I'm a noob to the forum and do not own an Element, but one is likely in my future. This short story comes from a close friend who just got a Black 2004 EX. A couple of weeks back I was in Dallas and my friend took me to a local dealer that had a black E with some upgrades, including: custom grill, wheels, and tires. He said after he picked his up (in Oklahoma) he was going to put on some wheels and tire the exact same size, "cause they looked so nice!" I have another close friend who owns a tire shop, so after his purchase I got them together. Friend A took his new ‘E’ to friend B to put on a set of American Eagle rims (18" offset of +43 for style 181) and a set of Goodyear Wrangler HP tires (bad choice now in hind sight-just happened to have them in-stock) of 255/55/18.
http://www.aewheel.com/images/categories/181.jpg

Friend B also recommended AE wheels style 168, which has an offset of +38.
http://www.aewheel.com/images/categories/077.jpg

He also recommended Falken tires, but said it would take him a few days to order a set.
http://www.falkentire.com/tires/stz04_infopg.htm

Because Friend A was traveling, he just popped in on Friend B to see what he had in stock, I happened to witness the meeting because I was having a some new rubber put on my Accord. Friend A decided on the 181 style wheels and Friend B just happen to have a set of Wranglers in the size he wanted (he had no other tires in stock in that size). The wheels would have to wait till the afternoon because Friend B had to pick them up from the warehouse. Friend A decided to go on the trip and put them on a couple of days later. He got home from his trip and stopped in to put the 181s and Wranglers on but then found out they rubbed, so he didn’t buy them. He went back to Dallas and went to the dealer to inquire on the wheels/tires combo we marveled at just weeks before. They said they were Enkei wheels (didn’t remember the model) and Toyo Proxes tires.
http://www.toyo.com/tires/index_frame.html
The aftermarket rep just happened to be there but didn’t remember the wheel model. The rep assured Friend A that the tires fit without modification and the warranty would not be voided. I checked the Enkei website and from memory remember the wheels being this model (having a +40) offset:
http://www.enkei.com/PerfSpecPAGES/rsf-2Specs.html

So why do you think the tire wheel combos rubbed? I’ve read Wranglers bulge more than other tires, could this be the reason? Or could it be that the offset was 3mm more than the Enkei/Toyo set-up? Maybe both reasons combined caused the rubbing. If Friend A got the 077 style wheels and the Falken tires do you think the 5mm less offset would keep the tires from rubbing? By the way, the whole purpose for going to Friend B would save Friend A about $400, over the Enkei/Toyo combo. What do y’all think? Sorry for the much verbiage.

Check out Edge Racing http://www.edgeracing.com

They have "bundles" that they will ship tires already mounted on wheels. They have pretty good prices as well.

Falkens are a pretty good tires and many SCCA autocrossers use them as they are inexpensive and stick reasonably well.

spex those 181's are really nice. if everything works out for your buddy, put a pic of them on the site. i am interested to see the two of them together.

It sounds like a combination of offset and tire size.

I been researching this for about a week on the web. I'm going to be trying an Enkei RPF1 18x8 with 40 mm offset. The 43 mm offset will pull the tire in about 1/10 in. The tire size will be 245/55R18. This tire is approx. 3/8 in. narrower and 1/2 in. less tall than a 255/55R18. It is still over 1.2 in. wider and .5 in. taller than stock.

I have read of others running the 245/55R18. I do not know what offset they ran. Enkei feels that this will work.

So, If I have done this right, your friend went ever so slightly over line. I hope that I end up on the other side of that line.

He did go over the line just a bit, so I guess the dealer in Dallas must really be pushing it with the combo they used. Maybe the Toyo tires don't bulge as much as others, and the +40 offset may be just enough with the 255s to keep things from rubbing (as they claimed). I really don't blame my friend for trying to get the thicker rubber to work because the E in Big D looked outstanding.

Another thing, I helped my friend install the U-haul hitch with the 2" receiver last weekend. Others here have mentioned that it is not necessary to file the holes in the frame to get the bolts and plates to fit through. We found that this was untrue for us. Even with hammering the plates and bolts, the holes were still not large enough. Luckily I had a dremmel attachment that required about 10 seconds of grinding per side to make everything work. Overall, it was an easy job that took about 30 minutes.

We hooked up to my 10' single axel trailer, and to my surprise the E handled it quite well, even with a large load of furniture. So far the little vehicle has sure surprised me. I figured it would struggle like crazy with anything in tow. We had at least 1500 pounds behind it, not to mention at least a 1000lbs inside, and it still pulled the load with no glaring problems. Of course he doesn't expect to make a habit of pulling anything like that again (I hope).

I forgot to mention he got a Softride 4 bike carrier from Overstock.com for $130. Performancebike.com has them for $140 (they had them for $120 last week), Supergo for $150. The rack retailed for $230. I highly recommend the carrier, it seemed nice an burly. Check out the reviews:

http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Bike_Rack/product_19953.shtml

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/large_photo.cfm?SKU=18500&Store=Bike

http://www.supergo.com/profile.cfm?lProd_id=24709&lmfg_id=&searchtext=quest

Adding a Thule Zip Stick would make the rack really nice, if it fits anyway:

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=12&sku=950

Funny, I just noticed Overstock bumped the price up $15:

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?PAGE=PROFRAME&PROD_ID=653334

FYI,

I just noticed that Overstock changed the link for the Softride rack. If you are interested just go to Overstock.com and do a search for "softride" and you'll get the rack. They only have the 2" receiver hitch model. We also noticed that with the rack insterted all the way into the receiver and then lowered, the E's tailgate clears by a couple of inches. Also, when the rack was ordered two weeks ago, they were shipping it free. Don't know if they're still offering that deal, call them and they may still honor it.

OK, I just had my tires mounted today. BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDWS size 245/55ZR18. They are mounted on Enkei RPF1 size 18x8 with 35mm offset.

They seam to be the largest diameter wide tires that will fit on the Element. The 255/55R18 tires would definitely be to large in diameter. There are spots both front and rear where I can barely get my small finger in there with the 245's.

I have not lowered Bunkie yet. The will probably be a few weeks off. If I retain the stock bump stops I should be OK.

[quote:9eeec19c89=" "]OK, I just had my tires mounted today. BFGoodrich G-Force T/A KDWS size 245/55ZR18. They are mounted on Enkei RPF1 size 18x8 with 35mm offset.

They seam to be the largest diameter wide tires that will fit on the Element. The 255/55R18 tires would definitely be to large in diameter. There are spots both front and rear where I can barely get my small finger in there with the 245's.

I have not lowered Bunkie yet. The will probably be a few weeks off. If I retain the stock bump stops I should be OK.[/quote:9eeec19c89]

I will do some more research and call the dealer in Dallas that had the Enkei/Toyo 255/18"s on. Remember, they claimed nothing rubbed, so I really don't know if that's true or not. I'm inclined to believe them because a dealer selling a vehicle with non-comforming equipment seems like a huge liability issue. My friend, who was only looking at the time, did talk to the aftermarket rep who confirmed the wheel/tire size and said the vehicle would be covered by Honda's warranty, so I still believe the combo will work. Again, maybe the Toyo tires have a shape that conforms better to the Element's wheel wells, or maybe some material was removed to allow for the tire. I'll try to find out for sure.

I spent many a long hours trying to find the right fit.....To be honest with you, there is not really good "true" plus two sizing combos that are worth the money. Many like myself have gone with BFG 245/55/18's. These tires are slightly bigger that the plus two sizing and you WILL lose gas mileage with them. 245/50/18 is the correct size, but try and find a good tire AW tire with a nice look at a fair price....if you so find one, PLMK ASAP. The tires fit best on 18/8's. They look OK, but stick out a tad plus to me there is to much sidewall. I will be looking at 235/50/18's here soon to gain back my gas mileage. They will be a tad smaller than two plus, but I think that will be the ticket. Nice new Pirelli Scorp STR tire out in that size.

As for wheels, this was just as frustrating, as I finally went with a set of 18-8 Lexus wheels and had them bored out to fit. Offset was 45 and the set up is super. Not only did I have a hard time finding a nice looking wheel, but the price of what I liked was super high....$350 plus per wheel!
I "just" this week put on some "new 2004 style" caps on my wheels and it made it even better looking IMHO. I have two set of these wheels, both bored out to fit your E's....I choose to go with my Chrome set and sell the alloy set. Besides being a great fit, and a unique look, the cost factor say's it all. I am selling the set of alloys for $300 with brand new 2003 caps. The wheels are super clean and I bought them off of the owner here in the Seattle area car first hand. I have pics of both wheels with both caps, but I have no clue how to post on here.

PM me if you need more info or for pics.....EE