so a brief introduction to my situation:
Im unemployed and stuck with my s2000. its paid off, so its not bleeding money out of me but has a few problems which would make me lose my shirt if I absolutely needed to sell it.

It snowed yesterday and i had to drive my car with burned up star specs through the snow and ice. It was scary as hell and I need to do something right away about it before it snows again/i die.

One of my navy buddies offered me a set of 4 215/45 17 winter tires(cant remember the brand) for 50$ and i immediately took him up on the offer. the only wheels i have are my na2 nsx wheels 17x7.5 and 17x9 and im wondering if it will be 'ok' to throw a 215 on the back. its obviously not ideal, and im not planning on driving it stupid.

I NEED MY ONLY VEHICLE TO NOT KILL ME THIS WINTER!!!! so heres my questions:

1. how dangerous is a stretched 215/45 on a 9 inch wheel?
2. once i install them, how do i tone down my suspension(kwv3's and whiteline front bar) to make the car easier to drive with this poor mans setup?


thanks guys. selling my s2000 is not an option until im either facing homelessness or starving. as i doubt i could get more than 9k for it. I have no bills, so as soon as i get worthwhile employment im back in the clear, i just need to keep it road worthy and NOT DIE

 

^Look for a set of tires and wheels on craigslist. I found a set of dunlop graspic ds3's on 7.5 inch wheels 215/55/16 used for 2 seassons with rims for 100$

Look hard enough and you'll find something for sure. In the mean time, I'd take the bus.

Also 215 on a 9 inch is a bit of a stretch but its been done.

 

thanks for the response

taking the bus isnt an option where i currently live, but yes that would be great.

so a 215 isnt a dangerous stretch?

 

you might sell the NSX wheels and get some cheapies

 

You only have the nsx wheels? You don't happen to have the OEm wheels as well do you? You could run the nsx fronts on the rear and 2 oem 17x7's in front. They the tires won't be stretched. I think as long as you are extremely careful you could run those tires on your current wheels but I am talking absolutely NO vtec, no pulls etc. You need to drive like a 150 grandma. The other option is selling these tires or trading them for some AP1's and putting some snow tires on those.

 

To add, for driving in slick conditions such as snow/ice, you want a soft/pliable suspension to help maintain traction, it allows more forgiveness under your steering inputs as well as help transfer weight to the axel that needs it whether under acceleration or braking, obviously the car and suspension isnt ideal for this at all, but a couple things you can do to help is run all your comp/rebound damping settings to 0 and run a lower tire pressure, somewhere in the 15psi range depending on the tires/wheels used. You want some squat and movement out of the sidewall, and the more sidewall the better. If your running a 215 on a 9" I would recommend not running this low of pressure.

You are basically setting up the car the exact opposite as if you would normally for a dry/high speed performer. Look at a rally car chassis set up vs a road course car.

 

^15psi really O_o I was always under the impression that you run snow tires 3-4psi above normal tire pressure. I agree about adjusting the rebound setting to the softest though.

http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/...jsp?techid=168

 

Snow tires are not being used here by the op. But even still airing down usually works better with any tire in snow/ice, (however not good for cutting through slush) You need squat to spread out the surface to help mold into the road irregularity for more traction as well as more lateral traction/forgiveness when you have no real tread to bite in. A aired down/squishy bald tire will grip better then a bald hard one in these conditions. But as mentioned a skinny hard tire will cut through water/slush better as to not float/hydroplane as easy. Always a compromise, just have to figure out in which area you want to accel in most. I would say airing down for best traction, you can always slow down for slush/water to keep from hydroplaning. In the case of the S2000, I would probably keep the front tire pressure up and run less in back for more rear squat/traction, wile getting the front to cut through the soft stuff, but it really depends on the tire and conditions. If hard compact snow/ice, airing down the front will help spread the tire out under braking giving you a little more stopping distance. Experience is really helpful in these situations and I cant give that to the OP.

 

I have stretched a 215 on 9's and 10's in the past on my vw. The 215 on a ten looks scary as it is a lot of stretch how ever on the nine it was very mild looking. i commute 60 miles a day on stretched tires and never once had a problem. Seeing as your in a bind i would go ahead and do it. The tire is not going to un-bead itself unless maybe you drift into a curb at just the right angle and high, but even then any tire could correct size or not.

 

Weird I have 215/40 Nitto Neo Gens on my 17x9 and it doesn't stretch nearly as much... Maybe it was the way they were stretched? But to answer your question 215/45 would be totally fine. It may not be the "proper" tire size but it will work.