trigeek37

swapping out my wheels will not be my first upgrade over the winter, but it is on my list of things to do, probably some time late spring/early summer.

#1. if you drop your car roughly 1 to 1.5 inch, (Koni's and eibachs are all but ordered) can 18" wheels fit, with no rubbing?

#2. anyone know how much the stock 16" FD wheels weigh?

#3. anyone have wheel recomendations? I am looking for 17 or 18 inch wheels that weigh the same weight, if not less then stock wheels. I will mainly be driving the car on the street (not my daily driver), but I also like to autocross. I am not willing to give up ride, or handeling for style, though I do want them to look good of course.

thanks in advance for the help

SleepR1

Post these questions to Rishie on the Suspension/Wheels/Tires/Brakes Tech Forum. He can hook you up based on your needs and budget.

maxcooper

This should be in the tires/wheels section, but what the heck...

#1 Maybe, but it depends on what wheels with what tires and what offset. I am inclined to think that it would be hard to avoid rubbing completely if you drive the car hard. Watch your front tire diameter. I've got 17" and 18" wheels, and I recommend 17" for the street for wider tire size choices, lighter wheel weight, and better ride.

#2 I have weighed 8 of the ones with more reinforcement on the back of the spokes (the less webbed design, with flatter surfaces behind the spoke) and they weigh 15.8 lbs.

#3 You can get wheels with similar weight. My Volk SE-37Ks are 15.4 and 16.6 lbs each for 17x8.5 and 17x9.5 sizes, respectively. Forged wheels from Volk or SSR are likely to be the most available, best priced options. SSR Competitions are a good deal and very light. Volk offers more styles and cost slightly more. Both are "nice" wheels.

-Max

Eddie Ramos

iTrader: (1)

I just put some new Italia mags 17" Front 8 wide ,rear 9.5 wide. Tires are Perrelli p7000 ss with 320 tread, for gsome grip in the rain. Rear tires 275/40 and front 235/45 . These fit perfect even when lowering 1 to1.5" without any wheel to body contact.

Johnny

max is right..100%... you are not going to get much lighter then those volk's..except for maybe racing hart cp035's or something...remember the tires are mostly likely going to weigh more also..so going from say 16 to 18 and keeping the same weight is very very hard to so..because the stock wheel are very lightweight (16lbs) I weighed my stockers with you BFG r1's (245x45x16) and got 40 lbs...in contrast.. my 18x10 Kinesis K58's with 265x35x18 weighed in at 48 pounds....8 pounds is kind of a lot with you think about it..but I cant complain since I know my new wheels are fairly light for a 3 piece design and as strong as hell

Eddie Ramos

iTrader: (1)

Trigeek37 all I can say is that you will be seeing a difference in weight but you have to ask your self: Am i going to need tires and wheels for daily "RACING" ?,For the good looks like size of the mags and style? Or do i get some for every day driving? I combined good looks and every day driving and came up with my wheels. Yes they are heavyer than stock, but what the heck I don't race my car on a daily bases an i got what i was looking for.

SleepR1

Might I add--the Volks will be a much better-looking, and probably stronger road wheel than the SSR Comps.

The Comps are very well-suited for road racing. They're extremely light for their sizes--15 lbs for the 8.5 x 17, and 16 lbs for the 9.5 x 17. You'd need magnesium alloy to go any lighter than SSR comps, and still have strength left in the wheel.

Truth be told, I'd be hesitant to run the Comps on the pock-marked public roads of Indianapolis! The SSR Comps are Semi Solid Forged wheels, while the Volks are true 1-piece forged. I have no real data to show, but my guess is the Volks will be slightly stronger than the SSRs. The prices you pay for either wheel is an indication of the quality you're buying. The Comps are $1600 for the 8.5 and 9.5 x 17s. The Volks in the same size will be at least $500 more (based on whatever deal Rishie can work out for you). The Comps are beautifully finished in clearcoat and polished rim lip--quality wheels as racing wheels go. I think the Volk takes that extra little step in quality, though

My point is--if the wheels and tires will be meant mostly for public road work, go with Volk SE37Ks (or whatever style you like). SSR Competitions should only be used for road racing, IMO.

SleepR1

Might I add that strength is a higher priority for road work than lightness, especially if you're considering 18-inch-wheel applications! You'll need to find that middle road of lightweight, yet adequately strong to take the punishment our public roads dish out!

A multi-piece wheel such as Johnny's Kinesis K58s are a great compromise for road work. Because Kinesis wheels are 3-piece forged aluminum wheels, Johnny has the added benefit of having the wheel repaired, if he happens to damage them during daily use, rather than replacing the whole wheel. Bend a rim? No problem. Send the wheel to Kinesis. They replace the rim halves, salvage the wheel center. Reassemble and seal the wheels back together. Voila, wheel in "as-new" condition! Cost? Probably nothing

The other great thing with custom wheels from Kinesis (or Fikse, HRE, Forgeline, CCW), is that the wheels are made to YOUR specifications. So you can have a perfect, tailored-to-suit-your-car fit!

trigeek37

wow, thank you all for your niput. this is exactly what I wanted to hear. I was leaning toward sticking with 17" wheels, and this has all but confirmed that choice. I love the way the FD looks, but I bought the car for the way the car drives and handles, that is the number one priority. my FD is not my daily driver, and while I do not beat on it, I do drive it as it was meant to be driven with the stock wheels running 50 aspect ratio tires, when I drop to a 40 or 35 series 17" that should not add a whole lot of weight.

thanks again for all of your input

Johnny

If you are so concerned about weight...which it seems you are....
if you ignore tire weight you will be making a huge mistake...tire weight can vary quite a bit...you will find some 17's lighter then 16 even 18's lighter then 17's...and so on. Yes you will be lowering the aspect ratio when you go to 17's..but you will also be increasing the tread width.or why bother.

My point..if you are that concerned...take tire weight into account

trigeek37

I am taking tire weight into account... I realize that I will gain weight going from 16" to 17" or larger wheels, that is almost unavoidable. What I want to do is minimize this gain. I want to get larger sized wheels to lower the sidewall distance of my tires, and therefor increase rigidity. This to me with the added visual appeal is worth the few extra pounds.

SleepR1

do have an impact on the total unsprung weight of the wheel/tire setup, but the wider rubber contact patches usually win--at least in racing applications

My old track-only setup was 8.5 x 16 Kosei K1 Racing wheels with 245/45-16 Hoosier R3S03s. This set up yielded 9.75 inches of rubber contact patch all around with 4.25 inches of sidewall height. The Koseis were 16 lbs, the Hoosiers were 18.5 lbs. Total weight? 34.5 lbs. Light be anyone's standards!

My new track-only setup is 8.5 fr/9.5 rr x 17 SSR Comps with 245/45 fr and 275/40 rr Hoosier R3S03s. The fronts yield 10 inches of rubber contact patch, while the rears yield 11 inches of rubber contact patch. Both sizes yield 4.15 inches of sidewall height--only slightly lower than before because the 17s I chose are taller in overall diameter than the previous 16s--25.3 vs 24.5 inches OD.

The 8.5 x 17 SSR weighs 15 lbs, 245/45-17 Hoosier weighs 20.9 lbs. 9.5 x 17 SSR weighs 16 lbs, 275/40-17 Hoosier weighs 20.5 lbs. Total weight for fronts? ~36 lbs Rears? 36.5 lbs. Yes slightly heavier, but with 1-inch wider tires in back, slightly wider tires up front, (with nearly similar tire sidewall heights), I shattered my old hotlap time at Putnam Park by ~2 seconds with this setup; and the car looked great doing it too!

Of course my fellow racers argue that a 2-lb increase in unspung weight, at each corner, is neglible on a car that weighs 2750 lbs (wet)! Apparently I got my cake and ate it too (at least from their perspective)!:p

Eddie Ramos

iTrader: (1)

Trigeek I really don't meen to put down any of the other info that you have recieved but driving the roads of N.Y. on 18'' wheels makes the ride a little ruffer than17 or 16'' .But i really dont know what road conditions you drive in. Just want to If any of you guys felt a mayor diff. in the ride when going from 16'' to 17'' or 17'' to 18''.

Johnny

Well the only 16's Ive had on my FD lately is BFG R1...245x45's...extremely stiff sidewall...ride is worst then my old 17's on RE730's...My new setup is 18's with AVS sports..but I've had them on for like notime...so cant comment yet

trigeek37

the roads in Minneapolis are not too bad. and the R is not my daily driver, so the roughness of the ride is not all that important. it is somthing that I will take into account, but it is fairly low on the list.