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Best lightweight 17x11 wheel

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Old 02-28-12, 06:55 PM
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Best lightweight 17x11 wheel

I am trying to find some information regarding a fairly light weight 17x11 wheel for the back of the FD. I'm not too worried about the offset and such, I will figure all that out. I just need help trying to find which wheels are out there that look good and are light weight for a street car. I have had CCW Classics and they are simply too heavy for me...rotating weight is lost power. The car will have a solid live axle so I can fit a bigger wheel w/o effecting the rear fenders, so no rolling, banging, cutting, widening, etc... I don't want to go with a drag wheel such as Bogart, Weld, etc...but was looking for something light similar to the OZ Superleggera, just hoping to find something that looks a bit better imo. I am looking to run the Hoosier 315/35/17 Drag Radials on the back of the car...the car is a street car, but it's not a daily driver nor will it be driven in rain and the like.
Old 02-28-12, 09:26 PM
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You need to be worried about offset. You are looking at a custom offset wheel. No wheel manufacture makes a 17x11 +47 or +48. You will probably run into rear trailing arm problems. You will need to roll your fenders...probably to the extreme. Read my thread. It has a section about fitting 315s on an FD.

https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/maximum-wheel-tire-width-fitment-guide-fd-892901/
Old 02-29-12, 08:19 AM
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I am worried about it as I have to be able to make it work, so I will need custom wheels, not off the shelf boxes. I just meant, I don't need help finding the backspace or offset. I will measure all that once I am ready to order. I just didn't know what manufacturers are out there that are making lighter custom wheels. Kinesis vs. CCW. Who's lighter? (I don't think Kinesis makes a 17, but that is where I am trying to get at with the question).
Old 02-29-12, 10:47 AM
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Look into Forgeline custom wheels, or GoodfellaFD3S can get you some custom Fikse wheels.
Old 02-29-12, 11:14 AM
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How light are you hoping for, other than the "as light as possible" ;-). You say that you feel CCWs were too heavy, but honestly for that size they really arent that bad. I had the "track" versions in 18x10 and if I recall correctly I think they were around 21lbs a piece. Even an enkei RPF1 in 18x10 is just shy of 19lbs. At some point wheel stiffness and rigidity under lateral loading is going to be compromised at the sake of saving weight. I guess this is the point where "drag only" wheels come into play.
Although now that Ive said all this, I remember you saying you want a 17" instead of an 18" and will be running drag radials.. so I suppose lateral loading isnt much of a concern. Enkei does make an rpf1 in a 17x10+38 that is about 17lbs. Then again this isnt a 17x11 as youve asked, so I will now stop with my useless information post
Old 02-29-12, 11:24 AM
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I forgot about Fiske...they have always been pretty light.
Old 02-29-12, 11:30 AM
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The car will be used mostly for TX mile like events...not just drag racing. But on the street I will probably be running Drag Radials for my personal use and then running a fairly wide street tire for the mile since DR's are no longer permitted.
Old 02-29-12, 12:22 PM
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When auto crossers want light no holds barred wheels they get Keizers.

About as ugly, light and expensive as you could ask for.
Old 02-29-12, 12:43 PM
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Yea, I can't do that....I checked out their site. lol

I called Kinesis and they no longer manufacture 17" wheels....and I don't think I want to run an 18" on the back of the car, the tire profile just gets too low. I could run a 315/30/18 or a 315/35/17, but the 17" has .5" wider tread width and the 17x11 wheel would also be lighter than the 18x11....plus I would get an additional 5% sidewall height which I think would be better in my amateur opinion. The 18" may look better though and there may be a cost difference between a 17" vs. 18" wheel as well.

What about J-line? Are those wheels heavy? They look heavy.
Old 02-29-12, 06:13 PM
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One of my favorites based on looks, practicality and custom offsets.

Forgeline GA3R with the center lock option



http://www.forgeline.com/products/co...ries/ga3r.html
Old 02-29-12, 10:30 PM
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That is a great looking wheel, but man, I hope people can do better than those list prices. $1050/wheel is a bit steep....not crazy high, but a few hundred per wheel higher than a CCW or Fiske.
Old 02-29-12, 11:10 PM
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315 "Drag Radials" for a "street car," to "get an additional 5% sidewall height."

CCWs "are simply too heavy,"

$1050 for just one 17" wheel is "not crazy high."
Old 03-01-12, 11:50 AM
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Originally Posted by juicyjosh
315 "Drag Radials" for a "street car," to "get an additional 5% sidewall height."

CCWs "are simply too heavy,"

$1050 for just one 17" wheel is "not crazy high."
I don't get it?

I ran 345 DR's on my Z06 and did fine with traction from a 40 roll in 1st gear...and this was just with a slow 600whp Z06....the FD is going to be 1000+whp, I want as much contact patch as I can get, if I can have the extra 5% sidewall height for flex, I prefer it, and if I can save 3-4lbs per wheel, that is a lot of rotational weight savings. Couple that with the 5lb difference between a Hoosier 315/35/17 and a M/T 315/35/17 which is 5lbs heaver, and I am looking to save 8-9lbs of rotating weight on the corners of the car. That is alot of weight to save 30-40lbs for a set of wheels/tires. Not sure if you don't agree, but it is what it is....weight matters as much as hp does. And HP is only as good as the traction it has..1000hp of spinning madness is worse than 500hp of acceleration, but the car will be running a ProEFI EMS with T/C, BBG, etc...so I think I will be fine for traction, I just want to make sure that I can put the power down as fast as possible and more tire = more traction = more power = more acceleration = more mph = more wins = more money = more toys = etc....

$1050 is not crazy high, it's expensive, but no more expensive than HRE, Adv1, etc... I'm not saying I want to spend $4000 on a set of wheels, but it is not obscene, it's just expensive. If Goodfellas can hook me up on some Fiske for less and they look and perform better, I will go that route. I did not post anything about cost in the original posting, I am concerned about weight and strength.....and looks of course.
Old 03-01-12, 12:13 PM
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It was the center lock adapter option that really had me with the Forgelines.

Air jacks, center locks and sets of Forgelines with slicks for the street and a set with street tires for the Texas mile.
Old 03-01-12, 09:40 PM
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I think you will find that CCWs are within 1 lb of the others listed. CCWs are lighter than most wheels especially with the titanium bolts and Swiss cheese bolt pattern option.
Old 03-02-12, 09:57 PM
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I called CCW as well just to get some weight ideas, but they said each wheel can be different. They guessed around 20lbs for a 17x11 and 19lbs for a 17x8.

The only two options I would have are the CCW Classic and the CCW LM series. The rest are all 18" and up similar to Kinesis. I like the Classics, they are just crazy common.
Old 03-02-12, 10:12 PM
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You can order Fikses with a center lock as well.
Old 03-03-12, 01:46 AM
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The SP500 is a very nice wheel from ccw as well but the classics would be about 1lb lighter with the swiss option.
Old 03-04-12, 12:23 AM
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There are a reason CCWs are crazy common though.

Bogarts are super light and come in 17x11
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