Use our tire wheel size calculator to calculate your front space and get your offset value, just put in your width and backspace value and it will calculate it for you. You can also check out our tire size calculator, gear ratio calculator, tire height calculator and tire comparison calculator.
Wheel offset is the arrangement that ensure enough clearance between the components within your tire handling and rolling compartment. Wheel offset may also mean how your car’s or truck’s wheels and tires are mounted and sit in the wheel wells.
It is necessary to have a proper wheel offset which assures that nothing rubs against the suspension brakes or vehicle body such as fenders, bumpers and mud flaps when driving on the road.
It is important to have the right wheel offset for driving safety since the wrong offset can reduce vehicle stability or interfere with braking.
What is Positive, Negative and Zero Wheel Offset?
Positive wheel offset is when the hub mounting surface is in front (more toward the street side) of the centerline of the wheel while negative offset is when the hub mounting surface is behind the wheel centerline and Zero wheel offset occurs when the hub mounting surface is in line with the centerline of the wheel.
So, which is better?
The choice will basically depend on the type of car you ride as most new car models are front wheel which automatically comes with positive offset and the back axles with negative offset.
What happens if my wheel offset is wrong?
If your wheel offset is wrong tire rub becomes worse and very quickly rip up the inside sidewall of the tire (an area where the damage is very hard to detect until the tire possibly blows out). Apart from this expensive damage from the inner edge of the wheel and tire rubbing against the bodywork or suspension, other damages may include interference with brake parts, tire failure, poor handling, driving an unstable car, increased steering wheel kick-back and additional stress on the entire suspension.
How much wheel offset is okay?
An average deviation of 5 mm is acceptable. A positive offset is when the mounting surface is shifted from the centerline toward the front or outside of the wheel while a negative offset is when the mounting surface is toward the back or brake side of the wheel’s centerline. This is why ideally; you may not want the new offset to be more than 5 millimeters away from the old offset in either direction.
