Reply With Quotefind a local evo VIII or IX guy selling his stock enkeis. they are 17 x 8 +38 and look awesome on ep3s. and they're pretty cheap usually (i got my set for like 175)
Konig feathers come in 17x7 +40 and they are fairly light. 16.8 lbs each I believe and it's about $520 shipped for the set of four. The 16's are only 15 lbs each
find a local evo VIII or IX guy selling his stock enkeis. they are 17 x 8 +38 and look awesome on ep3s. and they're pretty cheap usually (i got my set for like 175)
Originally Posted by poeticfinesse21
Konig feathers come in 17x7 +40 and they are fairly light. 16.8 lbs each I believe and it's about $520 shipped for the set of four. The 16's are only 15 lbs each
Thanks, I did look those up after reading your previous post. I think they look nice and the price is very right. I just don't have a clear idea of how light is too light, or at least pushing the edges of the envelope, in a cast rim. The roads in Maine generally aren't in great condition but fortunately it tends to be more of the cracked and lumpy style of bad condition as opposed to rim killer deep potholes with sharp edges.
My thought on going to 17" wheels was partially driven by leaning toward the Conti DW tires. The Contis are really light, four pounds lighter than a Bridgestone S-04 in the same size and the rap is that they have overly soft sidewalls. I may be completely off base but I was thinking that a 215/45/17 would at least slightly ameliorate that issue in terms of handling feel relative to the same tire in 215/50/16. I'm not fixated on 17' rims.
Again I may be wrong but I'm thinking that I have neither the engine, chassis or skills to want to go wider than 215s. Also, I have no clear idea of how wide a tire you can run on either 16" or 17" rims at either stock or A-Spec ride heights and without rolled fenders (no desire to do that).
Last edited by LostHighway; 06-06-2013 at 09:20 AM.
best improvement per dollar? Driving school. I kid you not, go spend your $$ for a weekend or more at an actual racing school.
Else, as others have said... Tires tires tires.
ive had 4 sets of konigs and have never had a problem. im a fan of 17s... but if your really worried about the rim structure go with the 16s (extra tire).
i would go 225s. cant go wrong with a little extra grip! one of the best mods ive done have been the wheels/tires. and my tires are nothing special (falkens)!
the aspec suspension is also the way to go. i wish i would have gone with the aspec the first time. the ride and handling is a perfect balance. plus its set and oem quality > coilovers.
try criagslist for a rear sway... i found mine for $25. or try the dealer, might be suprised with a decent price. if you do that try for the aspec sway its supposed to be around 30-32mm as opposed to the 22mm type s. you may even be able to find a 19mm 02-04 type s rear sway cheap or free!
[QUOTE=LostHighway;1008754...but everything I've heard tips the Blizzaks in really bad conditions.
I'm still mulling summer wheel/tire options. Budget is definitely going to be a factor. Tire-wise I'm liking what I've read about the Conti Extreme Contact DW especially if I drop down to a 45 aspect ratio. Practicality is really the order of the day here.[/QUOTE]
I have the blizzaks on my father in laws tacoma with no abs and awd, i put it in a ditch with fresh snow on grass and was able to rock my way out with the awd, not that its any feat of god or anything but growing up in alaska, i actually felt like i was about to lose that battle. but i won. not a bad tire, doesn't wear out when they get warm too, we use them all year 'round.
and yeah, i have the DW's, a few of my friends have the DW's, easily the best tire i've ever had and it's impressed my friends. when they're cold, they still have some good grip, esp if you're not boosted, its going to be REALLY hard to break them loose. even boosted, it's hard to get them loose when they warm up. really good tire, esp for the price.
Been away for a week so missed this thread. The best bang for buck is tires. If you are set on 340 UTQG tires you are already compromising your initial question. I'm simplifying but your car will only handle as well as your tires will allow. Colin Chapman (creator of Lotus) designed his cars around the best tire he could find. So, are you sticking with your original question or do you wish to make your car handle as well as a (for instance) 340 UTQG tire will allow? Are you willing to consider better handling street tires and a set of winter tires or do you wish to compromise? No wrong answer here, just clarifying.
As noted up the thread I think a 20k miles + usable life (street use only) tire is my minimum bar to get over and April through October or November use only with dedicated snow tires for the winter months is certainly a strong possibility. IME UTQG is far from an infallible guide to real world tread life as I have seen some rated softer tires out last those with a higher UTQG. From everything I've read including replies to this thread the Conti DW will do more than 20k easily. The Bridgestone S-04 sounds like the 20k ballpark is a reasonable expectation but not well beyond that. Other than than the BF Goodrich I haven't looked into too many other tires. Something like Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD07s aren't even on my radar ($! + tread life) nor are tires that have great grip on dry roads but suck in rain.
If practicality and dollars were not an issue I'd be driving a Caterham or an Ariel Atom instead of an EP3.
UTQG ratings aren't infallible but tire tests show just how much better several of them are at handling. 20k is a pretty high expectation for a superior handling tire but I had close to that with my old Kumhos XSes and could have gotten 20k by not leaving them on the front so long. Another thing to consider is how old the tires will be when they attain those miles. If you have a set of snows how old will they be by 20k? Since I drive only 6 or 7k a year the tire's handling are less than optimum by 15 or 20k so the age of the tire is more important to me than mileage.
Anyway, you might consider the Dunlop ZIIs or BFG Rivals for the most superior handling street tires. The Rival is overall the best handler of the two by a smidge and is more audible at it's limits of adhesion (a good thing) but the ZIIs are a little bit better in the wet. 225s are doable on the stock 6.5" rims. A minimum of -1 to -1.5 camber up front and about half that for the rears are pretty essential for handling with very little affect on treadwear, just keep toe under 1/16". With 0 camber (static) up front the EP3 develops positive camber during compression. Straight line traction really isn't a factor with wider stickier tires at such low camber. One could argue that Extreme Performance Summer tires are too much for the stock suspension (or A-Specs with a 3/4" drop) but for the street they are a blast.
If you have to have 20k then you've received plenty of good advice; an S bar can be had for cheap on CRSX.com, A-Specs dampers are pretty sweet and trouble free, adjustable camber. Also, I wouldn't even consider a performance tire in Maine without snows! Weight reduction is also a cheap handling mod but that's another level that you might not want to mess with. So, not A level but tons of fun for those sweet mountain roads you have up there. After some nice brake pads, of course! The EP has abysmal pads.
Last edited by Hasbro; 06-08-2013 at 12:20 PM.
Hasbro, I certainly understand your points but this car is a daily driver and 95%+ of my driving is unlikely to tax the adhesion limits of something like the Conti DW or Bridgestone S-04. I just can't justify having to replace tires twice as often for a difference that is likely to only be really tested a few hundred miles per year, if that.
Right now new spring through fall tires are a given but they will probably be a compromise like the DW. A new rear sway bar is also a very likely purchase. New wheels are a maybe as are A-Spec conversion and the Depo/TSX headlight conversion. If I don't do the full A-Spec kit I'll probably ay least put yellow Koni struts in.
For now I'm trying to decide among 225/50/16 and 215/45/17 or 225/45/17 tires and rims. With zero drop or only A-spec drop and the fenders not rolled are there any rubbing/clearance issues with 225s?
well, then I can not under emphasize the importance of a proper alignment. Given you've more or less chosen your tire. As keeping your tires in their happy place is the next best thing to having better tires.
So remember to budget in a camber kit for both the front & rear.
If you're just going to replace the shocks then go with bilsteins. The bilstein shocks sold here are the same ones sold in europe for the EP3 Type-R
I doubt that you'll have any rubbing problems with the sizes you're considering as long as your wheel offset is correct at around 37mm. Extreme Summer 225 sidewalls may rub a little on the inside rear as they run a little wider overall width (and tread) than your choices on the stock wheels (45mm offset). Maybe a little up front, too. An 8.5' wide wheel may require a 5mm rear spacer due to lower arm rubbing but that's about it at your suggested height, I think. A 21 or 22mm bar, A-Specs, camber kit, and mild alignment sounds perfect for you.
http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthr...eet-Alignments
Last edited by Hasbro; 06-10-2013 at 04:43 PM.
I'm running a DC5 Type-R suspension which is about the same drop as A-spec/HFP and I have no rubbing issues although I did roll my rear fenders "just in case".
Thanks again guys, you've been more than generous in educating me.
Poeticfinesse21, I did read your Bilstein thread and while I believe that Bilsteins are better I think dollars will probably rule them out for me. I'll be buying new tires and maybe rims as well as a set of winter wheels (unless I decide to get a winter beater and garage the EP3 from late November through March). I also have to deal with the captive plate mounting nuts on the hatch which are rusting and just starting to spread their contagion to the metal of the hatch itself. If I had deeper pockets the whole car could benefit for a good repaint, @#!* NHBP, but I may consider just having the hood resprayed plus some touch ups. Once all that is paid for I can consider suspension work.
Hasbro (and anyone else), what do you like for brake pads that improve on stock performance but aren't noisy and don't produce tons of dust? Hawk HPS? StopTech Street Performance? Akebono Performance? or ???
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