Help Buying, 99 Front Lip, Reverse Lights, Tires
 

Guys how much does a oem 99 spec front lip sell for? Has anyone bought a replica and can you please provide a link if you were happy.

What about reverse lights? I have some aftermarket clear ones that came with the car and I want to revert back to stock or a good looking set. I'd prefer an aftermarket set that updates the look of the car.

Lastly tires, what tires are you guys running? If I remember the widest tire size on stock wheels is 245? What is the exact correct size 245/30/16? And what tires do you guys suggest for good traction on the street for a bolt ons car?

Thanks for any tips

You really can't go wrong with stock brake lights. Possibly even go 99 spec rear lights if you want but I think you are looking in the range of 800 for those. But it has been quite a while since I have looked at pricing.

The OEM one is probably going to cost in the range of 200 brand new. But someone might have a deal on it?

As far as tires, I personally run the BF Goodrich G-Force Rivals and really like them. I do have a little bit of slippage in first gear but not an issue from there. I am currently running 225/50R-16s all around. They have great grip and response I haven't noticed an issue with them running down very quickly. You can probably look at tire rack in the "Extreme Performance Summer" category in the 225 and probably can't go wrong with any of them.

I run 245/40/18 all around

^ oops I was trying to say;

-I run CF front lip , and I personally like it better ( just my taste)

-why not simply put LED with the stock rear lights
LED gives you that "modern" look

-well iunno what tires I run :P

Thanks guys I'm talking about the lights on the bottom of the bumper. I thought those were the reverse lights.

Link to the CF lip for 99 bumper please?

Hmm I wonder what the correct aspect ratio is for 245/16

45
But you're not likely to find a good 245/45-16 street tire for your usage. 225/50-16 is pretty much THE size.

Size difference between 225 and 245 isn't terribly important, anyway, what is important is getting a good tire make/model for all aspects of your usage envelope, particularly your *worst-case* usage.
Dry only?
Wet/dry?
Drive in temps below ~45F?
Snow/ice?
Track or autoX?
Price a factor?
Longevity a factor?

Thanks I may go with nitto 555s all around, incredible if it's not raining!

Where can I buy the 99 spec lip? Ray at Malloy doesnt sell it

any good suggestions on reverse lights?

Dunlop Star Specs are amazing as long as you won't be driving in the cold much. They and other summer tires are like hard plastic until warm, but man are they great warmed up on the track.

As far as size, I would get the recommended width of 225. You get squishy sidewalls if you go wider. Tried that on my FC and hated it.

This.

What does squishy side walls mean and feel like? Would like to learn what you mean. I understand that they may be oversized for the rim and have a big sidewall?

I had no problem on my previous 94.

245/45-16 have a slightly shorter sidewall, but of course are wider relative to the wheel width vs. 225/50-16. Generally, a wider tire on a given wheel width will be more "pooched" and will have less stiffness vs. a narrower tire. Whether that's good or bad depends on what you want. Less stiff will be less responsive, but perhaps less twitchy/darty.
But in the end, this too is more a function of the specific tire make/model than 225/50-16 vs. 245/45-16.

It hardly matters though because unless you're tracking the car, the best tires for you are not going to be available in 245/45-16 anyway...

Squishy. It's a highly technical term, so I will forgive your ignorance this once. How to explain it... you ever step in a pile of dog shit with bare feet? :biggrin:

I did the same thing you did: find the widest tire recommended for my wheels. I just hated the feel of it: the car shifted around too much and I gained nothing from it. I think of the sidewall like a column supporting the car's weight (ignore the air pressure). That column isn't going to behave the same way if it is forced to act at an angle instead of straight up and down. That's what you are doing when you put the wrong width tires on a wheel.

Get the OE 99 lip here:
RX7.COM | FD Exterior

So you are saying anything above 225 is too big for the stock wheels?

225 just seems pathetic and dangerous for how light and how much power these cars have

What he is talking about is that on an 8" wide wheel, anything bigger than 225 is too much because of the stretching or squeezing of the sidewall.

I ran 245 nitto 555 DRs on the rear full time on my old 94 single turbo and had absolutely 0 issues.
It handled better than any car I've ever had because of those tires.

Thanks for the info and explanation. I guess as others said it depends on the make of the tire not only the width. I dont think a non drag radial or slick 225 or a 245 can handle 400rwhp so stock rims would need to be widened or buy aftermarket wider wheels.

If there is a tire that handles those power levels at 225 Id buy them and please advise.

Wider tires don't necessarily have any more grip in real-world street driving conditions, and can have *less* grip due to not being as near to optimal temperature range. Wide tires on relatively light cars don't warm up as well.

Even under ideal conditions at the track, the advantage a 245 has over a 225 is pretty tiny and is more related to consistency over many laps than outright cornering grip. A serious track-hound I know did comparisons between 225 and 245 on a similar power and weight car (E36 M3) reported the same lap times, but with the 245s being able to run them for a longer period of time in warmer weather before times started dropping off.

225 on a 2800 lb car isn't pathetic, and certainly isn't *dangerous* by any stretch of the imagination.

Again, the tire make/model you choose will have radically greater influence on how the car will perform relative to running 245s vs. 225s.

And again, whatever your usage short of track-only, 225/50-16 is going to be just about your only option. If you want the BEST tires for your real-world street usage, 225/50-16 is the only option. This is not a problem! Also, 225/50-16 is a better fit for handling performance on an 8" wheel than 245/45-16 anyway.

Okay thank you for clarifying. Are you on stock wheels? If so do you use 225s with the LS2?

While we may have uncovered that there's not much of a difference in 225 vs 245, I dont think either is adequate or safe in street tire compound for a modded RX-7 in the 400rwhp range unless you are running a slick or drag radial

No, I'm on 17x8.5 +40 and 17x9.5 +40 wheels at the track, 17x8.5 +40 and 18x9.5 +45 street.
If I were on stock wheels, for my usage on the street I would be running 225/50-16, because the best street tires for any usage envelope are not available in 245/45-16.

I think you are overly fixating on tire SIZE. Having the appropriate make/model tire for your usage envelope is WAY more important. The best 225/50-16 UHP all-season tire is likely to do a better job putting 400+hp down on the street in cooler-than-50F temperatures than a 275-width drag radial without the benefit of a burnout to warm up.

Answers to the questions in post #6 will point you to an appropriate tire for your wants/needs/usage envelope. Start there.

The importance of tire width is not as great as you might think, particularly for street usage. Getting the best tire make/model for your usage envelope is more important.