jimlab

I suspect that the difference in performance between a 275 and a 315 would be marginal at best. The extra weight, however, would help curb an engine which was on the margin of being able to break the 275s loose. For my engine, a Fred Flinstone solid rear tire/log wouldn't help.

Actually, it is. The tread blocks and compound of two tires in the same line differing only in width will likely perform about the same if the difference in width is not extreme. In other words, the difference between an S-03 Pole Position in P275 and P295 widths would be basically unmeasureable.

Funny how people bitch about how heavy wheels are, but ignore the weight of the tire, which is located at the very edge of the circumference of the wheel/tire package. A P315 might gain you a little traction, but is the 4-5 extra lbs. of unsprung weight per corner worth it? Doubtful.

If nothing else, the RX-7 has proven that you can corner just as hard with a P225 as you can with a wider tire. If not, then why isn't a Z06 with P265s and P295s well into the 1.0+G range?

redrotorR1

In a straightline, probably so. Given both sizes up to operating temp and optimally set for contact patch, there should be only minute gains from the wider tires. Diminished returns? Yeah, probably. But for cornering advantage ... I beg to differ.

Taking your example ... there's 0.3" difference in tread width between a 275/40 18 and a 285/30 18 S-03. If an extra 10mm is linearly incremental wrt tread width (it's probably not), you could extrapolate a 0.6" advantage in tread width for the 295 tire.


Tire compound. Suspension geometry. Alignment settings. Spring rate. Shock valving. All sorts of crap .... these magazine tests don't really give a fair comparison for the difference between tire sizes. I mean .. I could put a set of Hoosiers on a Miata and out-skidpad an Enzo. Or, put wide sticky tires on a Z06 and claim that wider tires are penultimately better ... which is not always the case. Anyhow, I think we're digressing too far.


PS: I agree, HRE's are WAY overpriced. The Fikse Profil 10's aren't a bad option though ....

twint78

I might have to go with a 10" rim and +53 offset with 285's all around then.Some guy on the forum has this setup. Can't remember the name. Jim I also like the thought of 19's on the back but damn on that photoshop it is ugly. But then again the Koeniggsegg CC has 20's and looks beautiful. I might have to search the forum and see what 19" looks like on the seven. I'm looking into AXIS Seven rims.

jimlab

Here's a car with Kinesis K19s... and a very well executed wide body graft...

SleepR1

Oh, I love the Profil 13s

BTW Pete, did you sell your Integral A2s? I might be interested in the 9 x 17 rear wheels only (no tires). Yours combined with turbojeff's 3, 9 x 17s, will give me another set of 5 for track tires (Pirelli P-Zero Corsas) for VIR 2004 Shipping will be 46217. Email me. Deal would be contingent on my being able to get turbojeff's 3, 9 x 17s

jimlab

Here's a Corvette with 19 and 20" polished iForged Evolutions. Many of their wheels look like a 15" wheel center in a 19" wheel to me, but these don't look bad at all. Notice how proportionate they look compared to the gay stock 17s on the front of the C5 next to it...



Here's another Corvette with the same wheels...

jimlab

Oops... $1,035 ea. for 19x10s, $970 ea. for 19x8.5s... we're back into the $4,000 range.

I'm thinking a set of polished TE-37s might be the way to go. Even if I had to buy them in white or bronze and have them stripped and polished, they'd still be much more reasonable. I think that polished, in 19", they'll look like a (really) big, clean, relatively OEM-style wheel with some class, and that's what I'm looking for. Not a stand-out, in your face type of thing. It's enough that they're huge without getting busy with the design.

19x8.5 front, 19x9.5 rear, the only choice now is the offset...

19x8.5 - +35mm, +36mm, +43mm, +44mm
19x9.5 - +35mm, +36mm, +43mm, +44mm, +45mm

+44 front and rear would be playing it safe, with 1/2" of front clearance and plenty in the back (1/2" rear, 1" front), but it might look too staggered.

+45mm in the rear and +43 in the front would be a little better, with 0.52" front clearance in back and 0.44" in front. A +38mm in the front would probably be just about perfect, but +36mm is all they've got, and that's a little tight with 0.17" front spacing. Any thoughts?

Edit: I just remembered that my old 17s were 8.5s and 9.5s, both +45mm, and looked just fine. The rear wheel just had more lip than the front.

jimlab

Deja Vu... Peter, we had this same conversation about seven months ago...

jimlab

More famous last words...

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

ahh!!, its like "groundhog day"

Kenesis, Fikse, Forgeline, Volk, I'd say go w/ the Volks if you can squeeze that 10.5" rear in there, if not, get something modular so that you can get it all to fit right. I'm not sure a 285/30 is gonna work well on a 9.5" wheel.

the 18/19 combo on the Vette looks nicer than the 17/18 combo... probably because the percentage of difference is a little less. Its too bad Forgeline doesn't make those one-piece VS1 viper wheels for other cars.

Manny: Sorry, I traded the SSRs for the Fikses.

After that, its all up to taste.

jimlab

Measuring from bead to bead on my rear tires, I got 10", so they'd only be compressed by about 1/2", which shouldn't cause much distortion of the contact patch, if any. Bridgestone recommends a 10" wheel, but a 9.5" should work just fine in this case. I ran P285s on the stock 9.5" rear wheels on my Supra and they looked perfectly proportionate with the wheel lip protected by the tire instead of looking "stretched". I hate the stretched look.

See the picture of the black FD below... the shoulder of the tire is very rounded and the wheel lip is not protected at all. I would have gone with a little more tire, or a little less wheel.



Also, manufacturer's published measurements can be off. Bridgestone states that the height of my P285/30-19 is 25.7", but I measured 25.5". Fanaticism over sticking as close as possible to stock diameter aside, that's 0.4" shorter than the measured height of the P275/40-17 Nitto drag radials that were on the car in the picture you Photoshopped, and I know they fit without problems. I also just remembered that my 17s were 8" and 9" wide, not 8.5" and 9.5". If a P275 can fit and work on a 9" wheel, I don't see why a P285 wouldn't work on a 9.5" wheel.

Both of the Corvettes in the pictures I posted have 19/20" combinations.

I took one look at the front wheels on my Z06 and nearly puked. It used to be that a 40-series tire (P265/40-17) on a 17" rim looked great. Of course it did, back when 50-series tires were the norm. Today though, I think it looks thick and bloated. The P295/35-18s in the back looked much more proportionate to me. Funny how a half inch of sidewall can make such a difference in appearance.

Yep. Or in my case, taste and a little chat my wife and I had recently about when the car would reasonably be done and how much it would cost to get there...

DamonB

I can see that now. She's adding up how many college educations could have been bought for the new addition to the family

jimlab

The new addition to the family already has her own stock portfolio.

No, I think she just wants to know when this silly boy stuff is going to be over. We'll be house shopping next spring/summer, and she's been talking about couches and boring stuff like that...

SleepR1

Mrs. JimLab sounds like a very very patient woman!

jimlab

You have no idea...

jimlab

BTW, heard back from Upgrade Motoring already and they've sent several sets of the Volks out for polishing. According to them, they turn out really well because they're such high quality wheels. I heard the same comment from the guy who polished my suspension pieces. He said normal aluminum castings are full of pits and holes and my parts cleaned up with almost no work at all.

As soon as I get a package price, I'm buying the Volks, +44mm front and rear. Thanks to everyone for the input while I made up my mind.

SleepR1

I'll believe this once I see the polished Volks on your car

jimlab

Why, just because it's taken me 8 or 9 months to get this close to making a decision?

DamonB

It's alright. Manny has no room to talk either

jimlab

I know. You can't turn around in here without stumbling into a thread where Manny's offering to buy someone's wheels for track use or pondering buying what someone else is buying...

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

Thats correct.. I'm running 18x10.5 ssr comp wheels with 275/35/18 Contisport2's..

I notice that fender definitely needs to be rolled.. but now I'm running oem 99 17's.. I'm holding the ssr's for shows..

PHIL

jimlab

Just got off the phone with Upgrade Motoring. They quoted $125 a wheel to have them stripped and chromed (no, I'm not getting them chromed), and about $150 a wheel to have them stripped and polished. The spokes and lip of the wheel would be polished and the "barrel", or backside of the wheel would be raw aluminum, which is the route I'm going to go.

I'm waiting to hear back on final price, but it looks like about $3,000 from their estimate, which if not great, is still better than $4,000+.

They didn't have the +44mm 19x9.5s in stock, but do have +43mm in stock, and what's a millimeter between friends. By my calculations, that gives me about 0.56" clearance in the rear, and 0.44" clearance in the front.

For the front 8.5s, they either have +44mm or +43mm (he was going to check) in stock, either of which would be fine. 1.02" or 1.06" clearance in the rear and 0.48" or 0.44" clearance in the front, respectively.

Well Manny, I'm one step closer to plunking down my coins.

jimlab

$165 ea. polished, barrels raw, and $40 ea. for the center caps (ouch!), also polished.

Grand total, $3,267.00 with shipping, and it should be 7-10 working days for stripping and polishing with another 2-3 days for delivery.

I ordered them about five minutes ago.

DamonB

I'm impressed it's that fast! Delvery to your door in under two weeks even when they must strip and polish them! Hell, we FD guys are used to waiting longer than that for stuff that's off the shelf

(Which reminds me. Bushings on the way? )

Brad

I think this is the first time in history where cost has been a deciding factor for Jim. I'm marking my calendar.


Damned women.....



I say ditch the wife and kid so you can spend your money how you see fit. Just kidding by the way. ****, I hop my wife doesn't read this!!