Open discussion of my current budget lightweight wheel options, please keep it civil.
 

So my build theme is "Quick On a College Budget" and the next thing on the list is lightweight wheels.
I already know that in the future I will be purchasing 17x9 +45 RPF-1's or 17x9 WedsSport TC105N's with 235/40/17 or 245/45/17 'Extreme Performance' tires for track/autocross. This will be after I start co-op'ing as an engineering student and have more income. The 235's would be for autocross if I decide to do more of that, the 245's would be for tracking if I decide to do more of that.
Okay, now that that's out of the way: for the moment I'm really sick of the looks of the stock wheels, painting them got me a year more out of them visually but I'm tired of them. For my street set I intend to buy 17x8 with offset ranging between +45 and +48.
I'll be running 225/45/17 Hankook RS3 v2's on these wheels, I'll be running this tire with an exactly 8" wide tread to have a solid sidewall and preserve the steering feel that makes the BRZ so fun to daily. The chosen offset range is also to preserve the steering feel. I live in a very warm climate and am not at all worried about going year round on RS3's plus I'll have the stock wheels and PSS I've been running for years as spares just in case.

Now for the part that will likely make the internet explode. :bonk:
The two wheels I'm looking at are:
Advanti DST Storm S1 17x8 +45's: they're newly released in BRZ friendly sizes, are flow formed, and weigh "16.95" pounds a piece for $214 a wheel, plus shipping. They've been a popular option for Miata's for a while.
http://www.tirerack.com/images/wheel..._b_pdpfull.jpg

Rota Titan (Flat Black) 17x8 +45
The WedsSport TC105N is easily my favorite wheel for the car, especially at ~15 pounds a wheel:drool:, but at ~$2000 a set they are WAY WAY WAY out of my price range. I have every intention of switching over to them once I have the money, regardless of what I go with for the next year(ish). The Titan's are just 17lbs a piece, and $695 shipped. People knock on Rota's all the time but I haven't recently heard of one failing, they seem to have their act together. The lip on the Titans also look like they would be easier to repair if a minor curbing ever occurred, because shit happens.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...lL._SY355_.jpg

Regardless of which wheel I go with I will be doing about one AutoX a month (I host the AutoX's for crying out loud, so they're free for me) and about one canyon run a week. Again, you can shame Rota all you want for ripping off other people's designs… I never thought I'd ever consider replica wheels: but they're still quite light and I'll be buying the sub 15 pound genuine articles eventually anyway..
Opinions? Thoughts? Thanks for reading. :cheers:
Oh and no 17x8 RPF1 suggestions please, the spokes are hideous on all the sizes below 17x9 (when they become basically straight-spoke) and I'm not putting figurative Crocs on my car. I think it's clear from my top two choices what kind of style I prefer, I also looked at Kosei K8R's but after seeing them on an 86 I decided the offset just didn't look right at all.

Given the "theme" (which personally I find it silly, since your not building a pc nor a mmo character) I would say slap some R-comps on the oem wheels.

Buy good wheels when you have money.

I already have some of the RS3's on order actually lol, for when the current PSS are burnt out :thumbup:
I'm putting 225/45/17's on the stock wheels, very C-Street style, and then switching them over to the new wheels when I eventually decide what to buy.
And gee thanks, I have found that having a theme helps me keep my priorities in line, i.e. it keeps me from spending more than I should in this situation.

Budget+lightweight? Kosei K4R won't do? I'd also hunt classifieds here / nasioc & alike places for used forged wheels. Currently runing set of Teneisya/Techni Craft T6 bought for price of one new forged wheel :)

The K4R's have too high of an offset for me, I've driven on them and they are noticeably more vague. Great for all out grip but I'd rather have the steering feel and just slightly less grip honestly. Also not really a fan of them visually. I'm on the classifieds here probably 3 times most days lol, if something awesome comes up I'll jump on them haha. Can't bank on that though. Wish I could pick up a set of 13.8lb T6's for that price haha :cry:

What about 949 Racing wheels. 16.6lbs and budget freindly. 17x8+40 or 17x9 +40 and at 16.9lbs

Black
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/medi...arcoal-1_2.jpg

Silver
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/medi...silver-1_1.jpg

Gold
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/medi...onze-1_2_1.jpg

Tungsten
http://www.ft86speedfactory.com/medi...ngsten-1_1.jpg

Ooooo totally forgot that 949 Racing had released them for the twins hmmmmmmmm. You make a good point. I'm likely to consider those for a 17x9 track wheel but I'm not sure if I'd want them as a daily. I'll definitely add it to my my 'track' wheel options list, that +40 offset is exactly what I want on the fronts for AutoX.

Cheaper than TC105n and same construction:

http://www.ssr-wheels.com/wheels/gtx01.asp

$370(!) a wheel and heavier than the flow formed Advanti's, those 949 6UL's, or even regular TSW Nurburgring... at that point it'd be worth the extra money to just get the gorgeous and much lighter TC105N's. SSR's aren't budget :cry:

yea this is always a pain. You can get the black STI wheels from the series.blue for about $1000 and they weigh 18lbs.

Would you consider going to 16's? There seem to be some in the 15 lb range for reasonable money out there.

I second the suggestion of scouring all the STI/WRX boards looking for second hand wheels. There's actually about half a dozen of them out there. Should be a good deal on wheels you will like somewhere.

720Form wheels
17x9 +35
180 each (not including shipping)
16.8 lbs each

https://www.trackwerks.com/shop-whee...f1-wheels.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...Z/IMAG1024.jpg

My personal opinion would be to not waste money on an interim part that isn't what you want; that money will account for a big chunk of the wheels that you actually want.

Especially if you plan on doing Auto-x or similar, I would be wary of cheap wheels.

Have you considered looking for other sources of income? When I financed my car, I was a student working a part time job, so I had virtually no money for modding it. I started selling a lot of my older stuff on eBay, and made $4k in a few months just getting rid of stuff that was cluttering my space, or sitting in storage (video games, toys, collectibles, electronics.)

I loved doing it, and was relieved to clear up so much space - just a thought?

If you're someone who doesn't want to go that route and wants to get rid of the stock wheels now, then maybe consider searching the local member classified threads - a lot of the members on here have awesome wheels and tire packages up for sale for a steal as they're just trying to part out the car, or want to move them for another set of wheels they have coming in.

That's just my musing though - GL either way with the budget build and the modding; between the two I think the Advanti DST Storm S1s would compliment a DGM BRZ.

$370 is MSRP. Last I checked, the TC105n in 17x8" was $475 MSRP each

Average sell price of TC105n is around $400-450 each wheel, lower in some group buys. The GTX01 is already lower in price.

But as is the case with many other threads, if you don't want my opinion you don't have to accept it.

-alex

and the weights.

Nice find.

Look on NASIOC. I picked up a nice set of used 17X7 OZ Superleggeras in gold from a Legacy guy for $525 shipped. Should also find 17X8 on there if you watch like a hawk :)

Awesome find! Will DEFINITELY be heavily considering those!! The only thing I don't love is the matching +35 offset on the 17x8's, I'm pretty sure I'll lose a good bit of steering feel on those :(
But this is why I started this thread :D

I would check your regional FT86 FS postings, NASIOC and Craigslist classifieds. There are deals to be had if you are patient and wait for the right seller. And a lot of times if you find a seller with another 86, they'll give you a good bargain. I know I've given forum members some nice deals both with this car and when I used to own an STI.

If you really want to buy new though, I'd go with the Titans. They look good, are pretty light, are dirt cheap and should be fine for daily driving and some autocross.

I DD mine. Really like them,, plus there're cheaper than the RPF-1's. They are a few hundred more than what you're currently looking at,, but really it's not a lot. Save the money by not buying a second set of rims for more tires.

Having two sets of wheels just works better for my goals I guess. I don't need or want 9 inches of tread on the street with just the power of a header+tune. I feel like I'd be wasting some tire... :iono:

Hey Keener,

I just pulled the 17x8 720Form GTF1s / 225/45 Pilot Super Sports off my car on Sunday. In fact I'm sitting here waiting for another forum member to come to buy them as I type this. I drove them for a season and a half. Having been back on the OEM wheels and tires for a few days now, I think I can comment from experience, at least as far as daily road driving is concerned. The 13mm of outward offset (+35 vs +48mm) is certainly noticeable through the steering wheel, but I don't think the impact is as big as going from the OEM Primacy tires to the wider, stickier MPSS. The steering is definitely heavier than the OEM set up, especially when stopped, but I found there was just as much feel. Going back to OEM now I find myself over-controlling the car a bit, though some of that is just me being a chicken with the lower grip limits.

I can really recommend the GTF1s. My only issue with them has been that the MPSS don't provide much rim protection and the black paint really shows up any scuff marks.

Also, the dual valves are kind of cool in a nerdy sort of way.

Best of luck in your hunt.

As some of others already mentioned, I would strongly recommend searching used if this isn't urgent. I picked up Advan RS 17x8 for 800, which is somewhat around your budget, but steal compared to original price and better quality than budget priced wheels. Search craigslist, eBay, classifieds and you might find something you want! Good luck.

Good to know about the steering feel on the 720Forms! Thanks @Talus1! The dual valve design is cool, and probably helps balance the wheels better, although I'd be swapping my stock TPMS over. I wonder if anyone has done that yet.

And yeah @frslee I'm on the classifieds here usually multiple times a day looking for good deals... So far only one set of wheels and tires that I wanted have come up for a good enough price. Perhaps I'm being too picky. I look on NASIOC every few days as well but so much of the stuff there is either 18" or an RPF1 with those ugly convex curved spokes :barf:

For anyone curious I decided to go with 17x8 +35 720Form GTF-1's and I'll be wrapping them up in 225/45-17 Hankook RS3's when they arrive.

I use 17lbs, 17x8 +35s as my track and autocross wheels running 245/40r17 BFG Rivals this season. I think the steering weight got a bit heavier but overall, I don't think they feel any different to me but the tires are known to have stiff sidewalls and I installed coilovers at the same time so I don't have a frame of reference for these wheels on the OEM suspension. Still, I'm happy with it, the wheels fit and look perfect with the negative camber I've dialed in, -2.2f and -1.7r.

Let us know how you like them, especially the steering feel.

GTF1 17 x 8 +35
215 Michelin PSS stretched. Will go to 225 in spring.

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...909_124556.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...910_165355.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...910_165142.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...910_165107.jpg

Is your FRS an Asphalt or Raven colour?

I was looking into the 720's as well but wasn't sure black on Asphalt would look great.

Mind taking some additional full side view pictures?

Thanks!

Please, don't quote full posts if they are heavy with pics.

Wasn't aware people still had issues loading 4 extra photos. I'll keep that in mind.

Raven. I will later, just so people can tell me I need to lower the car. LOL

You can delete the picture part when quoting someone btw.

It's not an issue of loading. Times when webdevs had to optimize webpages & images for size for quicker loading over modem is long since in past. There is issue of readability, when quoting with many images makes them see again and again and makes most of thread page content redundant. Even worse if browsing from small screen smarthpones. It's simple to edit quote to remove pics before posting and is polite thing to do by netiquette.

Oh true. Thanks, I'll wait for your update!

And yeah Im aware, just don't care enough to do it lol

Will keep in mind. :thanks:

http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...911_105305.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...911_105248.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...911_110026.jpg
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/y...911_113628.jpg

Maybe it's just me but these look pretty small, no?

THey're 17x8. Maybe since I had just applied tire foam and it isnt completely gone in the pic.

Actually I have 215's stretched on an 8'W rim, so that's probably why. And my car isn't lowered.

In the scheme of things I'll take ride quality over looks, and generally to a degree (splitting hairs here) smaller wheel is usually better. I have an aversion to smashing the underside of my intercooler the odd time going up a driveway so that's why I'm not lowered for now. My intercooler is ~ 1.75x the width and 1.25x the depth of a stock HKS one and sits an inch below the 5:AD spoiler.

Stretch/height definitely play a factor. That intercooler must really hang low! Almost award-worthy! Respect the want to stay stock height, makes sense if that's your priority

I will only lower if it improves everything including ride wuality. Some risk to intercooler, so kinda hung up on it at the moment.

Understandable - there are a lot of coilover setups that can maintain or improve ride quality. I'm impressed with that IC, surprised they made it that bulky and low-hanging on a sports car

Its a frankenstein intercooler, long story. Probably good for 400 or more HP but overkill. Was part of a used kit I purchased which I since added a brand new supercharger. Probably should pay attention to the intercooler dimensions and outlet locations for when this one gets ruptured one day.