if my math is correct... 17" wheels only raise your car 1" higher then stock 15" wheels. (mathematically, 17" rims add 1" to the top and 1" to the bottom)
knowing this, if you took that 17" rim and took 2.25" (drop zone springs) from that - you would have a car that was 1.25" lower then stock 15" wheels... this would be the equivalent to running smaller then 13" wheels on your celica. (the spare-tire/donut in your trunk is 14")
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Usually how its done is - you install 17" wheels on your celica.. your car is now 1" higher then stick... then you drop it down 1.5" with correct shocks and springs... and now you are riding 0.5" lower then stock 15" rims (this is almost an acceptable height for daily driving, because this is the equivalent height of running 14" wheels - most economy cars on the road these days are shipped stock with 14" wheels)...
if you had a 0.8" drop (TRD springs) on your STOCK GTS 16" rims, your celica chassis would be about 0.3" lower then stock 15" height. (equivalent height as if your were to have three 100 lbs kids/women seated in your celica)
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ALL of this is assuming that every TIRE you have on your celica is proportional to STOCK settings and NOT low-profile tires.knowing all of this, here is something to think about... for every 1" rim-size that you install on your celica, you raise your chassis by a full 1/2" - - for every 1" drop you have on your celica, you are lowering by a full 1".
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NON-STOCK SIZED RIMS w/ NON-STOCK SIZED TIRES will offset your Speedometer by a small percentage... SPRINGS (STOCK or AFTERMARKET) will NOT.
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NOTE: I have bone stock suspension.. but I'm running 17", 45 profile tires... when I hit 100 mph on my speedometer, I'm actually going 105 mph in real life. (more details on the speedometer can be found at
http://216.102.149.4/cgi/everythingcelica/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000008 )
[ 07-18-2002, 11:35 AM: Message edited by: isaac ]