What width wheel spacer needed for new wheels?

[Adam Thomas]

I have a set of 14x5.5" wheels with a 40mm offset. Planning on running the 165/55r14 like is suggested on here to keep the speedo fairly accurate. My question is what width spacer did you use to keep the rear wheel from rubbing on the stock suspension? Anything else I may be overlooking please let me know. Thanks!

[skeeters_keeper]

Are you on stock brakes or aspire? Aspire rear brakes space the wheel out a bit more than the stock. Either way a 10mm spacer should be sufficient, though with aspire you may be OK with no spacer at all. If you want the tire to be a little closer to flush with the fender on stock brakes you may want a 15-20mm spacer. It's been a while since I had factory rear struts, but I had some 14x5.5 +38s at one point with aspire brakes and no spacers.

Also I would suggest getting hub-centric spacers that match your wheel and hub. Festiva is 59mm, aspire is 54mm. You'll need to find or measure your wheel hub bore.

[Adam Thomas]

Thanks for the info. I am running stock type suspension. I found some Mazda wheels, I'll have to measure them when I pick them up. I guess I can mock it up to see how much I need to get that flush to the fender look before I buy them.

[skeeters_keeper]

Thanks for the info. I am running stock type suspension. I found some Mazda wheels, I'll have to measure them when I pick them up. I guess I can mock it up to see how much I need to get that flush to the fender look before I buy them.

Which wheels? The 14x5.5 +38s i had are miata daisies. But they are 4x100, and festiva is 4x114.3.

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[Adam Thomas]

They are the 8 hole RX-7 wheels.

[ryanprins13]

How much negative camber do you want to run? None like stock or do you want to use some shims? The negative camber improves handling even with stock suspension but would require the tire to be spaced out further.

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[Adam Thomas]

Good question. I was reading about the camber plates being made here, just don't know how far to go with this car. I picked it up in the spring to save a few bucks on gas. Ended up replacing pretty much everything on the car as it was all original, and sat indoors for about 15 years. It came with steel wheels, and I hated them. Got some of the 12" aluminum wheels for it, but now I want to run some bigger wheels. Zero camber is ok to start, unless I'm just going to end up throwing camber plates in there later. Tell me what you think.

[ryanprins13]

Good question. I was reading about the camber plates being made here, just don't know how far to go with this car. I picked it up in the spring to save a few bucks on gas. Ended up replacing pretty much everything on the car as it was all original, and sat indoors for about 15 years. It came with steel wheels, and I hated them. Got some of the 12" aluminum wheels for it, but now I want to run some bigger wheels. Zero camber is ok to start, unless I'm just going to end up throwing camber plates in there later. Tell me what you think.

Well on the one hand those plates may space your hubs out far enough to not need spacers. On the other hand it would look goofy to have -3.5 degrees camber on the rear and 0 on the front.
I have stock(ish) suspension and i used plastic shims to get -2 degrees on the rear and i slotted the strut holes to get -2 degrees on the front.
I just daily drive and never race but the handling improvement was incredible
Its a lot more fun to corner and taking cloverleaf onramps is a lot of fun. You can also adjust the front for less toe in and your car still drives straight. The negative camberhelps your car drive straighter with less toe in so your tires last longer. Same with the rear. I had a lot of toe in stock and was able to get rid of it with the shims.
Downside kinda is you almost need to be able to do your own alignment. Or youll have to pay a shop more than the normal amount to do it. I can walk you through doing your own alignment with tools that cost the same as paying for one alignment at a shop if you like...
This is mine at -2 degrees.

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[Adam Thomas]

I have a problem with overdoing every project. Here comes another!

[skeeters_keeper]

Over-kill is under-rated!
I like the RX7 "phone dial" wheels. Good find!
If you have to replace suspension components (struts etc) I strongly recommend doing the Advanced coilover setup. It turns even a stock festiva into something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive. Best $5-600 bucks you can spend, and you wind up with all new suspension components.

[mikeyuncensored]

Over-kill is under-rated!
I like the RX7 "phone dial" wheels. Good find!
If you have to replace suspension components (struts etc) I strongly recommend doing the Advanced coilover setup. It turns even a stock festiva into something that will put a grin on your face every time you drive. Best $5-600 bucks you can spend, and you wind up with all new suspension components.

How do I go about getting the Advanced coilover set up? Is this something I need to piece together or I can buy everything at once?

[ryanprins13]

I have a problem with overdoing every project. Here comes another!

Its a blessing just keep telling yourself that. Have you seen any videos yet? Heres a lemons festiva (sub $500 build) racing some track prepped corvettes and stuff. (Builders are very smart and spent many hours on this) https://youtu.be/7Z7yXQRj2Uk
I like this video. Its a 50hp carberated festiva with the advanced suspension putting down some impressive numbers in autocross.

https://youtu.be/fZUXkn0xFv8

How do I go about getting the Advanced coilover set up? Is this something I need to piece together or I can buy everything at once?

You gotta buy different parts but its easy. Summary thread with what to buy is here:

https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57936

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[Adam Thomas]

Yeah, you got me there. Please send me the link to the suspension bits. Thanks!

[ryanprins13]

Yeah, you got me there. Please send me the link to the suspension bits. Thanks!

Ha, directly above your comment is the link. Just click it and itl take you to the post. Ill have to find some more videos for you later its pretty cool what these cars can do.
Heres quite an old one. The setup has improved since this was made iirc.

https://youtu.be/q5F7RWJ7Sro

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[Adam Thomas]

Here goes another project! Thanks!