ok, im looking for some new rims for my fd, ive got my choices down to one of three;

-volks te37's
-gram lights 57pro
-atp chrome lip

now my problem (if you could call it a problem) is whether to go 18" or 17" i cant really decide, so id love to here what you guys think about the pros and cons of either. Also, id love to know what width are you running front and rear if you can

thanks guys
Hens

 

18= more expensive tire and harsher ride quality. they are also heavier then 17in wheels.
17= cheaper tires, smoother ride quality.

 

I have 235/40/18 Yokohama AVS sports on front and the same tire in size 265/35/18 on the rear.

Wheels on the front are 18 x 9 front and 18 x 10 on the rear. Can't recall the offset now.

I love them. However for tire selection choices for racing I will be going to a 17 inch rim for racing. 18 for the street. I only have had the tire scrape the wheel well once when i was in a hard corner. I HAD Tockico 5-ways and "crap control" springs atthe time. Now i have Tein flex on it. Very nice!!

I just ordered 2 front tires for it at a cost of 398 shipped to me.( tire rack) The ride quality mentioned above is a lame argument at best. If you are running a 45 or less sidewall regardless of rim size, you will notice the bumps and noise a little bit more. But it is hardly noticable if you have an exhaust and are actually driving.

Hope this helped a litlle.

 

i just ordered a set of 57pro's in 18x9 and 18x10. they're just for the street tho, i'm using my stockers for competing in various other places

if you're just after looks, get 18's. if you want a good compromise between looks and performance, i'd get 17's

 

My 18's

18x8.5 18x10 I love it.

But im thinking about buying a set of stock rims for track, as 18x10 (295's) arent exactly cheap.

 

how do you rotate your tires, or can you? if you have directonal tires, you cant swap the right and left tires, and since you have diffrent size rims on front and back you cant move the front to the back and vice versa...

 

18s baby!!!!!

 

I never thought about that, because I dont want any part of my tires to be bald at any time. In florida, I'd rather spend the money on tires than try and control this thing in wet conditions.
-Ben

 

i used to have 18 but the tire run out very quickly and it kinda make me feel the ride is rough...so now i'm with 17 and i'm happy with it...tho 18 looks waaaaay better.

 

There is this wonderous little machine at tire shops called a tire mounter. This little dooh hickie will help you change the tires from the left rim to the rim and vice-a-versa.

After the coilovers, I'll probably end up going 285/30/18s all the way around. Kinesis at about 20 lbs each.

 

yea, i know about the machine that takes the tire off the rim, but he cant move the front tires to the back since he has 18x8.5 in front and 18x10 in back. and if the tires are directional, which many high performace tires are, the tire has to rotate in a certian direction. for example, you swap the back left and right tire... and as i was typing this i understand how it can be done.

 

.

 

17s are an all around better peformance size. They weigh much less. The 18s will slow you dont considerably. Traction with 18s is another issue due to the smaller sidewall. If you are only using this car for street cruising then go with the 18s because they look better. If you compete at all in anything, 17s are way better. Personally i wouldnt put anything bigger then 17s on my rx7, unless i found a really good set of 18s for a really good price. In which case i still have my stock rims for competition.

 

dude volk 57 pro

 

If you're going to run 18's for anything but circuit driving, you'll likely want to not run something like a 285/30. You're making the already tiny 18" sidewalls even smaller.... for some sense of sanity, try 275/35.