Wheel Directory: Kosei K4R 17x8.0 +36

[Vracer111]

Had 215/45-17 Kumho XS installed on 17x8, +36mm offset Kosei K4R's this past Tuesday. I originally planned to go with Hankook RS-3's (as I've run them before) but decided to try the Kumho's as they are noted as being just about as good but weigh less and cost less. Before I installed the wheels I weighed them with my bathroom scale and they showed 15.6 lbs difference between just me and me+wheel. Wheel and tire combo should be under 37lbs. This will primarily be my track setup (which I'm going tomorrow, 21st), will use the stock wheels normally (until I can find a deal on some Enkei RP03's...)

I will say I like the fit of the Kosei/Kumho combo and man what a difference in feel when driving the FR-S... with traction control all off I cannot break traction with them daily driving and the car is much more neutral. Steering is as quick as ever and the car just points and goes without any noise. Should be really great on track!

On to the Pictures!

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by cyde01

looks real nice! are you happy you went with 215 as opposed to a wider tire?

Yes, I wanted to try the stock size stretched to its maximum recommended wheel width application and because this is about as light a wheel/tire combo as you can get. May go up in tire size when time for new tires, but it will be at degradation of responsiveness in comparison to this setup and a 3-4lb weight inrease per tire. Tire compound and weight is more important than width...

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by Enigmus

How was the track event with the new tires?

See the thread I made about it: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9579

Originally Posted by evil_1998

Nice lightweight wheels...Any rubbing issues with this setup?

None whatsoever with the 215/45-17 Kumho XS tires....

Originally Posted by mpicher

215's on a 17x8? Did you mean 17x7?

No, they are 17x8 wheels with +36mm offset... as schtebie said 215/45-17 are designed for 7-8" wheel fitment. 215/45-17 Kumho XS's are wider than the stock Michelins; the tread is 7.9" wide - which is just about perfect for a 8" wheel.

Originally Posted by ultra

Where'd you buy them? Tire rack?

Yes, I purchased them from Tire Rack.

Originally Posted by dwx

Good to see something as low offset as +36 fits in the front. I would still have gone with a 225 or 235 tire on the 17x8 rims. I don't think you would have lost any responsiveness really.

What exhaust is that? It looks custom made or like the stock exhaust with no tips...

I was wanting to get the "limited budget" lowest weight setup and wanted as light a weight tire as possible so 215/45-17 it was. As for the exhaust, yes it's stock with the rediculous US tips taken off...it will be like this until I get a catback system for it, which will be the SRT catback setup once it's released.

Originally Posted by Apex Chase

I like that a lot. Time for some lowering springs.

I would like to get the RCE suspension kit (20mm drop), but honestly the stock suspension is soo good I can hold off on that for a while. I'm ok with the stock height look for now. Catback exhaust is probably the most important upgrade for me and will be the first priority....

Originally Posted by chulooz

I think the rims would look mint if finished with center caps, but the tires are too stretched for my taste/goals.

Looks better without the caps to me, the Kosei caps are too Blingy.... Tires are hardly stretched that much being the tread is nearly 8" in width.

Originally Posted by jeebus

nice to see someone that knows how NOT to ruin the balance of this car. You shaved a few pounds off each corner from stock, got a bit more footprint and track. Good work!

That was the goal...to make it easier on the suspension and improve handling for track duty. It's one of the few lightweight wheels that has a decent offset (45-48mm is just not enough for a 8" wide wheel) and I wanted a sticky and wider 215/45-17 tire that had around an 8" tread width. Instead of changing tire size I'll just up the compound to DOT-R tires if I need to go faster (will also be lighter as well....)

[Metallic BRZ]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Had 215/45-17 Kumho XS installed on 17x8, +36mm offset Kosei K4R's this past Tuesday. I originally planned to go with Hankook RS-3's (as I've run them before) but decided to try the Kumho's as they are noted as being just about as good but weigh less and cost less. Before I installed the wheels I weighed them with my bathroom scale and they showed 15.6 lbs difference between just me and me+wheel. Wheel and tire combo should be under 37lbs. This will primarily be my track setup (which I'm going tomorrow, 21st), will use the stock wheels normally (until I can find a deal on some Enkei RP03's...)

I will say I like the fit of the Kosei/Kumho combo and man what a difference in feel when driving the FR-S... with traction control all off I cannot break traction with them daily driving and the car is much more neutral. Steering is as quick as ever and the car just points and goes without any noise. Should be really great on track!

I just ordered my set Though it would have been smart to wait until I had the car

[Smudgeous]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

I was wanting to get the "limited budget" lowest weight setup and wanted as light a weight tire as possible so 215/45-17 it was. As for the exhaust, yes it's stock with the rediculous US tips taken off...it will be like this until I get a catback system for it, which will be the SRT catback setup once it's released.

I would like to get the RCE suspension kit (20mm drop), but honestly the stock suspension is soo good I can hold off on that for a while. I'm ok with the stock height look for now. Catback exhaust is probably the most important upgrade for me and will be the first priority....

Quite interesting how similar your goals are to my own. I've been eyeing the same wheels, just ordered that exhaust, and waiting for the same springs (via the kit) to be orderable.

[ft86Fan]

This is interesting. TireRack only had the 17X7 +50mm before and that only weighs 14 lbs. Now they added the 17X8 +36mm that weighs 15.8 lbs. Which one to get?

For the OP, wouldn't the 17X7 be a better choice if you are sticking with the 215s? Also, do you think there will be rubbing with wider tires on the 17X8 with the more aggressive offset? What about TPMS? Did you mount them on the new wheels?

I'm thinking getting the 17X7 with 215s for the street and 17X8 with wider tires for the track.

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by Metallic BRZ

I just ordered my set Though it would have been smart to wait until I had the car

I was actually looking at wheels before I got my FR-S...but Tire Rack didn't have their wheel viewer working then and there wasn't much selection. I just wish the K4R's came in silver...would look a lot better on a darker car. On a lighter color those the K4R's would definitely look sweeter!

Originally Posted by Smudgeous

Quite interesting how similar your goals are to my own. I've been eyeing the same wheels, just ordered that exhaust, and waiting for the same springs (via the kit) to be orderable.

Yeah, with the suspension as good as it is stock, priority one is getting a proper exhaust on the car... because that's the worst thing about the FR-S...I'll be prototyping a custom intake myself.

Originally Posted by ft86Fan

This is interesting. TireRack only had the 17X7 +50mm before and that only weighs 14 lbs. Now they added the 17X8 +36mm that weighs 15.8 lbs. Which one to get?

For the OP, wouldn't the 17X7 be a better choice if you are sticking with the 215s? Also, do you think there will be rubbing with wider tires on the 17X8 with the more aggressive offset? What about TPMS? Did you mount them on the new wheels?

I'm thinking getting the 17X7 with 215s for the street and 17X8 with wider tires for the track.

Depends on tire...I like Kumho and Hankook tires, which have 'softer' sidewalls. If you put them on the max width tire they are designed for the ride quality really comes out in them along with the handling. 225 or 235 width tires should fit fine with this offset...personally I don't think I'd ever go beyond 225 width for the FR-S. Did not mount TPMS to the Kosei's - no reason for track wheels to have TPMS valves...

I'm actually looking at lighter weight 16x7.5" wheels with 205/55-16 tires for possible dailies - even lighter than the track setup; imagine a 34lb wheel/tire combo...

[ft86Fan]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

Depends on tire...I like Kumho and Hankook tires, which have 'softer' sidewalls. If you put them on the max width tire they are designed for the ride quality really comes out in them along with the handling. 225 or 235 width tires should fit fine with this offset...personally I don't think I'd ever go beyond 225 width for the FR-S. Did not mount TPMS to the Kosei's - no reason for track wheels to have TPMS valves...

I'm actually looking at lighter weight 16x7.5" wheels with 205/55-16 tires for possible dailies - even lighter than the track setup; imagine a 34lb wheel/tire combo...

Thanks OP. Just picked up my Whiteout FR-S today so its almost that time to buy wheels

Yeah, I won't put TPMS on my aftermarket wheels even if they are for the street but did you encounter any issues without them besides the dash light coming on? I've heard people say that on some cars without TPMS, the ECU will prevent traction/stability control to be turned off.

So you think 17X8 +36mm should be ok with 225/45-17? The only problem is that it is 0.4" larger in diameter. 235/40-17 is only 0.2" smaller in diameter but not sure how well they will fit with that offset.

[Vracer111]

No issues with TPMS light being on at all... It was run on track like that and handled brilliantly (as long as all aids were turned off - forgot to turn off the traction/stability systems before starting my last track run session and man was it annoying (ABS pulsing for no good reason and power cutting out a few times....) Make sure everything is off when running on track!

I'm sure 235/40-17 would work without any issue - Racecomp Engineering is running 245/35-18 tires on 18x8 wheels with +38 offset with no issues, plus they are lowered 20mm. I just don't want to add the extra weight of the wider tires...

[Vracer111]

Originally Posted by ft86Fan

Wow, the lights didn't even come on without TPMS on the new wheels. Thats great. Thanks.

No, the light was on (comes on after about 21 miles in a single trip), but there was no issues with it being on - everything functioned as normal. I guess I didn't say it clearly in the original post and you mistook that for the light didn't come on...

Cheddar...here's the wheels on Tirerack:

K4R

[Trettiosjuan]

Originally Posted by mike2100

Those are perfect; well done! Who says you can't have form and function? Now I wonder what they'd look like on a silver car...

+1! I'll have exactly these on a Silver GT86, should look good IMHO

One question: does the added track width affect the steering feel? Less pure but more feedback?

[Vracer111]

Steering feel is much the same to me, though it's definitely a little sharper/quicker than stock because you have 215/45-17 tires stretched on 8" width wheels.

[jiffyjhn]

Hi

I'm new to the forum. Just got my K4R 17x8 +36mm with 225/45/17 Michelin Super Sport installed. Was going to get 17x8 RPF1s but I liked the look of this better and same weight.

Here is some picutures on stock heights. Getting carbon center caps soon.

[UMB FR-S]

kosei k4r in 17x8 with +36 offset
245 tires on them