Ok,
Someone once posted in this forum something to the effect of, 16's are for show, 18's are for go, and 17's are confused people. Which i thought was funny and it made me ponder.
What i am pondering; I think our cars are REALLY hard to find a nice rim for. I mean no offense to anyone on here since i don't even have rims but it appears that 80% of the si's with rims, IMO just don't have the proper rim match for the SI. However! 18's on an SI, with a lip look realll nice. BUT of course 18's are heavy.
What i am getting at is, does anyone else find it hard to match our SI's with rims, and do 18's really hinder your performace, handling and overall enjoyment that much?
OO, and if you have 18's or any kind nice lip on your ep's, mind posting a picture?
Last edited by sniperSI; 05-05-2003 at 08:19 AM.
I think you're referring to my comment that was more like:
15's are for go, 18's are for show, and everything inbetween (16's & 17's) are for confused people.
I didn't mean it in a bad way, but I was just saying that 15's represent the peformance extreme, 18's represent the show extreme. And people who pick something in the middle want a bit of both.
Maybe I'm wrong, but GRM did a whole article on this issue a whil back, and 15's were only best for a drag type situation, while 17's were found to be best for all-around handling. This was done with a 240SX if I remember right, but correct me if I'm wrong there Chunky. The larger sidewall hurts the handling on 15's, right?
Originally posted by LeperCon
Maybe I'm wrong, but GRM did a whole article on this issue a whil back, and 15's were only best for a drag type situation, while 17's were found to be best for all-around handling. This was done with a 240SX if I remember right, but correct me if I'm wrong there Chunky. The larger sidewall hurts the handling on 15's, right?
There is going to be huge debate no matter where or who you ask this question. Everyone has their own opinions as i do mine. For me, its all about power to weight ratio. That is what i use to decide what wheels are appropriate for the track. Thats why i am one of the only S2000s in the U.S with 16 inch track wheels :)
PS, the larger sidewall does not hurt handling. This is a something that people in the USA have come up with in their own heads and passed it on to other uninformed people who continue to spread the word. The larger sidewall will roll more than a low profile tire but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The larger sidewall will give you increased feel and will help you know where the limit is better.
Next time you got a chance, check out some JGTC cars, look at the sidewall on those bad boys ;)
Ya, you never see race cars (F1, Cart, IRL NASCAR) on low profile tires. I bet their tires are really expensive though...
Hey everyone! I am trying to decide on a wheel size as well, leaning towards 17's. Anyone with 17's, is there rubbing, do you lose some steering? I know with 18's you do.....
Thanks!
Wow, here's someone who knows what he's talking about. You know, people can talk about whatever they want about the tall sidewalls...but if you can't even feel the limit on the stock 15"s to learn car control, how do you become better with 17"s? The problem that I see on the road nowadays is that people don't try to master the car in stock form...and they go on to mod their cars. Of course the mod will make the car go faster, it just doesn't make the person faster...which leads to accidents when they try to push the car to its limit.Originally posted by DocofMind
PS, the larger sidewall does not hurt handling. This is a something that people in the USA have come up with in their own heads and passed it on to other uninformed people who continue to spread the word. The larger sidewall will roll more than a low profile tire but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The larger sidewall will give you increased feel and will help you know where the limit is better.
Docofmind, thanks for pointing that out, you do have a good point there. I bought my O.Z.'s for the look, but the handling is a nice bonus, as is the ability to upgrade the brakes (have you sent them doco?).
Im one step ahead of you buddy ;)Originally posted by LeperCon
Docofmind, thanks for pointing that out, you do have a good point there. I bought my O.Z.'s for the look, but the handling is a nice bonus, as is the ability to upgrade the brakes (have you sent them doco?).
Package will arrive on your doorstep Wed. I emailed you the tracking #
You are exactly right though, the minimum i would go with would be a 16 because of the brake options
Im running into the same dilemma. I want 15' Mugen RnR's but then I have to stay with the stock brakes.:( So I might have to settle for 17' Mugen MF8's just so I can get some nice Brembo's underneath. I wish there would be a nice rotor & caliper upgrade for a 15' wheel.
talk to Sherwin(docofmind), he might have something for you;)
www.brakezone.com
havent heard of any rubbing, i took a ride in esmith13's ep a few times, he has 17's with like a 2 inch drop and there is no rubbing...you will get rubbing with the 18's on our car....Originally posted by EPHatchgirl
Hey everyone! I am trying to decide on a wheel size as well, leaning towards 17's. Anyone with 17's, is there rubbing, do you lose some steering? I know with 18's you do.....
Thanks!
check out 16s :) drop your car like 2 1/2 inches! :)
AWWWH Mugen_EP i feel soo bad for you that you have to 'Settle' with 17' Mugens! you poor thing! :)Originally posted by Mugen_EP
Im running into the same dilemma. I want 15' Mugen RnR's but then I have to stay with the stock brakes.:( So I might have to settle for 17' Mugen MF8's just so I can get some nice Brembo's underneath. I wish there would be a nice rotor & caliper upgrade for a 15' wheel.
Eric
17's are for show in my book :D That's the only reason I bought 17's.Originally posted by chunky
I think you're referring to my comment that was more like:
15's are for go, 18's are for show, and everything inbetween (16's & 17's) are for confused people.
I didn't mean it in a bad way, but I was just saying that 15's represent the peformance extreme, 18's represent the show extreme. And people who pick something in the middle want a bit of both.
I think that if anyone is worried about the performance, but must have a bigger rim, that 16's would be the max to go.
Oh sniperSI, I wouldn't go for 18's mainly because there's barely any tire to ride on, imo. It would be a rough ride. I also feel that 18's are just too big on our cars. 17's would be the biggest I'd go if you're not worried about performance too much.
Word. :DOriginally posted by DocofMind
There is going to be huge debate no matter where or who you ask this question. Everyone has their own opinions as i do mine. For me, its all about power to weight ratio. That is what i use to decide what wheels are appropriate for the track. Thats why i am one of the only S2000s in the U.S with 16 inch track wheels :)
PS, the larger sidewall does not hurt handling. This is a something that people in the USA have come up with in their own heads and passed it on to other uninformed people who continue to spread the word. The larger sidewall will roll more than a low profile tire but that is not necessarily a bad thing. The larger sidewall will give you increased feel and will help you know where the limit is better.
Next time you got a chance, check out some JGTC cars, look at the sidewall on those bad boys ;)
I'll add a few things. There is a point where the sidewall does become too tall. But the stock wheels already have a relatively short sidewall. The reason why they have no "feeling" is b/c the sidewalls are engineered to flex, and roll over. Michelin in particular favors rounded edge construction which allows smoother transition from grip to slip. They use this on most of their touring tires. When you look at higher performance tires, you'll notice a more squared shoulder between the sidewall & the tread. This typically indicates a stiffer sidewall designed to hold it's shape to minimize contact patch distortion. These tires offer significantly more feedback than the stock tires.
So it's not really the net sidewall hieght that holds back the stock wheels/tires, it's the construction. I did some calculations, and the 18" wheels that come standard on corvette z06's have only 10mm shorter sidewalls than the stock 15's on the ep3.
For performance, always go with the smallest wheel/tire that will fit over your brakes.
Speaking of which, Sherwin, You gonna have any sort of upgraded caliper package coming for those of us who elected to stay with a 15" wheel? I know my 15x7 +37 oz superleggera wheels have MORE brake clearance than the stock wheels, easily a 3/4" more all the way around.
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