean? also i want my rims and tires to look as flush to the celica as possible (i have a TRD package if that matters at all). From what i have read to get this i will have to offset the rims. What offset should i use to just get a flush look? (im assuming that offset means offsetting it so that it will be more flush, please correct me if i am wrong). Thanks in advance and if this is posted somewhere else could you please supply links? I tried to search but really didnt pull up any information besides what i have conveyed here. Once again thanks

[martin00gt]

x7 and x7.5 is the rim width.

[mrbarky]

Keep searching and reading info on different widths and offsets, there's still a lot to learn. Getting a flush look is going to depend on wheel widths and offsets. I'm sure some wheel gurus will chime in

[StrwindXGP]

oh ok. And im guessing the offset is how much the tire is off the actual placement its supposed to be for the car so it can look flush right? Also when people say "roll the fender" what exactly does that entail?

[GTSchris]

offset is the distance from the mounting point of the rim to the actual center of the rim. so the lower the offset the more it will stick out and be flush. rolling the fender is what it says, rolling the lip of the fender up so there is more room in the wheel well to go lower

[StrwindXGP]

Thanks alot everyone for suffering my noob questions lol. From what i read +30 mm seems to be a good offset without having to roll the fenders. I read a couple members have to roll the fenders once they hit +35mm. But like you said ill keep searching and seeing what i can find. The reason i kinda need a direct answer was because im gonna need tires again soon and im tired of riding on the stock 15's (even though i always wrap them in good tires and they handle like crazy lol.)

[StrwindXGP]

Just thought id add these are probably the rims im looking at getting

http://www.wheelsnext.com/wheels-tires-packages/Primax-685-Machined%2520w%257C%2520Black.html

[mrbarky]

Just thought id add these are probably the rims im looking at getting

http://www.wheelsnext.com/wheels-tires-packages/Primax-685-Machined%2520w%257C%2520Black.html
I wouldn't get those if you are going to go for a flush look. They are pretty narrow and don't even list an offset

[Jintei]

Go to scionlife.com for wheels. Lots of nice used ones with good price.

[StrwindXGP]

I wouldn't get those if you are going to go for a flush look. They are pretty narrow and don't even list an offset

thanks alot for the heads up on that. I didnt know if the offset would be listed with the rim itself or if it would be something that i would have to get done when i had them put on.

And ill also try that website and see what i can find. Anybody else got some other recommendations for websites. Lately i been just googling "rim and tire packages" and doing searches from there

[XBernie]

Thanks alot everyone for suffering my noob questions lol. From what i read +30 mm seems to be a good offset without having to roll the fenders. I read a couple members have to roll the fenders once they hit +35mm. But like you said ill keep searching and seeing what i can find. The reason i kinda need a direct answer was because im gonna need tires again soon and im tired of riding on the stock 15's (even though i always wrap them in good tires and they handle like crazy lol.)

You wont need to roll fenders unless your car is slammed and pushing offsets under 10.
Dont buy any wheel 7.5 and thinner and go wide.

[StrwindXGP]

However i do like the look of the rims i found (trust me though im gonna take your advice and stay away from them. Just saying i like the looks of them). Im looking for a rim style like that or a 5 spoke thats "spidered out" (i know thats not the correct term for it but its the best i can come up with.

[XBernie]

For a reasonable( no poke, no negative camber) flush setup i recommend
17x8
20 front offset
0 rear offset
215/45/17 or 225/45/17 tires

[StrwindXGP]

For a reasonable( no poke, no negative camber) flush setup i recommend
17x8
20 front offset
0 rear offset
215/45/17 or 225/45/17 tires

Thanks alot! i will do some more looking around. In the meantime these are a couple thats peaked a bit of interest. Granted im gonna look around alot more but just thought id post these:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCloseUpServlet?target=runWheelSearch&initialPartNumber=W19128500BDC&wheelMake=MSW&wheelModel=Type+11&wheelFinish=Machined+w%2FBlack+Accent&showRear=no&autoMake=Toyota&autoModel=Celica+GT+Action+Pkg&autoYear=2002&autoModClar=&filterSize=17&filterFinish=All&filterSpecial=false&filterBrand=All&filterNew=All&sort=Brand

[StrwindXGP]

BTW I hope that whatever rims i pick look good on my car. Its carbon blue and most of the picks i have seen on this site of celicas with rims are usually red, silver, or blue. Mine is more leaning towards black so thats what i go buy but at night it looks a bit purple lol

[XBernie]

Tirerack only has a handful of good wheels.
Enkei Rpf1, enkei nt03, OZ Ultraleggera,

[StrwindXGP]

Tirerack only has a handful of good wheels.
Enkei Rpf1, enkei nt03, OZ Ultraleggera,

Alright. Im looking in another thread where everybody posted their wheels for decent websites to check out. Any other recommendations? And one last question. If i were to decide to go to 18 inch rims, would Xbernie's Offset and size recommendation be the same or different? i noticed from another thread that people with 18 inch rims usually have about a 42 offset and roll on 18X7.5's?

[CRBCelica]

ugly wheels, plz no rice

[StrwindXGP]

i dont think they are rice, just different from what you usually see and i dont want my rims to look the same as everyone elses. Plus silver really dont match every color out there (even though it might on carbon blue, too much silver can look ricey)

[boothten]

i noticed from another thread that people with 18 inch rims usually have about a 42 offset and roll on 18X7.5's?
that's such an awful spec rim.
seriously, listen to bernie here. he's gonna be the most reasonable person to listen to on here.
if you're gonna go with an 18x7.5 rim (which is too thin, if you ask me), you're really gonna wanna go with a better offset then +42
if you notice, the people that have that spec rim aren't flush at all

at least go with something in the high 30s to low 20s, that'd make it a lot better

[StrwindXGP]

Alright. Thanks for everyones help again. Ill go with Bernie's spec and find a rim that i like and save up after that to drop my car to make it look even better (i could get springs but id rather get coilovers because i dont want to kill my stock struts)