MB Battle rims - fitment question

R

RedSI

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Hey everyone,

I'm looking at the MB Battle rims 18 x 9.5...I love the deep dish concave look. My problem is I want to fit these wheels on without having to roll my fenders. I know this is possible because I have seen another thread on this board by the poster, Jnasti, who was able to accomplish this. The tire specs were 215/35/18 with an offset of +23. My main concern with that tire spec is the tires are stretch to its limit.........which has me a bit concern about how safe they are. Basically my question follows as - is there some type of math or equation to help me find different combinations of tire specs, that will allow a 18 x 9.5 inch wheel to fit without any fender rolling?? I don't mind going down to a 17 inch wheel if it means giving me more options regarding tire specs.

I hope all that made sense, I am still learning this stuff. Funny thing is I contacted MB Battle rims, but the customer service rep told me those rims don't fit the 2014 civic si......which I found weird considering Jnasti was able to do this on his 2012 SI. I mentioned this to him, but he told me he didn't really know............so yea that was end of convo lol.

Anyway I appreciate any help! Thanks!!
 
what is your current suspension setup - how low are you compared to stock (or are you on the stock suspension)?
 
Right now I am on stock suspensions. I did buy H&R sport springs tho and I plan to put them on once winter is over. So my maximum drop would be about 2 inches front/rear.
 
Thanks for the link Webby! I checked the thread out. Unfortunately it did not help me for what I was looking for. Most of the cars in that thread had tire specs very similar to Jnasti. They ran either 215/35 or 215/40 on 18x9.5 with offset of +25

Basically I am trying to see if I can put beefier tires (with no rubbing) on those same tires specs considering I drive rather aggressive and don't want to tear my tire apart early due to super stretching it......reducing the rim diameter to 17 inches would give me more room no?
 
I'm going to call MB battle rims again later today and hopefully I'll get a knowledgable customer service rep this time.
 
They will tell you the wheels do not fit. They say this because that is not even close to a stock size for your car. They do not want to be responsible for telling you it fits when it will hit the fender or suspension components. Just because the bolt pattern is correct does not mean they will ever recommend that wheel for your car. Companies don't want to suggest modifying your vehicle and then having someone try to hold them responsible for poor work or dangerous choices. ex: some 17yr old buys 10" wheels, cause they company says you can fit them, and shreds the tire and dies because it was rubbing.

Running a proper width tire for that size wheel will cause it to hit the fenders. Those guys are running stretched tires with lots of camber so the wheel doesn't hit the fender. Stretch tires, camber, fender work. Those are your options. There just isn't enough room in the wheel well for a wheel that large with a proper tire without doing fender work and running lots of camber. Thats if you don't want to rub at all.

The concave look is great but if you actually drive, and it sounds like you do, then do not run stretched tires. You will have an issue. Reducing to a 17" wheel will not remedy this problem. It is simply wheel width and low offset.

You'll have to decide if you want to run the stanced wheels with camber and stretched tires or do some fender work or pick a different wheel. Fender work is not hard though. Even at that point you will not be able to run a proper width tire for that wide of a wheel on your car. A 9.5" wheel fits a 265 or 275 width tire very nicely. Even a 245 would be a little stretched on there. Thats a massive tire for these cars.

Let us know what you want to do and we will try and help you. However a 9.5" +23 will rub with a proper width tire.
 
Nix said:
They will tell you the wheels do not fit. They say this because that is not even close to a stock size for your car. They do not want to be responsible for telling you it fits when it will hit the fender or suspension components. Just because the bolt pattern is correct does not mean they will ever recommend that wheel for your car. Companies don't want to suggest modifying your vehicle and then having someone try to hold them responsible for poor work or dangerous choices. ex: some 17yr old buys 10" wheels, cause they company says you can fit them, and shreds the tire and dies because it was rubbing.

Running a proper width tire for that size wheel will cause it to hit the fenders. Those guys are running stretched tires with lots of camber so the wheel doesn't hit the fender. Stretch tires, camber, fender work. Those are your options. There just isn't enough room in the wheel well for a wheel that large with a proper tire without doing fender work and running lots of camber. Thats if you don't want to rub at all.

The concave look is great but if you actually drive, and it sounds like you do, then do not run stretched tires. You will have an issue. Reducing to a 17" wheel will not remedy this problem. It is simply wheel width and low offset.

You'll have to decide if you want to run the stanced wheels with camber and stretched tires or do some fender work or pick a different wheel. Fender work is not hard though. Even at that point you will not be able to run a proper width tire for that wide of a wheel on your car. A 9.5" wheel fits a 265 or 275 width tire very nicely. Even a 245 would be a little stretched on there. Thats a massive tire for these cars.

Let us know what you want to do and we will try and help you. However a 9.5" +23 will rub with a proper width tire.
Click to expand...

I agree with @Nix
To OP @RedSI
If you'd call and ask the company, you'd only get the answers within the stock specification.
In my story, I bought the Drag DR-33 17 x 7.5 and the tire size is 215/17/45 because they are recommended to match the stock spec & size. Initially I asked if I could run 18 but was not recommended. When I bought the rim, I asked if I could run 225/40/17 tire. However, I was declined as well as I was told it could rub the fender. Though I later learned that it wouldn't.

Yes you have to do hw and research.
 
Nix said:
They will tell you the wheels do not fit. They say this because that is not even close to a stock size for your car. They do not want to be responsible for telling you it fits when it will hit the fender or suspension components. Just because the bolt pattern is correct does not mean they will ever recommend that wheel for your car. Companies don't want to suggest modifying your vehicle and then having someone try to hold them responsible for poor work or dangerous choices. ex: some 17yr old buys 10" wheels, cause they company says you can fit them, and shreds the tire and dies because it was rubbing.

Running a proper width tire for that size wheel will cause it to hit the fenders. Those guys are running stretched tires with lots of camber so the wheel doesn't hit the fender. Stretch tires, camber, fender work. Those are your options. There just isn't enough room in the wheel well for a wheel that large with a proper tire without doing fender work and running lots of camber. Thats if you don't want to rub at all.

The concave look is great but if you actually drive, and it sounds like you do, then do not run stretched tires. You will have an issue. Reducing to a 17" wheel will not remedy this problem. It is simply wheel width and low offset.

You'll have to decide if you want to run the stanced wheels with camber and stretched tires or do some fender work or pick a different wheel. Fender work is not hard though. Even at that point you will not be able to run a proper width tire for that wide of a wheel on your car. A 9.5" wheel fits a 265 or 275 width tire very nicely. Even a 245 would be a little stretched on there. Thats a massive tire for these cars.

Let us know what you want to do and we will try and help you. However a 9.5" +23 will rub with a proper width tire.
Click to expand...

Nix, thanks for this highly informative post. Everything you said was exactly what I feared. I have been trying to avoid fender work for a couple reasons.

1) I hear rolling fenders is bad if you deal with a lot of snow in your region. The reason being the insides of the wheel well is exposed more to the snow, hence acceleration in rust.

2) It is expensive to hire a trusted, skill professional to roll your fenders. I hear it is not a job for a rookie and that honda's paint easily cracks under the temperature of a "heat gun".

I have h&r sport springs which lowers front/rear wheels by 1.5-1.8 inches. I plan to get a camber kit for the rear wheels, just to be on the safe side.

According to the stretch tire fitting thread, 275 will be a perfect fit for a wheel width of 9.5 inches. I am willingly to go as low as 255 maybe 245, but I think that is pushing it a little too much past the safe zone. Do you think 255 is plausible? I may have to drop the whole deep concave look.

Once again, all help is greatly appreciated!
 
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Book time:

Fender work is scary but its not bad.

1) Rolling is fine if you take your time and buy the proper tools. We lived in upstate NY and I rolled my wifes front fenders and shaved her rear fenders. Scary A. F. No joke. First time doing it. You do need to address the exposed areas. You need to section and patch the fender liner if it comes loose or doesn't cover the whole area.

1a) The fronts:

The fender liner is held in by clips. The clips go into tab style "eyelets" on the inside of the fender. You can usually just bend the tabs up and tuck the fender in behind them. It will pull away from the front and rear of the wheel well but a quick cut/tape/stich of some extra plastic will help. We ran with it pulled away for about 2 years without issue. Upstate NY has some serious winters and salt/sand usage. This gives a decent amount of extra room. You may end up having to roll the left over lip in a couple spots if you really need the space. You can bend the tabs with pliers if you're super careful. A heat gun just helps make everything softer and a bit more flexible. The paint may crack regardless. Clear RTV silicone sealant is awesome, cheap, durable, and near invisible.

1b) The rears:

Rolling the rears is tricky. Its a double panel layer and sometimes trying to roll 2 layers ends up causing waves and buckling. You can cut reliefs into the sheet metal or... just shave it off. There should be a good size lip on the rears. Using a grinder with a cutting wheel to shave it down followed by flap discs, sanding discs, and then sealing with RTV is the way to go. It is scary. You are cutting into a perfectly good fender to fit a wheel. Why get a wheel that fits when you can make the car fit the wheel? Right? Ugh, thats what we did. No rust so far. Just check the sealant and reapply as needed. Its like $5/tube at Auto Zone.


2) Yes. Having someone else do it is expensive and there is no guarantee they will do a good job. Often it is just "some guy" who bought a fender roller and now advertises his services. Poor roll jobs end up with wavy fenders and cracked paint. Some of this is unavoidable no matter what. The older the paint the more likely it is to crack. The paint will only crack from the heat gun if you leave it on one area too long and burn it up. The heat gun needs to be kept moving and only get it as hot as is slightly painful to the touch. It just helps make the metal and paint more flexible. It may still crack even if the car is new and the paint is warmed up. A fender roller will cost you around $200. Renting is around $50/day and paying someone is like $200+ anyways. No one will be as careful with your car as you. Just buy the damn tool! Eastwood makes the best one I've seen and is the same one I purchased. Just google Eastwood Fender Roller. Don't waste your time with a cheap one. The eastwood has all the adjustments you need on it.

Taking your time is the most important thing. Just work small sections gradually. Do 1/3 and then move on and keep it all even. Don't try to roll it flat in one go or one section completely flat. Be as conservative as possible. This is definitely a job a "rookie" can handle with some guidance, patience, and the right tools. Ghetto roll jobs happen all the time. Just watch youtube and see guys with nice Infiniti/Lexus/etc roll their fenders with phone books and baseball bats. You can't do any worse but you can be disappointed in your own work at the end.


The tires..... I have seen one person run 255 width tires. It is far too wide for this car unless you are pushing 500hp+. A 245 will be difficult to fit also. You will fit neither of those tires on that wheel without serous negative camber and fender work to avoid rubbing. Those are going to be expensive tires to replace which the camber will definitely effect tire life.

\Wide concave wheels are whats popular and trendy. They do look good but, a lot of those cars running huge wheels and stretched tires, think of them as an athletic girl in stilettos. She could run but she won't. So you have to decide if you want stilettos or running shoes. You could shoot down the middle and get a good looking wheel with a great tire and avoid fender work. It just won't be the MB Battles. Unless you're willing to settle for stretched tires and careful driving.

I will try to be objective and not sway you one way or the other but i have my feelings on stretched tires and wide wheels with "broken" camber settings. If you live anywhere near Louisville KY I would be happy to help you roll/shave and you can use my fender roller. Its pretty fun and the tool is just sitting around anyway.
 
Nix, you are seriously the man!

You are right about fender rolling not being as scary as I thought. I just watched a few videos of ghetto fender rolling with baseball bats, it is still scary nonetheless lol.

I appreciate your help, unfortunately I live up in Boston. The more I think about running wide concave wheels, the more I realized a setup like this was never really meant for a civic. Once you start running 9+ inch wide wheels, you are adopting a setup that was made more for RWD sport cars.

Eventually at some point in the not too distant future, I would like to start learning body work. As of now I will make mods to my car with a reminder it is a SI, not a corvette. Even if I did fender work, I would still have trouble running a tire width of 255 for clearance space, with the car lowered by almost 2 inches all around. Plus 255 is the safest, lowest tire width I can run on a 9.5 inch wide wheel. The deep concave look will have to go, at least on this car. It is not a coincidence most guys I have seen online with wheels 9+ inch wide on their civics, are running 215. These wide wheels affects the offset a lot which makes a big difference for clearance space. I myself however will not take that risk of running super stretched tires. Not to get on a soap box, but I feel ppl take way too many gambles like this. Especially when it comes to modifications to their suspension and running wider wheels.

I love the MB battle rims, but I will be looking at another option. I know the stock SI wheels for year 2014 is 225/40/18 on 7.5 inch wide wheel. 225 is safe up to 8 inches, maybe even 8.5 inches with a little stretch. Regardless I will not go any wider than 8.5 and if it is 8.5 I will run 235. So I basically looking at either 225 on 8 or 235 on 8.5.

Back to the drawing board, it took me a particularly long time for me to settle on a rim, that I would still like 3 months later lol. I will be back once I find that other rim.
 
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Id say you would be safe running a 225 on a 9" wheel. Thats the minimum width I would put on that and it's even a very very slight stretch at that point. My wifes car has 225/40 tires on an 8.75" wheel. A 235 will cover a 9" just fine if you find something in that width. A lot of wheels get the concave look starting at 9". Google images of the RPF1 in an 8" and a 9" width. Totally different looking wheel. Also if you keep the offset a little higher you can fit just fine with a little camber and no fender work. Its just the 9.5" width plus the +23 offset is super aggressive.

@squiggy has 245 width tires on his car and he's lowered. I forget what his wheel specs are but that might help you with fitment and an idea of how much space you have.
 
I am running 17×8 with stock offset (+43??) and lowered on H&R which gives me about a 1" wheel gap. Only rubbed once due to some very aggressive driving.
 
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