Just began rebuilding my 1986 NA RX7. Need advice on wheels and tires please. Had cheap looking aftermarket wheels also need new tires. What are recomended size wheels for this car? How about tire suggestions. Any help is greatly appreciated. I do a lot of high speed driving, mostly highway but can't resist some street racing. How large a wheel is recomended? Tire sizes. Thanks.

 

Just began rebuilding my 1986 NA RX7. Need advice on wheels and tires please. Had cheap looking aftermarket wheels also need new tires. What are recomended size wheels for this car? How about tire suggestions. Any help is greatly appreciated. I do a lot of high speed driving, mostly highway but can't resist some street racing. Planning on some relatively serious upgrades. Cusco Coilover, Apexi N1 exhaust, HKS Super MegFLOW Intake. How large a wheel is recomended? Tire sizes. Thanks. Also need brake suggestions any big brakes available? Please help, so much work to do exciting but overwhelming trying to choose. Thanks again.

 

For best traction, performace, and handling you will want to stick to the near stock size using either a 15x6.5 w/35 or 40 mm offset with a 205/60-15 or 225/50-15 tire.

Or a 16x7 w/35 or 40 mm offset and a 205/55-16 or 225/50-16 tire.

If looks are more important than speed and handling, then a 17x7" or 17x8" wheel (30-35mm offset on both) or if you really just don't care about handling and performace a 18 inch wheel, but your 0-60 and even highway composure will be radically degraded.

 

Icemark is right about this one. I went for show and not performance and picked out a set of Tenzo R 17x7 rims with 205/40/17 Khumo tires.

 

how much of a difference does 17s make?

(keep in mind, i have the GXL 5 lug)

17" lightweight rims

225/45/r17 in front
245/45/r17 in rear

(stock gxl rims = 15" 5 spoke, 5 lug, 205/60/r15s all around)

i actually thought it would have MORE traction w/ the wider tires on 17s.. can anyone elaborate?

 

More traction, maybe. But the increased rotational mass of a bigger diameter wheel can drastically decrease performance. Think of it as getting a heavier, larger flywheel that the car has to turn. ( not really the same, but helps in picturing the effect)

 

Elaborate? With wider tires you'll get a bigger footprint from the tire, but with larger diameter wheels(usually much heavier than stock) you'll have more unsprung weight resulting in slower acceleration and lessened handling abilities. Is that enough of an explanation?

 

I need to type faster ^ ^



I have a '90 I was looking to get 17's for before researching some wheel weights/costs, and decided to go with light 15x7 or 16x7 at most. Tires would then be 225/50 or 225/45's and even though smaller than stock diameter I don't think it's too noticable. I'm currently on 205/55/s on the stock 15's.

 

205/60r15 is the stock size, unless you are using the lower tire for better gearing?

 

coulda used a smiley or two as to make me not seem like a TOTAL moron..

.. but yes that will do the trick..

Quote:

But the increased rotational mass of a bigger diameter wheel can drastically decrease performance.

drastically? i wouldnt imagine it would be THAT noticeable unless i was running 33 inch tires or something..

just how drastically?

 

Well, take for instance my friend who owns a pretty heavily modified Del-Sol. He has about every bolt-on, and a JR supercharger pushing 6PSI. With his stock 14" wheels vs his 17" 24lb Enkeis, there is a huge difference in the cars performance. Id estimate up to 1/2second or more in 1/4 times.

 

im going to take note of all this.. my original idea was to get 16s, but i found an excellent deal on nice 17s, and they are light(er)weight.. not all blinging chrome..

but ill take everything aforementioned into consideration before i make the purchase. everything you mentioned makes sense.. thanks!

 

Thanks to all for your input it's nice to have so many opinions to consider. Thanks for your constructive opinions and suggestions.

 

Remember, you can go wider without affecting performance. As soon as you go with a bigger diameter is like changing rear end ratios for lower ones. If you got a 4:10 or 4:11 you could end up with 3:90 (Just an example, not real numbers) Bigger diameter = Harder to do a burnout. My friend has a SICK FC with 19in Nakayama Schumachers (He just likes looks).

 

you may notice that serious autocrossers, road course racers, and even straight line drag racers hardly ever use anything bigger than a 16 inch wheel.

 

yeah actually most N/A RX-7 guys use the 15 inch.

 

I agree...the most I've ever thought of is 16" due to gearing. I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna stick with 15's though .

 

Yo,


For "cheap" rims, I would look at the Rota wheels. The Rota Subzeros are pretty darn cool.

http://www.juggernautwheels.com/rotawheel.htm

That's $450 and $500 for /four/ wheels...compared to a $500 for a single Volk TE-37. *grin*

I'm running 16's on my NA RX-7, but I run 15's on track days...and the 15's do feel different.

Good luck!

Kevin
1989 GTUs "Go...not to much show..."

 

I had 15" rims on my GTU. Switched to 18" rims with a drasticly lower profile tire. I set both tire/rim setup next to each other and they were almost identical in their outside diameters. The gearing won't change at all by swapping rim sizes.. It's the outside diameter of the tire that'll change your gearing. Also, there's probally a ton of NEW rims offered in 18" that are probally lighter and wider then your stock rim.