I'm running a much wider tire then you, 245/40/18 and didn't have to grind a thing. So basically you spaced your wheels out 1/8" by using (2) 1/16" washers per wheel stud and ground your bracket on the shocks.

Op the easiest way to figure out what spacer thickness you need is to find out the Solstice/Sky factory wheel offset of the wheel you want, subtract the HHR factory wheel offset and thats the spacer thickness you will need to clear the suspension parts.

I would use a hub centric spacer as this aligns the wheel perfectly up to the wheel hub. Heck my spacers are hub centric to the hub and hub centric to my wheels bore both. There's the cheap way of doing things and the right way.

 

i would rather not have to grind anything. How is it one has bigger tires and didnt have to grind anything, and the other did?

 

Proper back spacing of the wheels.

 

So he needed more back spacing than the 1/8" he put on it, or was there just no way around grinding on the parts he did? You used SSR Type-C RS Anthracite wheels and not the Sky rims correct? or did you previously have Sky rims? and if you did previously have sky rims, how much did you space the rims?

I would have to agree on the Hub-centric spacer.

 

The shims I put on my car are only temporary, my plans is to order 2 sets of 5/16" thick wheel spacers and also install longer wheels studs so I have more thread to work with. Oh the 245/40 R18 isnt any wider than what I have on my car, they are the same width as mine 245, the 45 and the 40 is the heighth of the sidewall!! It is 40 % of the tread width.

 

[QUOTE=HHRSSouth;447034]I'm running a much wider tire then you, 245/40/18 and didn't have to grind a thing. My tires are taller than these!!! not by much though.

 

Actually his are wider, where yours are 225/45/18, his are 245/40/18. Now who's is taller is debatable as I have not done the math to find out which tire would have the bigger diameter. So this would pose another question. Since neither one of you are running the 215/45R18 that Chevy sells in the 18"x7" package, and djr1973 is running 225/45/18 with the 18"x8" Sky rims, and HHRSSouth is running 245/40/18 with 18"x?" rims. Who is the closest to keeping the speedo the same? Back with that answer in a bit, gotta do alot of math.

djr1973, would using the 5/16" spacer and the longer studs(for more thread grip) you are talking about going with now have eleviated the need for you grinding on the parts that you did?

 

djr1973, Every time I see your avatar, it reminds me of how great your car looks on those rims. It is puzzling (to my feeble brain) that Chevy didn't put a version of those rims on the HHR from the factory. That may be the best "factory" look of all to my eyes. If I wanted to stray from my 17" rims, I'd buy a set of those. I really like the Mooneyes SpeedMaster salt flat rims, but those Sky rims are right up there. Well done Sir! God Bless, Marc

 

Sorry, I wasnt paying any attention, lol, owell. He must have some serious spacers and isnt lowered or he would have some major rubbing issues, when I got the wheels they had 245/45 r 18 tires on them and there was no way that they would fit with my car as low as it is. I have Goldline Gen 1's on my car.

 

Stock Tire - 225/45R18 / Tire 1 -245/40R18

Section Width: 8.85 in 225 mm / 9.64 in 245 mm

Rim Width Range: 7 - 8.5 / 8 - 9.5 in

Overall Diameter: 25.97 in 659.63 mm / 25.71 in 653.03 mm

Sidewall Height: 3.98 in 101.09 mm / 3.85 in 97.79 mm

Almost 1" more section width over the stockers, so yes mine are wider.