I know this has been beat to death, but I have never had such a hard time deciding on one particular upgrade. I cannot decided between 17" or 18" Gram Light 57cr. My car is lowered on coilovers and otherwise r2 stock on the exterior and will remain that way. As far as power mods I am 100% stock and will probably not get over 300hp before the end of the year and have no plans to ever go over 400hp, so the widest cross section I will be running is 255. I have calculated the performance differences in 17s and 18s and am not hear to debate that. I am asking for your opinions purely on aesthetics. I'll throw in some pictures, so you have a reference. If anyone has pictures of an FD on 17" 57cr you are my hero. Any pictures of FDs on similar 17" 5 spokes are very helpful too.


On 18" 57CR from the wheel thread


BRZ on 17" 57CR for reference (could not find a pic of an FD on these wheels in 17")


BRZ on 57CR 18" for reference.

Any 17in threads are helpful too. Thanks.

 

For me, I like this style in the 17. Looks fuller and less stretched out.

 

I prefer the 17”. I have 17x9 with 255/40 square w/coilovers and have no regrets. Looks aside, I decided against 18” because I was afraid of having too little sidewall (inorder to avoid interference) on a streeted car. Speedometer is still very close as well. My car is just mildly modded...with ~ 300 @ wheels.

 

What offset are you running and how was rolling the fenders?

 

+48. No rolling. A liittle lower than stock, but not much.

 

That looks really nice! Such a hard decision. I can only get these gram lights with a +38 offset, so I am going to have to roll if I go that route.

 

I hear ya...price, style, color, rolling/no rolling, tire width, wheel size, wheel width, off-set, weight, strength, bore size, hub centric rings, lug nuts...
A lot of ingredients in the recipe. It’s hard not to have to compromise somewhere.

 

Sound like my senile mother.
If I make a suggestion and later she does not like it, she will blame.

Not adult or man enough to make your own decision?

 

As a matter of a fact yes. I still have my mom buy my clothes.

Jokes aside, my hope is that another member has these wheels or similar looking wheels in 17s. These cars are not common. I get people all the time who come up to me, freaking out that this is the first FD they have seen in person. I would like to make the most educated decision before I drop a couple grand on something as silly as wheels and tires. I literally have never been so split between a mod.

 

^Here’s hoping you two know each other.

FWIW I started out with big plans...some high dollar custom two-piece yadda yadda. Then gradually lowered the aspirations. Decided I didn’t want to be one of “those guys” that sweat like a ***** in church over every little pothole or when the car was parked out of their line of sight. Besides, I think I still had a daughter in college...so given how I use the car, dropping that kind of cabbage wasn’t smart in a lot of ways.
I could spend a lot more these days but still happy with that decision.

 

The White car looks the sharp,the offset is the key and looks the best to me.

Search for FD with 17 x 9 with 255 tires all round.

 

FWIW a couple more of the same car as above. 255/40 on 17x 9 +48 Enkei (square)

 

Thanks for the input guys! I ended up going with the 17x9 +38 squared with 245/40r17 (I will be going 255 next time). In the end I made my choice off of rim width. 8.5 would have not given me much room to grow in power. 9.5 would have been too wide for what I want to do. After looking at a lot of different cars and set ups I concluded that offset and tire width in relation to rim width is what make a car really stand out. I am very pleased with my offset and will go 255 next time, because my tires look very slightly stretched. Facebook was super helpful in providing lots of pictures and examples. I like the forum more, but Facebook definitely has its perks.

Will be posting pictures of the set up once I get the car washed. Probably will be lowering it very slightly this weekend too.

 

BBS RG-R's!

 

As promised here are the wheels! Waiting on center caps. Still not sure if I like the ride height where it is or if I want to lower it some more. Really happy with the size/stance. Will be posting in the new wheel thread once I get center caps.

 

You just can’t beat Hooters...for the wings. And just can’t go wrong with a nice 5-spoke. Color is perfect for your car. Very nice.