17 inch vs 18 inch
 

I know I'm Guna get jumped at with "do research" "search button is over there" "uh I hate it when people want to be spoon fed" but I'm Guna post it anyways because I want recent opinions on this topic

Recently, I plasti dipped my rims I fell in love with the way they looked. I'm currently shopping for a set of Michelin pilot super sports. I could afford new rims but I really like the way the oem rims turned out plasti dipped and glossified.

If I was to buy new rims, I would definitely buy 18 inch t37 reps.

Which brings me to my question. From all the research I did about upsizing tires, the benefits are "they look good and fill the wheel well" which I don't care for as I'm getting flex z coilovers next month or so and "better handling" which is questionable because the car already has good handling. Wouldn't bigger tires make it sloppy due to the fact that the car doesn't have that much power thus ruining the ride?

Also, wouldn't the 0-60 time decrease as a result of big tires? Aren't you also gaining weight by putting bigger tires?

Has anyone put 17 pss on their oem rims?

Again, I don't mind buying new rims as I have the budget for it but at the same time, id rather spend it on something more useful.

Thanks for reading my post!



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bigger tires and wheels always adds weight, always makes the car feel and accelerate slower, and is always a terrible idea.

There are tons of people on near stock size PSS or other wheels. Unless you are going racing or have cash to burn, no reason to get gigantic tires. 205 or 215 size 17's are going to feel awesome.

Exactly what I was thinking! Lots of people I've seen in car meets and in forums run 18 inch tires and I've never understood why.


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Get a lightweight 17x8 or 7.5 wheel with 215 or 225 PSS. You can get 17x8's that are much lighter than stock for a decent price. 18's will almost always be heavier, and if they aren't then they'll be worth a fortune.

Tire compound matters more than wheel size, but with same tire more width = better grip but slows the car down.

Going 5 pounds lighter on each corner will make a world of a difference.

I never measured my 0-60 before I went from 17 to 18. Is it slower? Definitely not, cause the bigger rims are a pound lighter than the stock rims. I bought the Enkei Raijin (20.2 lb vs stock 21 lb). I have the mpss, which increased grip. The car feels faster everywhere and looks better.

Won't those be really pricey? What set of rims do u recommend?


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17 inch vs 18 inch
 

From what I've found on forums, stock rims are 20.1


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RPF1 is the most popular. If you're willing to go used you can get any decent Japanese brand for less than $1000.

I'm not trying to sound cheap but wouldn't it be better if I spent that cash on a set of coilovers and just use my oem rims. Is the difference worth a grand?


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If you don't track your car and only do spirited street driving, then there's nothing wrong with stock size Michelin PSS on stock size wheels. That's what I've run for the majority of ownership and there's plenty of grip available. I feel stock sizing is the most agile for tight corners and quick transitions and wider setups are better for high-speed sweepers (I ran 17x9 with 245/40 at one point), so it depends what you value more.

I don't have the guts to track my car yet nor do I think I will anytime soon (not scared of myself, more scared of someone else hitting me) I do a ton of back roads driving with lots of Windys (About 50 km a day or so) after work.


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If you want to change the look or if you want to run a tire that you can't run on your OEM wheels (like 245s or 255s), then new wheels may be worth the money to you. If you're happy with the OEM look and you don't plan on running more than a 225 tire, then there's no real reason to buy new wheels. The only reason you would need 18's is if you were running a 345mm or bigger brake kit, which most people don't. You can definitely get 18's that weigh less than OEM, but you can also get 17s that weigh much less than OEM. You sacrifice a bit of sidewall going to 18's, which means sacrificing a bit of ride comfort. But you'll sacrifice ride comfort anyways when going to MPSS, because their sidewall is very stiff.

In the end, if you don't have a physical need for 18's such as bigger brakes, it's entirely subjective to what you want and what you think looks good.

As much as I hate the brakes our cars come with, I'm not down to blow like 3 grand for brakes. As for stiffness, I have no problem with that as my old Sentra spec v was lowered on very stiff springs and I quite like feeling the road haha.

Thanks a lot for your post!


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The brakes in our cars are actually overpowered for what we need. If you're not sold on how they feel, look into a master cylinder brace (I like GrimmSpeed), stainless brake lines, and better pads and fluid. The only area our brakes don't do well in is heat dissipation during track usage. For that there are Porsche GT3 brake cooling guides, actual cooling ducts (I like Velox) or better, not necessarily bigger, brake kits. The AP Racing Sprint kit is the same diameter as our rotors, but much thicker and better able to dissipate heat.

If you don't track and you've never gotten them to fade on canyon roads, just throw a master cylinder brace on and see how it feels. If you want it firmer, go for stainless lines and new pads and fluid. A word of caution: stainless lines need to be inspected every so often to make sure they aren't fraying.

The best way to improve your brakes is to get better tires. No matter how awesome your brakes are, you can only slow down as hard as you can hold onto the ground.

Does the master cylinder brace have any cons? Damn I'm researching about this now! I do need new pads too. I was looking at a set of hawk hps. Or maybe even trying out the trd ones.


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There are no cons to the master cylinder brace other than cost. When you brake, the firewall around the brake booster flexes a bit. The brace is positioned on the end of the master cylinder so there's no room to flex. I like the GrimmSpeed brace because it has a cap that rests against the master cylinder to spread the point of contact. Others are just a threaded rod.

For brake pads and fluid, talk with @CSG Mike about your expected usage and see what he recommends.

I've been experimenting with extreme stock brake system usage, and would recommend a BBK for track use.

That being said, I've *actually* warped stock replacement rotors, and have completely obliterated the outer dust boots. I've also seen caliper temps that are dangerously high (3x maximum recommended temperatures), and the only solution I've found that holds is using a $1516 set of racing pads.

...I was going to offer to take your '17 calipers and brackets off your hands when you moved up to bigger and better things, but now I don't think I want to.

It all depends on what you want to do with your car. From what it sounds like you want to keep the car agile, maybe some tail swinging every now and then, but still be planted on the back country turns.

As far as new rims go, if your budget is some Rotas Grids dont get them. They are heavy, especially with an 18" wheel. As said this will make your feel like crap. Now if you can get some RPF1s, MT03s, GTX01s or something light like that then go ahead. If you size a good light weight 18" wheel with the correct tire, that is not to wide, it will be about the same weight as stock. But more so if you get a light weight 17" you will be way under stock weight.

With that said, my suggestion is to stick with the stock wheel for now, wrap them in a good tire, and get your suspension. I just got Tein Flex Zs and they are great, sitting on stock wheels and tires too for now. Painted my wheels metallic gray and they look good.

I've heard nothing but good things about flex zs I think I'm Guna keep my stock rims and get mpss on em. Thanks for all your help guys


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Since no one else answered this, only go coilovers if you really really like playing with all the different settings to see what works best for you. Otherwise they are overcomplicated and overkill for a car not being tracked. After the tires if you really think the suspension needs to be upgraded their are literally tons of options that will make it better handling and still keep the stock shocks and springs. And after researching those if you still want to upgrade the shocks and springs there are several options that do it without the craziness of going all adjustable everything.

Eh, I wouldn't go as far to say that they will make the car handle better. Stock suspension setup is extremely good, and adding any aftermarket component that has different compression rates from stock will slightly imbalance your setup. You could even argue that the Primacy HP's are perfectly fine tires for the amount of power the car has.

Lighter wheels is 100% worth the investment. And I didn't say you had to spend as much as a grand. I'm in the process of negotiating for a set of wheels that weigh 15.8 lbs each, and the guy is asking for $500. You can get good deals if you look for them. Coilovers are mainly for #stancenation (and I use that term loosely) purposes and you won't feel much of a difference performance-wise from stock with them. Shaving 5 pounds off each corner is something that you can actually feel while driving.

I have done lots of research lately because I want to replace my OE wheels and tires. I found light weight 18x8 wheels work the best, because you can fit in 225 grippy tires. It will still be lighter than OE at each corner. 17x7.5 with 225 is also acceptable but i don't like the look myself. So I would say 18x8 would be a good compromise between handling performance and appearance.

17 inch vs 18 inch
 

This just got confusing lol. I've heard people raving about how coilovers transform the car. I'm not doing no stancednation crap because I daily my car and I don't want to dodge roads because of it being too low. I don't mind stiffness. Wouldn't 17 inch lightweight be better because you can probably get them a lot lighter than 18 inches ? I don't want to ruin the agility of the car

My focus is handling

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artongdou: and 17x8 don't exist, right? :) If you need specific width for best specific width tire fitment, it has nothing to do to diameter of wheels.

coilovers can transform the car, they can also be amazingly complicated. But the stock suspension of the car is really really good. It all just depends on what you want to do with your car. All that extra adjustability can be annoying to figure out what feels just right for you, and once you do find the perfect settings you might never change it again. There is also a ton of other suspension pieces you can add to change how the car handles.

And the smaller the wheels the better. Like that person said, 18 is only for looks. I think I might go 16x7 when I finally buy wheels, because I want the lightest I can buy.

I'm starting to come round to this way of thinking about coilovers. I daily mine with light track use, and I don't think it's worth it getting them for the risk they will be too hard on the road, all the tinkering that has to happen, the potential they will rust, and the 2k needed to get a good set. I think I'd rather put up with a bit of floppyness on track and wheel arch gaps that are a bit too big.

For the OP, I'm supercharged at 240wheel and I find that stock rims with good tyres (PS4s) is enough grip. Would like to save some weight with the wheels, but not sure if it's worth the cash needed for a good set of 17s.

With the brakes - stock ones were pathetic on track so I got a front BBK

As usual, stuff like this all comes down to what you plan on using the car for. If the car will be used mainly for daily driving/showoff stuff then 18' wheels and coils might be worth it simply for the looks. If you want to do any fast or spirited driving and have the best setup, keep stock suspension and get lighter wheels and better tires. Or do a mix and do a little bit of both things. It's up to you.

To the people saying that stock suspension is fine for track and "spirited" driving, stock suspension is composed of only a bumpstop in those situations, because thats all you gonna be doing, riding the bumpstops from turn in to track out.

I've never hit the bumpstops during track driving, even on rumble strips

If its a DD - stay stock size 17 with 215 tires, so that the rear end stays playful. No need for endless amounts of grip on your commute.

If tracking - sure there are a number of things you could do, but it depends on what you race and how you like the car setup. Too many variables to tell you what works best for you. Start out stock, ,make one upgrade at a time, see how it feels on the track and perhaps your time if possible.

One thing for sure - lighter is always better - except for the occasional pot-hole.

Yes, but think about how much lighter that wheel set would be in 17, including the tire weight of a 17 is often less than 18. So your car would be slower than the equivalent setup in 17. 1 inch of rolling diameter will not make up for the lighter wheels. And even if the times were about even, the lighter setup would feel faster and thats most important.

Here are my Konig Hypergrams 16.8lbs. Also Hankook Evo2 tires stock size weight 19.3 lbs! People forget tire weight is more important being farthest on the outside. Went with this setup for lightweight performance over stanced oversized look. I went big with my Vette as its easier to make power on the ls motors. I'd only do big wheels and BBK on this car if I went forced induction.


Also did lightweight pulleys at the same time and waited to drive until they were on the same time. Man it pulls so much quicker and the revs climb faster!


Enjoy!




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I guess so. But honestly I went through the whole list of rims and there were very few that I liked in 17". I feel like, in my case at least, the minimal improvement in dynamics is not worth the aesthetic trade off, especially considering I never track my car. When I go FI, it'll matter even less.

And people also forget that the rim of the wheel and the bead of the tire are heavy compared to tire sidewall. Smaller tims move these unsprung rotational masses closer to the hubs.

There are very few performance advantages to fitting larger rims with short sidewall tires and some obvious disadvantages.

You have. You might not realize this. The progressive urethane bump stops are engaged very quickly on these cars. This is very common on modern cars. They are even sometimes listed in parts catalogues as "helper springs"

This is grossly inaccurate. The bump stops form an integral part of the suspension system but they only add to the spring rate. They act as if they were progressive rate roll bars but with no cross connection with the other side of the car.

If you fit lowering springs you need to fit shorter bump stops than stock.

I went one step further than stock. I went with 2017 stock rear springs. I have the Edelbrock version of the Eaton blower. For uk roads you might find the softer rate 2017 rear springs give you even more grip out if the corners. The ride improvement is like night and day. They just bolt right in.

Lighter wheels and tires are better tires handling on public roads that are often not very smooth.

Taller tires are easier to drive.

Have you tracked the car on anything stickier than the OEM Primacies? As soon as you turn in into a corner, the car leans over and is sitting on the bumpstops, for all of the corner until you unload on track out. If you hit a bump, ondulation, a berm, anything really, the car jumps, there is no suspension left to compress. It is really evident when driving on low profile tires (something like 235/40 for example), if it hasnt happened to you yet, it will scare the shit out of you when it does, until you realize that is all the suspension is going to do for you in that scenario. That is of course, until you get stiffer springs. Btw, when I talk about stock suspension, I mean stock springs as well, lowering springs are not stock, that goes for TRD ones as well.