If you check out our fitment gallery you are sure to see two things: Civics & IS’s. At this point maybe we should just rebrand to threepiece.eg or .is? Maybe .ek? How bout .ef?? We already did a fitment guide for the Civic, so it’s only fair that we do one for the IS guys too. This post will specifically focus on the 2IS (XE20), ranging from 2006-2013.

This is all about wheel fitment, we’ll be talking suspension, wheels, tires, and body mods needed to make it fit. If you’re looking to cut your exhaust off with a Sawzall, this isn’t the guide for you - maybe trade your IS for a clapped Z33.

We broke this guide down by suspension types as this dictates the overall theme of the car. We’ll look at one example of stock suspension, lowering springs, a few on coilovers, and finally, what you want but probably can’t afford - air suspension.

First, here are the critical details you need for any type of fitment.

Quick links

• Basic fitment info
• You can use staggered wheels on AWD cars
• What can you do with factory suspension?
• Lowered 2IS fitment (coils/springs)
• 2IS air suspension setups

Basic fitment info

• Lug pattern: 5x114.3
• Lug thread: M12 x 1.5
• Center bore: 60.1 mm
• Lug torque: 75 ft lbs

In terms of aftermarket wheels, there isn’t one go-to size. Everything from 17 to 20” will fit the 2IS. 17’s are probably not the way considering this is a big body sedan. Our recommendation is 18 to 20”. Really all of these look good; we’ll look at examples of each to give you a better idea of how they fit.

For flush fitment with a square sidewall, you’ll want front wheels between 8.5 and 9.5 inches with a 20-35 offset. In the rear: 9.0 to 10.5 wide, 25-40 offset. Factory wheels are staggered - staggered setups are more common, but square is also popular.

The typical 5x114.3 lug pattern is used, giving the option to mix & match between other Japanese car makes. 19” G37 and 370z wheels look surprisingly good for an OEM+ type of build, especially the factory Rays.

They come staggered, but you could put a full set of fronts or rears together if you have an AWD IS. But is it a must to run square wheels on AWD cars?

You can use staggered wheels on AWD cars

But the rolling diameter needs to be within 2% front to rear. Rolling diameter refers to the overall diameter of the tires. You can play with offset, width, tire specs, whatever, as long as the final diameter of the tire comes within a +/- 2% difference. A popular combination is 225/40 front and 255/35 rear, this falls well within the tolerance.

What can you do with factory suspension?

Most of the time these cars get lowered, especially the AWD models which sit about ½” taller. But if you wanna stay at stock height, you could still run into rubbing issues with larger sized wheels. 19’s and especially 20’s need low profile tires to avoid rubbing at full steering lock, not unlike trucks with larger tires. To solve this, it’s possible to heat up the plastic and push it out for clearance. Alternatively, just rip those things out and throw ‘em in the trash.

Here’s an ‘08 IS250 RWD at stock ride height. With 19-inch wheels and front 235/35 tires, this car needed the fender liners pushed in to prevent rubbing at full lock. The tire diameter in front is about 25.5". Regardless of the wheel diameter, you’ll need to size your tires smaller than this to prevent rubbing (if you must keep the liners).

This setup won’t work for AWD applications because the rear tires come out to over 3% different than the front. This will cause drivetrain issues.

We’ll get right into the fun stuff as most of these cars are lowered in one way or another.

Lowered 2IS fitment (coils/springs)

If you want to drop your car you’ll need to ditch the fender liners. Depending on the wheel specs and how much you lower it, you’ll likely need to think about rolling the fenders too. This platform doesn’t have any quirks that make rolling difficult - you can get it done with a fender roller, heat gun, and 6-pack.

Here’s our first example of 18’s, in this case they’re TE37 SAGAs. They look good with the correct tire; take note of the thicker sidewall - 245/ 40. The SAGA SL goes up to 18”. Those looking for 19’s can check out the S-Plus, and if you wanna go big, see the Ultra models for 19 & 20 inch. We have TE37s in just about any configuration you could imagine, check them out in our shop.

Get your TE's HERE

If you wanna go lower, you don’t even need aftermarket parts, you could run springs off an F-Sport IS. That’s what this IS350 has and we can see it’s pretty low - the wheel gap is minimal. They provide a drop of about 1”. If you want to go lower than this, aftermarket springs will give up to a 2” drop.

---

One gripe with lowering springs is that they leave the front a tad higher than the rear. The solution? Coilovers… Or air suspension, but we’ll get to that later… Coils let you dial in the perfect ride height, whatever that might be for your situation.

Just because you install coils doesn’t mean you have to slam your car. This F-Sport has BC Racing coils but is around the same height as lowering springs. In fact, some brands, Tein for example, allow a ride height similar to stock. Sure, it won’t be as smooth as factory, but this is a good option if you plan on tracking your car or have harsh roads in your area.

---

If you wanna slam it, you can also do that with coils. Not only is this IS350 lower than the last, it has the most aggressive fitment so far. To fit a 10.5 rear with +22 offset, this car needed the fenders rolled and about -4 degrees of camber. The front fitment didn’t require any special work besides the liners being removed - that’s a given at this ride height. This car still rubs a bit on large bumps.

2IS air suspension setups

These are big Japanese sedans, so of course they’re popular with the VIP crowd. With these types of builds expect rolled and pulled fenders, stretched tires, and low or negative offset wheels.

We won’t get into the airbag vs static debate. Instead, we’ll show you some examples and you can decide what’s best for you.

Don’t be fooled by the front end, it’s still a 2IS. This 2010 F-Sport is rocking a 2IS -> 3IS front conversion.

Here’s what 20-inch wheels look like on an IS. As long as the tires are sized correctly, 20's aren’t too hard to pull off. This car doesn’t have any rubbing issues when it’s aired up. The kit is a 3P system from Air Lift Performance.

If you like fender-to-lip fitment, this is the one for you. A similar look might be possible on coils, but definitely less functional.

---

The last one may or may not have been possible on coils - this one definitely isn’t. This ‘12 IS has the front lip on the ground when aired out, courtesy of the Truhart Air Plus Suspension system.

2IS Truhart air kits

As we can see, the rear wheels are absolutely buried in the fenders. It took a lot of camber to achieve this considering how aggressive they are - 18x11 with a +6 offset. The front specs are fairly tame by comparison - 18x9.5 +22.

A set of Chrome Ebisu MonoC from Heritage Wheel completes the look. These wheels are available in 18, 19, and 20” with offsets for anything from OEM+ to VIP builds, like this one - they’re basically made for this chassis.

This could either be your favorite or least favorite, depending on if you like stanced cars. One thing is certain, it’s the most aggressive, by far. The rear wheels are very similar to the previous, but… this is a square setup. Meaning it has 18x11 in the front and rear. The front has wide front fenders to make this possible. The rear looks to be stock metal, undoubtedly rolled and pull to the max.

A few cars on this list are running Achilles Sport 2 tires. These are awesome tires for stretching on wide ass wheels, like these 225/35 on an 11J.

This car was recently featured in an episode of Fitment Battles, a series where we review cars submitted to our gallery. If you wanna hear our thoughts on the entire car, check out the video. If you want us to roast your build, submit it to the gallery!

Wrap up

With these cars, the first big decision is ‘What suspension are you going to run?’. This tends to pull you one way or another when choosing your wheels & tires. Usually, shiny 3P wheels with huge lips and stretched tires are used on vehicles with air suspension. On the other hand, if you’re on coils, you might opt for something more performance-focused, for example, a set of light monoblock wheels with meaty tires. The same goes for lowering springs. If you’re on stock suspension… well, you might be the last 2IS owner in this situation. Maybe get yourself a set of F-Sport springs?