stuck in wheel decisions

Well, technically speaking, lowering the car is irrellevant. Lowering lowers the average road height, but it doesn't lower the minimum road height. That being said, when you lower, if you do choose wheels which MIGHT hit with the stock wheels, they will more likely hit with the lowering springs.

Really you do not want to change the overall diameter of your wheel+tire. If you tell me what wheels & tire size you have, I could tell you what that is. To change it would change your speedometer & odometer, plus an increase would make you far more likely to hit.

what I'm looking into is a 19X8.5" rim (it says it fits on the website) with a 40mm offset, the tire size is 235X35X19

Which website says it fits?

The overall diamater would be pretty accurate there (speedo would be reading just slightly too fast), assuming you started with the 17" wheels and 225/50R17 tires. The width is pretty wide, but I can't speak to whether or not that'll fit. The ride will be MUCH harder than with the stock tires, though, so beware of that.

tirerack and tires.com

Im saving my money for some O.Z. Racing wheels. The Superturismo GT to be more specific.

If you dont want to kill the ride the most I would go is 18's. I did actually see at the dealer a FUSION with 20's! Very nice! BUTTTT i Have killed my other car by lowering/ bigger rims, And the ride sucked!! So its really what you want? I love my ride quality to much to screw it up! Plus I'am to old (32). Dont get me wrong it would look awesome! plus gas/weight/speedometer/and ride quality gets affected plus 1500-2000$.. That's why I just bought 17's with the stock tire!

after seeing the info on the draxas car after lowering (realizing my car would not be this low). I think I may end up with the 18" rims....the tires are just so expensive......(moreso than the 19's)