Hey everybody! Just in for a break from working on the car. I have been in the process of building up my old 88 into a whole new car. I am currently rebuilding and upgrading suspension parts, and I realized it is nearly time to start thinking about wheels, tires, and brakes for my baby. I am shooting for 275-300 hp at the wheels for this vehicle, and I am have already begun to draw up a design for my own widebody. I am planning to finish the flares to my exact wheel/tire setup, so I will need to buy them before I go all out on everything else. I really want a nice staggered look to car and I definitely want some nice wide wheels with a reasonable lip to them, I am thinking somewhere around 17/18" Dia. and 7 to 8" in front and an inch wider in the rear. I definitely want the same diameter in front and back though. Enter my question: how wide can I go with the back for my targeted power range? I want the car to be a head turner, but I primarily drive it as hard as I can for the conditions I am in, and I don't want a car that spins out at a moments notice. I want the power at the ground with enough contact to keep it glued, but not so much that I lose significant power to my wheel and tire combo. I have been told to just get what wheel I want and size my tire to my power(by A/R and tire compound) but that still leaves me at choosing the right tire if nothing else. Any thoughts? Just searching for other opinions right now. I see many cars with outrageous widebody kits and crazy wheel tire combos out back (supras with 10-12 inches), but they are usually purpose built all out racers with 600-1000 hp. Not much explanation is usually found by this one concerning the power to contact ratio, and how the car behaves with different A/R tires on the same wheel.

 

For your power levels you don't need a widebody, and that'd be a ton of work. Just use good high performance summer tires and you'll be fine. I'd go as wide as possible up front to keep understeer in check, or else you'll be plowing around all the corners untill you break the back end loose with power and that's not fast or that much fun.

I'd go with 17x8 front with 225/45/17 and 17x9 in the rear with 255/40/17. If you want to go crazy, people have fit 275's in the back and 245s in the front with coilovers and rolled fenders. Stick to 17" if you're concerned about power loss through the wheels, as 18" wheels will make it worse. Some good inespensive high performance tires are Falken Azenis, Hankook RS2 and Kumho MX.

Suspension tuning will halp make it stick, and will make the difference between violent, sudden breakaway into a spin, and a gradual progression to controllable oversteer.

As for brakes, just use some decent high performance pads (not race pads) and make sure the system's working properly and you'll be fine.

 

I'd have to second black91n/a pick for front and rear tire choice at the power range your shooting for. It's the same set up I have on mine at the momment and i'm running the falken tires. those sizes will fit fine with a 38 off set on a 17" rim no mods to the car required. I'm also dropped by 1" without any fender rubbing issues. over 300 hourse you might want to step up to widr out back since my biggest problem is traction under heave throttle but i'm at or over 400 hourse and still going

 

For offset, use what this guide says, and avoid Tanabe and Tein lowering springs, as they actually reduce the available room in front.

http://www.fc3spro.com/TECH/MODS/RT/rims.htm

 

wide front fenders with a 17or 18 x9.5 +20 'ish offset and a 255 tire.

rolled rear fenders and a slight pull, run some 17 or 18 x10.5 +25 offset wheels with a 275 or 285 tire.

oh man life would be good.

the other scenario is the plain and simple, proven and cost effective... 235 fronts and 255 rears or 255 all around on some lightweight 8f/9r or 9 all around with front wide fenders.

 

Thanks for all the input so far! I just gotta build this widebody though, this is my dream car incarnate. Getting some good ideas for what I may run for wheels and tires. I am definitely looking at either Falken Azenis or FK452's if I can afford it. I have had great luck with 451's on other cars. As for wheels, I definitely want some 17's, not sure on width yet. In other news, got my old s4 na motor/tranny pulled today. I scored an engine lift this morning for 50 bucks!

 

i have 305whp, and spin 285s in 1st with very little effort. in 2nd, they spin sometimes depending on how hard i stab the gas, and how nice the pavement is. 255's will spin fairly easily anywhere under like 50mph. if you have decent pedal control, you'll be ok though ;-)
if you dont wanna mess with your fenders, go 17x8 and 17x9, +35, with 235/40/17 and 255/40/17

 

Yea, but with what tires? That makes a HUGE difference. Some ordinary all seasons in a 285 won't grip as well as a nice max performance summer tire in a much narrower width. For instance my dad's Miata has 220whp with 205 Azenis and they can hold the power in first gear most of the time. But with any tire if you launch really hard they're much more likely to spin than if you roll on the throttle after you start moving. Anything will spin on bad pavement.

I've also used 451's before and they were ok, but I didn't like how much grip they lost when they were nearly dead. Azenis will give more grip than 452's, that's for sure.

 

prior to my 10.5's, i had 245/40/17 bfg g-force KD's (the ones that were all hot **** a couple years ago). those things spun when i shifted into third, and hopped into 4th (i let my friend drive it at the drag strip, and he almost wrecked it after shifting into 3rd.. not cool). my 285's are all season tires (g-force KDWS) but do grip better. the compound isnt as sticky, but the extra inch of width really does help. plus it looks cool :-)

 

I have 255 kuhmo MX's in the rear and they were plenty of tire for 320whp. Sure I spun 1st all the time, but 2nd wasn't difficult to hook except on colder days.

 

You'll be shifting a lot faster and harder at the strip than when doing recreational track driving or driving on the street, so spinning when shifting shouldn't be that big a deal.

 

while we discuss this, (sorry for thread jack) im currently saving up money for wheels, hopefully rishie can still hook me up lol...

im running n/a (dont flame me) at this time, and was wondering if its better off to get 16x8 +25 all around rpf1 or 16x7 +30 all around... rpf1... 1 lb difference in metal, tire wise probably gonna be the same 225/50r16, so whats a better choice?

im leaning on the 16x8 cos if i go turbo one day($ is the issue here), it would be pretty nice to have something to slap 245s on. yes +25 all around so i can rotate the rubber hahahaha.... getting mariah front fenders when i can afford it... and modify it to accept the factory mouldings, hopefully.. im gonna flare the fronts for now..

 

16x8

 

1st gwar most any tire will spin... but I've got 275's and 365 rwhp, and 2nd gear will slip a little, particularly if it's cold, but i'd not really call it "spinning"... something doesn't seem right here. What's your alignment look like?

 

^ He's using all season tires and that's at the drag strip, so hard shifting and hard launching.

 

i had 225 yokohama race tires on vert rims and 350whp. those things never spun once they were hot in any gear as long as i was going straight. i would say it is all in the type of tire as people have said above.

but i have since gone with a bigger wheel and tire combo for my new setup. oh and this is all in an '88 tii that weighs 2400lbs