Wanting to put an aftermarket set of rims on a 92 Daytona. Seems almost all rims that will fit(and certainly all that look decent) are of the 7" wide variety with a 40mm offset. Bolted a set of these up to the car without rubber on them, and that nets us only 7/8" between the lip of the rim and the strut itself. Is that too tight? I'm thinking once you put a tire on there, yeah that'll be too tight, especially if you start taking some good turns. But I don't have much experience with aftermarket rims, and even less experience doing it on FWD/newer cars. Anyone work with these types of vehciles before to have an idea of what's acceptable?

3/4" of clearnace is the limit I'd be comfortable with, but the tire size is the real factor in your situation. What siz tires will you be using with the 7" wide wheels (not rims)?

Wanted to run a 225/45/17, but concerned that may just be too wide of a wheel. May have to step down to a 205/50/17?

Unlike tire to fender clearance. You can run the rim pretty close to the strut since they move together.
Same with the tire.

As for how much. I will not be the one to say. Just wanted to throw in a couple things for you to consider.

A 225-section tire is about 8.85" wide in theory, or only about .85" wider than your wheel. Half that on the inside, so 0.43" wider than the wheel itself. The relationship to the strut shouldn't change, so I think it would work. If you've got +.25" with the tire on, you should be OK, especially with a short sidewall like that. They don't squirm much, especially if you keep the tire pressure up. I'd look at 36-38psi at a minimum, and wouldn't be afraid of 40psi for a daily driver. Kind of depends on how your roads are, but I'm ASSuming normal stuff up by you... some cracks & pavement joints, an occasional pothole, RR tracks, etc. I keep everything at 38-40psi, and I'm pretty happy with the ride quality with the crappy roads around here.

Clair