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Tire/wheel gurus: ASA Ka3


Dusty B

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So I have an oppurtunity to buy a set of 17x7.5 48ET ASA Ka3 wheels at an awesome price here at work. Wheels are chrome, finish is beat so I was thinking a powercoat job. Wheels would come wrapped in nearly new Bridgestone potenza RE0960's in a 235/45R17. Yes I know this wheel/tire combo is heavy, but I'm mainly looking for experiences with this size tire on a similar sized wheel. Any/all input is greatly appreciated!
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I have the ASA ka3's for my winter setup.

 

I will give you a head warning though, the holes where the wheel studs go through are very deep, deeper than most other aftermarket wheels. The holes are also very narrow (21.5 mm if I remember correctly) meaning that you have to get tuner lugs.

 

The bigger problem though is the hole depth. I was only able to get about 3.5 or 4 turns of the lug nut on this wheel which is not nearly enough to be safe. I was looking at getting extended wheel studs anyway which I did. The stock wheel stud length is 48 mm and I got nismo 60 mm wheel studs allowing a very safe 18 turns of the lugnut. Stock lugnut on a stock wheel is about 9 turns.

 

If you want to go through the trouble of changing wheel studs then go for it, otherwise I would steer clear of these wheels. It is not worth the risk of having only 3 or 4 threads of the wheel stud catching the lug.

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Thanks rnstein69 and whitetiger. I did come accross the thread you mentioned, and read about the extended studs. I would certainly consider buying them if it were a matter of safety. The tire height was the other big concern. I am on stock struts and cobb sport springs... although I know the springs have nothing to do with tire to strut clearance.
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Thanks rnstein69 and whitetiger. I did come accross the thread you mentioned, and read about the extended studs. I would certainly consider buying them if it were a matter of safety. The tire height was the other big concern. I am on stock struts and cobb sport springs... although I know the springs have nothing to do with tire to strut clearance.

not a problem.

 

getting longer wheel studs was worth it for me in the long run since I do auto cross my car 6 to 8 times a season, so changing wheels is a frequent thing for me.

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Heh. Even if I don't autocross or anything I wouldn't feel too confident with only 3-4 turns on each stud, haha. Now the main concern would be tire height. From what I remember reading you went with a 225 series tire correct?
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C/P'D from Xenonks tire/wheel faq thread:

 

17 in. rims (for GTs 2005-on):

 

205/40/17 (only for SUPER FAST acceleration and torque; for autocrossing only, do not use for daily driving)

205/45/17 (only for FAST acceleration and torque; for autocrossing only , do not use for daily driving)

205/50/17 (good for snow rally)

215/45/17 (stock)

225/45/17 (good autocross performance tire size for gearing, more mph per gear)

235/40/17 (good autocross performance tire size for torque, more acceleration)

235/45/17 (tallest tire you could use under the GT due to possible suspension clearance issues, best used with an 8" wide wheel)

245/40/17 (good autocross performance tire size for traction, will need to have a flatter alignment to make use of the grip)

255/40/17 (maximum grip, good for track days, will need a 9" rim to make use of the contact patch and a good alignment as well).

 

Still waiting to see if anyone can confirm that the tire will clear a stock strut.

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C/P'D from Xenonks tire/wheel faq thread:

 

17 in. rims (for GTs 2005-on):

 

205/40/17 (only for SUPER FAST acceleration and torque; for autocrossing only, do not use for daily driving)

205/45/17 (only for FAST acceleration and torque; for autocrossing only , do not use for daily driving)

205/50/17 (good for snow rally)

215/45/17 (stock)

225/45/17 (good autocross performance tire size for gearing, more mph per gear)

235/40/17 (good autocross performance tire size for torque, more acceleration)

235/45/17 (tallest tire you could use under the GT due to possible suspension clearance issues, best used with an 8" wide wheel)

245/40/17 (good autocross performance tire size for traction, will need to have a flatter alignment to make use of the grip)

255/40/17 (maximum grip, good for track days, will need a 9" rim to make use of the contact patch and a good alignment as well).

 

Still waiting to see if anyone can confirm that the tire will clear a stock strut.

 

Well, here is the formula for calculating the overall diameter and from that you can get the circumference:

 

so a stock LGT tire is size 215/45/17

so it is 215 mm wide, 45% of the tread width tall with an inside diameter of 17 inches.

215 x 0.45 = 96.75 x 2 = 193.5 mm

so converting to inches that is (193.5/10)/2.54 = 7.62 inches

17" + 7.62" = 24.62" overall diameter for the stock tire.

 

so if we take the size 235/45/17 and apply the same calculation:

235 x 0.45 = 105.75

(105.75/10)/2.54 = 4.16 inches x 2 = 8.33 inches

17" + 8.33" = 25.33"

 

That is a significant difference.

 

235/40/17 is an oddball size, but lets see..

it would have an overall diameter of 24.40" which is much closer to stock.

 

225/45/17 is a pretty common size would have an overall diameter of 24.97" which is also pretty close to stock.

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