2slow4u

which do you guys think i should get? 17s or 18s? the fd will be a only be a weekend car, street/strip warrior. the rims will be mated to bfg drags 315. im trying to decide on which size rims would be better.

i want the size to suit the car and make it show worthy. the problem is my area doesnt exactly have "nice" roads. there are many potholes on the streets but the highways are ok.

so which size do you guys think i should get?

finnicky7

Your traction will be limited with the 18's and you already said that the roads suck. So I would say your decision is easy 17's all the way.

2slow4u

how is traction less on 18s compared to 17s? the width will be the same. explain

Hellspawn

More sidewall = more traction to launch.

People generally go with 18's as a compromise of looks/performance. Go with 17's if you are more performance oriented. Some people go with 19's just for looks. I have a 18/19 staggered setup for the street and r-compounds and drag radials mounted on the stock 16in rims for the track/strip.

limbar85

iTrader: (21)

16's.......

MrSparkle

i like how 18s look but i went with 17s for performance. i say get the lightest 18s you can get.

rynberg

Why don't you put some real tires on some nice 17 or 18" wheels for street use, and mount some M/T Streets on the stockers for going to the drag strip? Unless you're in the 9's, I doubt you'll need more tire than a 26x10x16, which fits on the stock wheels.

Then you can run tires that actually handle well and have some treadlife for street use.

BTW, I'd like to know what some of you guys consider to be lesser performance with 18s..

Hellspawn

To clarify, performance = less unsprung weight, and if you are a street-light racer or drag racing on street tires, more sidewall on your street tires for launching.

In addition to performance 2slow4u, you will have a softer ride and less chance of bending a rim on a pot-hole with 17's compared to 18's. I personally prefer the look of 18's myself.

rynberg

1. You shouldn't be doing drag style launches on the street anyway.

2. Anyone running 17 or 18" wheels at the drag strip isn't going for the best time possible, period. Like I said, he should run M/T Streets on stock 16" wheels if he wants to be faster at the strip.

3. It is easy to find 18s that weigh comparable to even a fairly light 17 wheel. With most quality wheels, you are gaining only 1-1.5 lbs in the same width. In addition, 18" tires in the wider sizes are often 1-2 lbs LIGHTER than the same width 17" tire. Other than slight rotational inertia differences, there is no weight difference between a 17 and 18 wheel+tire of the same model.

4. As if 99% of the people here are good enough drivers to notice any differences between 17 and 18" wheels.

5. Running really wide tires is much easier with 18s due to additional suspension clearance in board and the lower profiles in wider 18" tires vs 17" tires.

turbogarrett

iTrader: (1)

I would go with the 17" wheel. Like he said, more sidewall will help with traction and be a little more forgiving on crappy roads.

limbar85

iTrader: (21)

im still saying go for 16's. your getting a light wheel to start with so thatll obviously help your straight line better. 45-50 series is good considering you want it for both street (sidewalls not to high to make it slugish) and drag (always let some air pressure out with enough sidewall for absolute grip). you definantly wont really have to much to worry about with bending your wheels, as long as you arent hiting ditch like pot holes. i dunno......just what i would do. i personally think 18's are rediculous. 17's are good, but it needs something else to back it up if your goin for looks, such as suspension for it to be lower, or even something like a 99spec front.

Hellspawn

I disagree, unless there is traffic, poor visibility, don't know how to control your vehicle, or it is otherwise unsafe. There are plenty of secluded safe places with plenty of visibility to practice your launch on the street.

Very true, however if he does not want to do that 17's will work better than 18's.

Sometimes true about the tires. 17's in the same wheel obviously weigh less than the identical 18's.

In most circumstances yes, in others no. Whether it's 1% or 99% of people, there is still a difference.

Plenty of options for clearance available in 17in tires.


I have no problem with 18's lol, like I said I run 18/19 setup on the street. Not sure why you are trying to justify the performance of your 18's. We all know they work fine, and the "performance" difference between 18's and 17's is splitting hairs, but you asked.

As I and Turbogarrett said, more sidewall helps with traction and is more forgiving if you hit some bumps, in both ride quality and chances of bending a rim.

jarred

17's all the way...18's are just more for a show type deal. the tires are ALOT more expensive for 18 inch wheels as well. i think 16's are a bit too "small looking" for the fd...perfect for the fc tho

rynberg

Hardly. 18s work great on the street and at the track -- many of the most experienced road racers on the forum are running 18s on the track. The FACTS are that the widest tire you can practically run in 17s is a 275/40. This is both fairly tall and is quite a heavy tire. In addition, you will almost always need aftermarket trailing arms to run 17x10 wheels, which properly support a 275 tire. In 18s, you can move up to 285 to 295 widths, where the tires are lighter than 275/40 17 and aftermarket trailing arms aren't required. They are also closer to stock diameter.

Most of you guys sound like you are just repeating what you've heard -- any of you guys have direct A to B experience in straightline traction between 17s and 18s?

I'm not arguing that shorter sidewall tires have as much straightline grip as taller profiles -- what I AM saying is that for a street driven FD with good tires, it won't really matter. Like I said, if he is really making THAT much power and wants to run good times at the drag strip, he shouldn't be wasting time running street tires, he should be bolting on a set of stock wheels with M/T Streets or BFG drag radials.

One last point -- I noticed NO difference in ride quality that was attributable to the tires when I went from 16 to 18" wheels.

Great. You can run your 245/45s (widest tire available in 16 that will work on FD) while I'm running my 265-295 width tires. Who do you think will have more straightline and cornering grip?

Hellspawn

That is obviously true, however there are MANY people that are not track/strip rats that only go occasionally and don't want to go to that trouble.

I would have to say that you are in the minority or that you just liked your new wheels so much that you are in denial of the ride stiffness change. or perhaps you are just not very sensitive to ride stiffness. I have made the same switch on several cars, and know many, many other people who have and all have said the ride is stiffer. Of course this varies from individual to individual.

rynberg

The OP was wanting to run drag radials on the street....that implies to me that he's pretty serious about hooking up off the line. Seriously, how much trouble is it to swap two wheels? Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. My point was that I entirely disagree with running drag radials on the street -- I would run very good street tires, maybe even R-compounds depending on usage, and save the DRs for the strip.

Maybe you would notice more of a difference with the stock springs. I'm running 400/290 springs and Koni shocks. Tire model is a big factor as well. Perhaps the Toyo T1-s is softer riding than the Dunlop SP8000? In any case, I did notice a little more clompiness to the wheels due to the increased weight, but I certainly didn't notice a significant increase in harshness to either small or large road irregularities.

That said, I am running slightly tall 18" profiles -- 235/40 and 265/35, vs a 245/35 or 285/30. It's possible those shorter profile tires would be noticeably harsher.

Think about your experiences -- perhaps most of the swaps to 18s involved performance tires vs the stock 15-16 touring/all-season tires on the cars in question? Tire model plays a big role.

2slow4u

does anybody have pictures of a fd with 17s and another withs 18s so i can see how different they look?

coolvette

dude,i used to have 17 inch rpo1s on my last fd,now i am running 18 inch HP DESIGN EVOS on my new(10,000 orig miles) fd.I am running toyo 235x40x18 on front and 265x35x18 on rear.The car rides smoother and handles much better than the stock 16inch wheels and tires.The bling bling factor is 1000% more now,go with 18s.

apex_sideway

Hellspawn, do not argue with Rynberg. He know's what he's talking about

Hellspawn

difference of opinion is not necessarily an argument

fdeeznutz

here you go

rynberg

Hmm....the difference is I've owned an FD for 3-1/2 years with over a dozen track events on it with 16 and 18-inch wheels. You've owned your FD for a couple of months with just the stock wheels and haven't tracked the car.

My opinion is based on personal experience as well as that of several other long term owners who regularly track their cars. I'm not sure what your opinion is based on....

Hellspawn

Personal experience on the track with several other cars with both 17's and 18's as well as the experience of many, many, many other people with years and years of track experience who have run 17's and 18's on cars such as M3's, NSX's, vettes, as well as FD rx-7's .

alberto_mg

hellspawn, you come off as if you too overly impressed with your "experience" to listen to someone who has been there done that. while rynberg is talking in generalities about well known experiences on FDs you seem to be taking personal shots at his comments.


the only thing i disagree with in rynberg's comment is sidewall size contributing to ride quality on 16" and 17 or 18" wheels at least around NY/NJ. I notice the difference on NY/NJ roads with my 2 FDs running 16s vs 17s. other than that, my experience is along the lines of what rynberg expressed.

cheers.

poss

iTrader: (5)

I didn't notice a difference between my stockers and my 18s. I was suprised as hell. I think it has alot to do with your suspension set up though. I am running nylon bushings and Tein Flexes, so it rode pretty shitty on the stockers anyway.