The wheels you need for your Kia Stinger

Today we cover Korea’s version of the BMW 4-Series Gran Coupe, the Kia Stinger. The name? Seems to be trying too hard, it probably sounds cooler in Korean (Japanese will always be the GOATS of naming cars). But other than the name, this car has a lot going on. In the last 15 or so years, KDM vehicle makers have expanded their lineups from bland, econo-box normie cars to actually pretty-decent sports cars. The Stinger is a prime example. 300HP from a factory I4-T? Can’t really argue with those numbers. Regardless of what trim you got, one of the first mods you’ll consider is a new set of wheels.

We specialize in wheels & tires, so in this guide, we’ll go over setups for anything badged a Stinger. This info will work with cars 2018-2023, base-GT or GT2, facelift or non-facelift. There are some considerations to keep in mind between different trims - cars with Brembos, for example. Before we show you what the fitment looks like we’ll quickly go through the basics you need to know about Kia Stinger fitment.

Quick links

• Basic fitment info
• 19" wheel fitment
• 20" wheel fitment
• 18" wheel fitment

Basic fitment info

• Lug pattern: 5x114.3
• Lug thread: M12x1.5
• Center bore: 67.1 mm
• Lug torque: 81 ft lbs

With a 5x114.3 PCD you have a plethora of wheels to choose from, otherwise, there's nothing too special about the lug pattern, thread, etc, this is all very similar to what you’d find on a JDM car.

Good news if you're squeamish about rolling fenders, these cars typically don’t need the fenders rolled unless you’re really going for something extreme.

Front strut clearance issues

There’s minimal room to fit wide wheels in the front of a Stinger due to problems with the wheel's inner lip contacting the strut. This is one reason you’ll see a lot of staggered setups, sometimes with the rear wheels being 2” wider than the fronts, there simply isn’t a ton of room (that and it makes sense to run staggered wheels on a RWD car).

If you want to play it safe, as many do, go with an 8.5” wide wheel. Most 9.0” wide wheels should work with the correct offset, but might require either slightly rolled fenders or stretched tires (it’s a balancing act). 9.5” is a tossup and should probably be reserved for cars with widebody front fenders. Of course, all sizes need the correct offset, we’ll look at various offsets later.

Some coilovers might actually decrease the real estate available depending on how long the springs are. In this case, the tire would be the contact point rather than the barrel of the wheel. Keep this in mind if you plan to use coils with thiccc tires.

Brembo brake clearance

If you have a GT model (GT, GT1, GT2), it will come equipped with Brembo brakes. With these cars the minimum wheel size is 18”, even then not all 18’s will fit as clearance is dependent on the barrel shape of the wheel.

Caliper-to-wheel-face clearance is pretty good as the calipers are inset quite a bit. Other cars, like the EVO X, are notorious for having calipers that stick way out and contact the face of the wheel. Still, you should be mindful of this when choosing wheels. The majority of our list includes Brembo-equipped cars; we included notes for setups that require spacers.

Examples of Kia Stinger fitment

The most popular size for aftermarket wheels is 19”. 20’s also work great on these cars but aren’t quite as popular. As we discussed, 18’s can have problems clearing Brembo calipers, but most work. We’ll look at 19’s first as that’s the preference, but we also included some examples of 18’s and 20’s, feel free to skip ahead if you’re looking for those sizes.

19” wheels

Starting with something pretty mild, this is what a squared set of Avant Garde wheels looks like on a GT1. As we can see, these wheels fit the Brembos without the need for spacers. This car is at stock ride height, with these specs, not surprisingly, there are no rubbing issues. The front fitment is pretty good, but these cars can run much larger rears which is why we’ll mostly see staggered setups.

This setup would be best for someone looking for OEM+ fitment for their daily.

---

This Stinger GT2 is on a staggered set of Enkei PF05 wheels. The front specs are very similar, but 15mm spacers make it poke out an extra ½”. A 9.5” rear wheel is a healthy increase from the factory 8.5, but still nothing that will require rolling the fenders (even with the 5mm spacers). This is another car with factory Brembos, the spacers were required to clear the front brakes.

This car is lowered on a set of H&R springs. The Stinger isn’t too high even on factory suspension so a humble set of lowering springs does a lot for the ride height - plus you can retain the factory adaptive dampers.

---

19x8.5 +30 (effective +30) // 19x9.5 +35. These might be the perfect specs for flush fitment that doesn’t require rolling or trimming. Once again we can see these wheels fitting over the factory Brembos with no issue. Both front and rear tires are sized up to match the wider wheels.

---

There are many types of fitment. So far we’ve seen stock suspension, springs, and coils, it’s only right if we look at one on air suspension. Needless to say, these specs are much more aggressive than the previous ones. Normally, there would be a decent amount of poke, however, with the appropriate suspension arms and stretched tires, this car is able to achieve show-stopping fender-to-lip fitment. This isn’t for someone just getting started with fitment/suspension; this type of look takes a lot of trial and error to perfect.

To make the 9.5” wide front wheels fit without contacting the struts, aftermarket widebody fenders were used. They give it a nice wide stance to really complete the look.

20” wheels

19’s are preferred, but 20’s are a close second. It's hard to say which size suits this chassis better - check out the examples and decide what looks best to you.

20’s + lowering springs will give you a similar look to this. This staggered setup with 8.5” fronts and 10.5” rears is reminiscent of BMW fitment and shows just how wide you can go in the rear. Other than the 10.5” rear, this is very familiar territory in terms of offset, tire size, etc. With the correct size of tire 20’s aren't too difficult to fit - in this case 245/35 fronts and 285/30 rears. No modification was needed to the fenders.

Strut clearance isn’t any more of an issue with 20’s as the problem area is the shock body rather than the spring perch. Hypothetically you could throw on some 22’s and still be fine, but don’t do that.

---

Another reason to run 20’s is if you wanna slam your car on bags. This size of wheel with nice thin rubber band tires is a formula for getting the ‘ tucked stance’ look, if that’s what you’re after. This is a nice comparison to the other bagged Stinger we looked at moments ago, which had hellaflush, fender-to-lip fitment. With 20’s, we see the rear wheels tuck nicely into the fender arches.

What are your thoughts on KDM cars with JDM wheels? We reckon it’s a pretty sweet pairing. Of course, you can find TE37s on a Stinger, along with any other type of car… ever, but the owner opted for Volk G12’s, a slightly underrated 12-spoke wheel. The wheels suit this build perfectly.

Shop the entire Volk Racing lineup

18” wheels

Okay, these aren’t that popular, but we decided to include an example if you’re looking for the lightest possible wheel setup. Again, if you have Brembos you need to be careful about which 18’s you choose.

We can say for certain that these Konig Ampliform wheels will fit factory Brembos with no issues, as we can see with this GT2. If the wheel specs look familiar, that’s because our first example had the same specs, but these are 18’s instead of 19’s. The owner chose pretty narrow tires, as we’ve seen these cars can handle stuff 255/35 or even larger in the rear without much of a fuss.

As far as 18’s on these cars, they definitely look a bit small. If you’re looking for something ultralight, this will meet your needs. If you want something more aesthetically pleasing (and arguably better performing), you could consider sizing the tire up to a 245/45 or a maybe 255/40.

Wrap up

Some people might sleep on the Stinger. It might not get you as many likes on Insta as the Euro or JDM equivalents, but it’s just as fast…

One way to get your Stinger noticed is with a nice set of aftermarket wheels. We hope you got all the information you need to feel confident ordering wheels. The important detail is to make sure you don’t go too wide or order something with too much backspacing (i.e. too high of an offset). An 8.5 or 9.0” wheel with around +25-35 offset will work great.

We got thousands of options to choose from - dished or monobloc, aggressive fitment or OEM+, check out our Shop to pick up the perfect wheel! After you get a set, feel free to share it in our Vehicle Gallery - a great place to share your vehicle or get inspiration.