Tires ordered! Bridgestone Potenza SO-3s 255/35/18 and 285/30/18. Should be here Thursday.

 

Are those rims also available in 19"? If yes, what would be the recommended offset and measurements( width of wheel)

I know, a lot of you guys don't like the thought of 19's on a RX7 but I just got an offer to get a body kit sponsored so it would become some of a show car and weekend driver. No track racing or dragging so try to go easy on me ;-)

Neal
Belgium/Europe

 

The 57F Pro comes as big as 19x10.5 but I don't see it fitting without some custom body work.

 

19"s are fine, if you consider and understand the limitations. I have 19"s, and will continue to purchase all my future street wheels in this size.

The obvious are generally decreased performance, a harsher ride, and a greater chance of damage if you drive on bad roads. These are simplified truths though - TE37s and BBS RGRs weigh about 20lbs in 19x9.5 - lighter then what some 18"s in the same size - and ride quality depends on the choice of tires as well. Volk even touts that their TE37 are designed with greater air volume in the 19" sizes for a more comfortable ride (though they are the only ones I've ever heard of mentioning this concept).

What isn't obvious is that you are extremely limited in tire size choices - if you want to keep as close to stock sizes anyways. Only one manufacturer (Dunlop SP9000) makes a 245/30/19, which has a theoretical diameter of 24.79", essentially the same as stock diameter. Things get difficult in the rear, as that the only wider width that is close to this diameter is 305/25/19, which is available only with the Pirelli PZero. This tire size also requires a 10.5" width wheel minimum. (Dunlop and Yokohama has this size as well, but appears to be available only in Europe at the moment) The best compromise for a staggered rear is 265/30/19 (for a 19x9.5" wheel), but which sits about .4" taller then the front.

Looking at Rays (Volks) offset chart, your best choices are 19x8.5 +38 (which has a A disk for more caliper clearance) for the front and 19x9.5 +42 (which has a B disk for more lip) for the rear.

http://rayswheels.co.jp/cgi-bin/cgi2...elName=57F_PRO

 

to respond to the caliper clearance. I have an Ap brake kit lying around which I will adapt to the FD when I have some spare time (it's the CP5100 I think, in any way the same caliper set as offered in the USA for FD"'s)

Will I have to take that also in consideration when choosing wheels? The discs of the brake kit will bee 330mm (only fronts)

About the tire choice. I was thinking about 8.5x19 in the front and 9.5x19 on the rear. Tires would be 225 and 255 width I guess. I'm not very into all the wheel business. My car interest are elsewhere

 

Depends on what brakes you want to run. Some of them such as the M2 kit even work with the stock wheels.

 

Yes, if you are installing aftermarket brakes, *generally* they require a wheel with more 'pad height' or caliper clearance.

This is a good iilustration off of Work Wheels website:

http://www.work-wheels.co.jp/wheels/...p/main_img.jpg

The stock 93-95 US spec calipers are on the smaller side. I've had a set of wheels with very low pad height with the US spec brakes:

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/...9443292352.jpg

But when you install aftermarket brakes, anything pretty much goes. As Rotary Experiment Seven says, there are a couple of kits that are designed to fit behind the stock 16" wheels, and therefore you can worry less about 'pad height'. My guess is that your APs will require more 'pad height'

Going back to Ray's offset/size chart:

http://rayswheels.co.jp/cgi-bin/cgi2...elName=57F_PRO

The 'A' column designates size/offsets with a high pad height (for more caliper clearance), whereas the 'B' column designates size/offsets with a low pad height (generally to maximize lip - an aesthetic thing really).

I suggest 19x8.5" +38 ('A' disk) front and 19x9.5 +42 ('B' disk) rear.

Note that there is no 'standard' for caliper clearance. Different manufacturers call them different things as well ('A', 'B', Hi, Lo, Med, etc) Basically, all you can count on is that a 'A' (or whatever a manufacture wants to call it) disk will have more caliper clearance then a 'B' disk for a given model. The only company I know that offers 'real' clearance measurements is Racing Hart (chart at bottom):

http://www.hartwheels.co.jp/cat_0312...ypec4_spec.htm


As for tire size choice, you could run a 225/35/19 and a 255/30/19, but this is on the narrow side for these wheel sizes (still within manufacturer's recommendations however). These tire sizes are actually pretty close to stock diameter, and would work well with a 19x8 and a 19x9. It appears these wheel sizes are not available in the Gram Light Pros however. You are also limited to Pirelli Neros (at least in the US), as it appears no one else makes this tire size combo. Other manufacturers may have these sizes in Europe though, so check your local shop.

You *could* mount these tire sizes on the wider 19x8.5 and 19x9.5, but you will have a 'stretched' look. The look seems popular in Europe and Japan though. Hope that helps.

 

About the Calipers. They are thesame as "Jimlab" has for his FD. I have the technical drawings to have thecaliper adaptors machined.

Yeah the streched look is very inhere but more on the saller wheel sizes or "cleaned" cars.

running 19's on stretched tires is a bit on the tricky side for me as roads here aren't always that good and it will be causing dents and caps in the rim. I'm not willing to take that risk on an investement of that kind.

Thanks for the answers by the way

 

Damn...good info, Daniel

 

Just a bit of trial and error, and learning from you guys.

 

very nice in gold. that's EXACTLY the wheel i would pick for a silver FD, that or BBS mesh.