When Sport Compact Car tested the new Mini S, they recommended taking off the stock rims for SMALLER 15" ones to improve the handling. Too much rim and not enough tire makes for crappy handling.

 

also added weight. a friend here has 18" on his second gen and it looks funny with the small stock rotors behind it. unless you want bling i'd stay smaller. cheaper tires too.

i haven't read most of this so sorry if i was repetitive.

 

standard 5.5" wide rims and 205 section tyres make for some strange handling too

 

definetly 17's, i mean if u have the bolt pattern for them y not fit them,....... none se's will envy them,...lol! and also, if your cars suspension is setup correctly and u dont slam the **** out of your car, u shouldnt rub at all, i dont, and my car is lowered about 1 and a quarter inch all around,.... tire wise i am sitting on ZR 205/40/17's at the moment, but the rears will be replaced with ZR 235/40/17's soon,.......

 

i'm sorry, but besides bling, why do you suggest 17's? acceleration is slower, tires more expensive, lower profile subject to more dings and less forgiving breakaway. as far as i can tell, i've outlined every reason i wouldn't fit them. also too big of a width difference fr to rr will throw handling way off.

 

actually my wheels arnt bling at all, they r a gunmetal seven spoke..... acceleration being slower isnt that big of a difference,unless your setup sucks butt, if u want to sport the bigger wheels, of course it will cost more, and my handeling is actually damn good,..... so if u have a prob with them, thats your thing, so please dont sit here and critisize my opinion, especially if u have not owned/driven an fb with 17" wheels on it,..........infact by critisizing me, u r basically saying that AJC13b is wrong for sitting on 17's as well,.......????

jonathan

 

the only thing you had positive to sya was they fit and they look good. its pure physics and a tested fact that larger rims weigh more and that at a certain ratio, you lose the crisp handling of a low profile and are just adding unsprung weight. by bling i don't mean they don't look good, but he seems more interested in more then just looks. sorry if i came off wrong but i have driven cars with overly large rims and i'm pretty sure the way the wheel/tire reacts isn't based on your vin saying fb. thus peejay's comment on skinnier tires handling better on stock rims. in a performance aspect, 17" is way to big and not necessary unless that is the look you like. in turn you sacrifice many things as previously explained. i gave facts, that is what i wanted to hear from you. however, i'd like to see pics as they sound like they do look sweet. however bling is looks- performance. if you have added weight and a rear grip bias then you have affected performance in order to add aesthetics. unless you are puttin down impressive rwhp numbers, the jump in rr size will become to rear bias. and yes i do have experience to base this off of.

 

Wow! Who dug this thread up from the dead? Lol...

I bought the 16's a long time ago...

I'm looking for a set of 15 or 16 Panasports now...

 

Somebody probably found it while searching and decided to vote thus popping it back to the top.

While I'm here...I can see an advantage to going with a 17" rim, at least from my perspective. The rims I'd absolutely LOVE to get are the Simmons F-series. However, the 15" and 16" wheel centers don't look nearly as good as the 17/18" wheel center does IMO. There is no way I'd spend the money to get these unless they were 17". These are the same wheels that AJC13B has on his ride, though I've had a thing for them for many years now. Follow the link below to see what I'm talking about:

http://www.simmonswheel.com.au/range.html#

I realize this is just a personal opinion on a particular wheel, but it does prove the point that there are other reasons for getting larger wheels. I don't like them because they're 17's; I like them because of the way they look in that size. I only want to go as large as 16".

 

haha im glad to see this thread back up...............

hahaha anyways

15 good for the track and all that......
16 good for track and looks with out having to dodge pot wholes
17 i dont car what anybody says... they badass and are worth the risk
(not all 17s look right though.... make sure you get the right style)

i currently have some ol school tsw 16s that came with the car.
somtimes i look at them and think its the perfect size....... but then at other angles they look too small....

it all comes down to what your car is to you and the style you wish to show..... i kinda am shooting for a mild street car look with a lil edge....
so im going 17 next time

but most people on here like to keep the cars true to their origin 15/16


do what you like!!!!

 

I always wonder why people clamor for low pro tires for the 'perfornsce look', when the best handling cars in the world- F1 cars- run with fairly high profile tires.

 

BRealistic,

True.... but "Touring cars" run with low profile tires and they are the closet to a street driven car. They also run with 18'' and 19" rims. I know they house gigantic brakes.

Awwwwwhhhhhh!! LOL

 

I've got 15" ROH rims with 205/50R15 Michelin Pilot's. It gives me the best of all worlds in my opinion. I get decent ride, good track performance, they seem to last, and they look damn fine!

 

definetly go with 16s. the 17s are too big for an fb.

 

*lol* will this thread never die

P.S good choice on Panasports

 

Hey guys im very interested in buying 17x7.5 for my GSL-SE. Just wanted to ask a quick question. I was wondering what offset i should get to make sure they dont rub? I have coilovers all around and camber adjusters in the front. I just recently finished my turbo swap so im making nice HP and the car just slides all over the place on 15's. If anyone knows what the offset i should get please let me know. Oh and i also have stock fenders and the lug pattern for a GSL-SE is 4x114.3 Thanks guys.

 

Holy crap....almost 10 years?!

Ok,well......I can help.
I ran 15x7 Centerlines years ago with 205/50 tires with about 12mm of positive offset.It almost never rubbed,but I did roll the fenders.You might hit with 17's if you dont get down into 45-35 series tires. SE brakes/hubs like less or negative offset wheels because they stick out more than 12A running gear.I have an SE rearend.
With my old S4 13BT setup,I struggled to maintain traction in 1st and 2nd.Best time at the ttrack was a 13.59 with some tirespin, but it handled it well enough and I was consistant.
Now,I run 17x8 and 17x9 with 35 series tires,but thats with a widebody. My healthy S5 13BT lights the 245 rears with ease in 1st and 2nd and is downright dangerous if your not ready for it and familiar with the car( I dont let anyone else drive it anymore)

If your gonna stay narrow body,be prepared to live with tirespin when running a turbo.Our cars are light and unless you run some gumballs,your gonna get loose.

 

So if im installing a 17x7.5 rim with a 20mm offset would i need spacers on the front and back? I see a set i really want but they only have the rims i want with my lug pattern with 20mm offset. I also noticed that on some tire and rim websites that they have direct fit wheels that are 17x7.5 but they said it has a 32mm to 40mm positive offset. Would i just be safer getting rims with a 32 - 40mm positive offset and not need spacers? I plan on rolling the fenders eventually if i need to but would like to avoid it. Thanks.

 

7.5" wide wheels will push you out another 1/4" than I was at. But,with 20mm of positive offset youll be pulled back in over an inch more,so you wont rub on the outer lip. (Sorry, I meant to say 12MM of NEGATIVE offset,they were deepdish rims) You might rub the inner wall when going up driveways or any slope that you take diagonally,since our solid rear axle will rock relative to the body.Mine does this now but its minor and doesnt hurt anything.
If you go with 30-40mm positive offset,you might be able to use spacers to push them out to the fenders edge.....(positive offset is like stock SE rims/most FWD cars and negative offset is deepdish like most older RWD cars/hotrods,ect)

H&R makes very high quality spacers that I use on my car along with extended studs,to get my wide body fenders all filled up.My rear used 10mm spacers even with an SE rearend because my 9" wide Advans are heavy on the positive offset.

 

Cool thanks for the response. I will be purchasing the wheels this week coming up.