I am looking at getting a set of wheels and they only come in 17x8 form so I can't stagger them like factory wheels. Would the 17x8 wheels all around be okay? I really like these wheels. I was thinking for tires 215/45/17 in the front and 235/45/17 in the rear. I do plan on lowering the front an inch and the back about the same with coilovers. Maybe different tire sizes? Thoughts?

The 17x8 rims will not work on the front.
3 years ago I did some research and found that a 17x7 with 40mm offset was the thing that works.
17x8 at the rear with 48 mm offset fits too.
If you do try to get that 8" rim on the front it would require a massive spacer and that's not a good thing on multiple levels.

I have had 17x8 on my 88 fiero all around, with >2" drop. I didn't have any problems.

The trouble here is that you can't simply specify 17 X 8 and know whether they will fit or not. You must also specify the offset otherwise you're only giving half the info needed to answer the question.

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: The trouble here is that you can't simply specify 17 X 8 and know whether they will fit or not. You must also specify the offset otherwise you're only giving half the info needed to answer the question.

Yeah. Sorry, I forgot about that. The offset is 35mm, they don't have any other options for offset either.

Gall757- I appreciate the help. But I don't understand what the blue lines mean. But according to the graph, if you take away the unlabeled blue lines, the wheels I am looking at will work. I did search on PFF and didn't find a 100% sure answer to my question, but I did find that very same graph posted when someone asked a similar question to mine. I am just trying to make sure these wheels work before I make a sub $1000 purchase on wheels and tires.

[This message has been edited by craigsfiero2007 (edited 01-06-2014).]

The blue lines are where the stock Fiero wheels are when you compare them to the others. I am not positive about the white ends on each graph, apparently there is some wheel lip variation from brand to brand...if you have no lip on the edge you can disregard the white part. The wheels you are considering are a very tight fit.....on the rear.

They're not going to work. The stock front wheels on an '88 are 6" wide and have a 37mm offset, but to make things easy, lets just call it a 35 mm offset. Since your new wheels are 8" wide and have the same offset, that means the extra width (2") will be divided with half of it going to the inside edge and the other half going to the outside edge. So take a look at your stock front wheels and try to picture them sticking 1 inch further out than they already do.

If you wanted the outside edge to be in the same place with an 8" wheel, you'd need to find one with a 60 mm offset. There's a bit more to it than that because the tire sidewall bulge comes into play as well, and there simply isn't enough room to have 2 more inches added to the inside lip of the wheel, but it's enough to know that these wheels won't work.

For the 88's you almost have to find wheels in staggered offsets/widths since the front and rear hub mounting surfaces aren't the same width apart.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 01-06-2014).]

Bloozberry- Thanks for giving me the answer I was looking for. Not what I wanted to hear because these wheels would've looked awesome on a Fiero.
The search continues.

So pretty much I have to use a 7" wheel up front with a offset between 45 and 35. The rears have to be at most 8" with the offsets between 42 and 40. Really narrows down the wheels I can get. Are my tire sizes at least good?

+'s for everyone

[This message has been edited by craigsfiero2007 (edited 01-06-2014).]

I have 17 x 8 on the front of my 87GT. PO installed them. It is a tight fit and some times they do rub on the inner wheel well

The 87's are a whole other ball of wax since they have different offset needs on the front than the 88's.

What about an 18x8.5 w/48mm offset for the front. How far out will they stick out?

Thanks...

The other issue with a wide wheel with a large offset on the 88 is the strain on the wheel bearing.
The centerline of the wheel is way too far off of the centerline of the bearing.
I believe this would lead to premature bearing failure over time.
It also would place the tire beyond the fender.
Thoughts.....................

The way you do the comparison is like this:

1. Find the width and offset of the stock wheel: for '88 fronts it's 6" wide with a 37mm offset; for 88 rears it's 7" wide with 30 mm offset;

2. Find the width and offset of the wheel you like: take for example your 8.5 X 48;

3. Subtract the width of the stock wheel from the width of your new wheel: in this case lets use the fronts so 8.5" - 6" = 2.5";

4. Divide the difference in two: 2.5" / 2 = 1.25"

5. That is the amount the wheel rim will stick further inside and outside than stock if the new wheel had the same offset as stock, but it's not in this case so we continue:

6. Subtract the stock wheel offset from the new wheel offset: 48mm - 37mm = 11mm

7. Convert to inches: 11mm / 25.4 mm/inch = 0.433"

8. Subtract the result from step 7 from the result in step 4 to find how much the new wheel will stick out at the road side than stock: 1.25" - 0.433" = 0.817"

9. Add the result from step 7 from the result in step 4 to find how much the new wheel will stick further in at the inboard edge than stock: 1.25" + 0.433" = 1.683"

That's how you find out where the rim will sit, but it's equally important to consider how much of a tire bulge there will be since the tire is really what defines the edge of the wheel and tire assembly, not the rim. As I mentioned before, the stock rims are actually tucked in somewhat from the fender lip, but the bulging 205/60/15 tires on a 6" wide rim makes them look just fine. If you fail to consider that a low profile tire will bulge considerably less, then you may not be satisfied with the look.

So how do you calculate the effect of tire bulge? Some tire sites like Goodyear have look-up tables that appear when you select a tire size. They show what the actual maximum width of your tire will be (including sidewall bulge) for a specific rim width... usually the optimum rim width for the tire size. (They also give a maximum and minimum recommended rim width for the width of the tire as well.) Armed with that info, you can estimate how much further out your tire will bulge from the wheel you've selected.

(edit: typos)

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 01-07-2014).]

So I have found another set of wheels that I think should work fine. They are 17x7 40mm for the fronts and 17x8 35mm in the rear.

quote Originally posted by craigsfiero2007: So I have found another set of wheels that I think should work fine. They are 17x7 40mm for the fronts and 17x8 35mm in the rear.

What brand and model wheel have you found in those sizes?

I have known people who used thin or thick washers as spacers to gain a bit more clearance space,this works but
I ve never like this idea.
For best performance always try to get the lightest wheel possible

quote Originally posted by eunospeed: What brand and model wheel have you found in those sizes?

Konig Lace wheels