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Can someone give me some info on tire sizes for my daughters 95 MX3. Purchased car last fall with stock steel rims. 14"-195 snow tires. This weekend I found two MX3's being parted out and bought 15" aluminum stock rims (5 spoke style as shown on this sight) Tires on rims are 205-55-15. I cannot get my finger between the back strut shock and the side wall of the tire. I don't understand why it's so tight? I need to replace the tires on these rims as they are shot. Any suggestions? The car looks good with this wide tire.

Do you live in Winnipeg? If so, I was trying to buy those rims today, but the guy said he just sold them, they were off of a silver GS. Somewhere around St. Vital?

Anyhow...stock tire size on the 5-spoke 15" rim is P205/55/R15.

If you decide you don't want them, you know who to contact.

Yes I bought them in St.Vital on Friday. I looked up the spects on tires in the shop manuals posted on this sight. It has B6 DOHC and B8 DOHC. These are engine styles im guessing and under B6 DOHC it has the 14" tires and under B6 DOHC it has the 205-55-16 listed. You also refer to "GS". Is this a modle of the MX3? Would this make a differance?
Thanks.

rowboat wrote:Yes I bought them in St.Vital on Friday. I looked up the spects on tires in the shop manuals posted on this sight. It has B6 DOHC and B8 DOHC. These are engine styles im guessing and under B6 DOHC it has the 14" tires and under B6 DOHC it has the 205-55-16 listed. You also refer to "GS". Is this a modle of the MX3? Would this make a differance?
Thanks.

Your daughter's car is likely the RS. The RS came with the 4-cylinder B6 DOHC, and 14" stock wheels. The GS came with the V6 K8 DOHC, and 15" stock wheels.

I have never heard of anybody having trouble putting GS tires on an RS. They are the exact same car with some variables (engine, tire size, steering box).

Post your question in the suspension/brakes/wheels/tires forum on this site. Far more people visit that particular forum than this Manitoba/Saskatchewan forum.

Does anyone know the offset of the stock RS rims? Given that the rear hubs are different on the GS, it makes sense that the offset of the rim might be important.

Having said that you don't need a lot of clearance between the tire and strut in the rear. If the clearance was that tight in the front, it might cause problems, but there's very little lateral movement in the rear...although there is some. The stock 15" tire size might work.

wytbishop wrote:Does anyone know the offset of the stock RS rims? Given that the rear hubs are different on the GS, it makes sense that the offset of the rim might be important.

Having said that you don't need a lot of clearance between the tire and strut in the rear. If the clearance was that tight in the front, it might cause problems, but there's very little lateral movement in the rear...although there is some. The stock 15" tire size might work.

The GS and RS stock wheel offsets are both 45 mm (Online Manual - Wheel & Tire Section).
Since they both have the same offset, the wider GS tires are gonna sit closer to the springs than the stock RS tires did. Whether it's too close, I don't know.

As I said, I've never heard of a problem with this. The different hubs idea makes sense, but I'm not sure what the effect would be.

Thanks for the help. I posted 16" previously but ment 205-55-15 under B8 DOHC in the shop manual. There is no GS or RS markings on the car. It has the V6. Is there a way to lookup what style the car is from the serial number?

rowboat wrote:Thanks for the help. I posted 16" previously but ment 205-55-15 under B8 DOHC in the shop manual. There is no GS or RS markings on the car. It has the V6. Is there a way to lookup what style the car is from the serial number?

There is no B8 DOHC, as I've said if you read my posts carefully, the V6 is the K8 DOHC, not B8 DOHC. There is no B8 DOHC engine for this car. If your daughter's car is a V6, then the stock wheels would have been 15" steel or aluminum, not 14's (they must have been changed).

Your daughter's car is the GS.

Sorry about the confusion. K8, I understand now. GS it is, but I will have to goto a narrower tire.
Thanks for the help.

rowboat wrote:Sorry about the confusion. K8, I understand now. GS it is, but I will have to goto a narrower tire.
Thanks for the help.

I don't think that you need a narrower tire. The GS came stock with the P205/55/R15.

I was wondering the same. How would the tires that belong to the car not work on it? unless with the smaller rims, everything got shifted and offset over time. That sorta happened to me before. Left the spare donut on an escort for half a year, it didnt want the right tire back on.

you can fit any mx3 wheel on an mx3, they all fit with room to spare the axle to spring base never changes so your good there. In fact a escort wheel from the 92+ will fit on a mx3, I had a pair of escort gt rims/tires on my buddies mx3 in calgary, the 15" fan balde style rims. So the stock width fits in there no issues whatsoever.