Anyone can recommend a good 16 inch wheel?
 

I use my BRZ for DD. Some of the roads I travel daily have bad pavement. So I am looking for a bit more ride comfort and possibly lighter weight. Probably first time visit this section of the forum, so excuse me if I missed anything.


Ideally, I can just put the wheels on and get 215 60 R16 tires and go. But if there are any other ideas, please let me know. Thanks!

215/50R16 is going to be a lot closer to stock, 60 aspect ratio will be tall.

There's a handful of 16s on the wheel fitment charts. Sticky at the top of this section.

215/50 is slightly shorter than stock, 225/50 or 205/55 are slightly taller.

Here's a good read for you


http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27023


What is your budget? I run 225/50 R16 on street (Looks) and 205/55 R16 on track. The 205/55 R16 is perfect IMO.

The old WRX wheels were 16's and fit great. You can usually find them very affordably. They are a bit narrow at 7" for 225's but will be perfect with 205's.

If you wanna go rare OEM look, go with these Subaru wheels. It's not easy to find, but pretty nice looking.
http://i.imgur.com/Amron0p.jpg

I run a 16" Motegi MR116 for my winter tires. They've been through hell and are still in perfect shape. I run a 205/55r16 on them

Man, that is long thread! Thanks a lot though.

I think the best choice is to get some old WRX wheels. Polish them up a bit and paint them bronze or gold. Let me check out my local craigslist. Ebay is too expensive.

Meh, it's not that bad. I think I've been through it 3 times! :popcorn:

i have 205/55 on 16" Sparco's, which you can get from tirerack for about $100 a wheel.


The old school gold RS wheels are the pinnacle, but good luck finding them. Pretty much every old Subaru 16" wheel will fit, and if you want to switch brakes to the WRX 4 pots every Subaru wheel in reasonably recent vintage will fit.

Tons of lightweight (relative to the OEM 20+ pound 17" wheels) aftermarket 16x7 wheels from places like TireRack, where they also make sure the offset isn't too far off from OEM. The base '86 in the rest of the world uses 205/55 R16, so it's not like that size tire isn't meant for the car... I use 205/55 in the winter, and 225/50 in the summer...both work wonderfully.

Those old WRX wheels have offset like 53 or 55. What should I do to deal with the difference? The OEM offset is 48, right?

A 10mm spacer would push the wheels out to a more aesthetically pleasing location, but be sure to replace your studs with longer aftermarket ones to deal with the extra length needed.

Can u get rpf1 in the size ur looking for? That's pretty much the gold standard for light and strong wheels for small to mid wheels.

Not really. As you can see, this is my DD wheel. Don't want to spend too much. Wife is also getting impatient. She wants a new SUV for her. The request is not unreasonable because our current SUV is getting old. Cannot sell the old SUV either b/c it is reserved for daughter. So I might sell BRZ in near future. Don't want to put too much money now.

They are $230 per wheel in 16x7 +35 which fits great and is super light. I have them on my car.

- Andrew

Shouldn't 5mm spacer be closer to OE specs? Any link for such spacers and lug bolts?


This is getting more complicated. If I simply ignore the offset difference, what is the negative consequence? Wrong alignment? bad handling? Man, I really want those Australian OE 16 inch wheels.

Thanks. So your wheel will poke out by 13mm each side. You don't need to do anything else and it won't cause any problems? That is great.

Here, check out these calculators. It will help you visualize what can be done.

https://www.ft86motorsports.com/wheelitfit/

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/


Tire rack has 81 to choose from in a 16x7 5x100 bolt pattern


https://www.tirerack.com/wheels/resu...5&autoModClar=


Just add the 205/55 R16 tires and you're done.

Looks like this (slightly lowered, but I had them at stock height too).

You don't need anything else.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8d530386_b.jpg

- Andrew

I looked around on tire rack. This is the best wheel for this size. Looks really nice too.

If you want cheaper than rpf1, i like enkei ekm3. $165 a wheel in 17x7. It's a bbs LM knockoff. Ekm3 are my winters. 18x8 for summer.

I did the same thing for the same reasons.

Cost, weight, ride quality, and aesthetics were my
priorities. I went with the Konig Oversteer in 16" x 7.5"
They're not crazy light or glamorous but I still like them.

I'll be selling my Enkeis with Blizzaks soon btw...

- Andrew

These seem like the best value out there for 16's...lighter than OEM, perfect width for a 225/50 tire, good looking, and affordable.

whoa... what's with all that tape??? track day?

autox i guess. Simple mod to protect paint from cones.

That's my guess as well. I just found that on Wheel Directory.

ichitaka05: btw, i won't agree on they are hard to find bit. WRX wheels are very common. Imprezas were sold in big numbers, also many owners of those had modding itch and parted out from stockers. Very common used wheels. I had used borrowed set of such for first winter i switched to R16 tires too, prior i bought myself other R16 set for winter use. From pros, looks good, very common, cheap, from cons, a bit on heavy side for 16" wheels (but one can consider that as strength too, as far as they can handle bad roads), and they are even more tucked in due offset then our stock wheels. Good common cheap step-up from steelies on budget :)

That was my conclusion as well. I shopped for six months and there was nothing I liked better as far as looks, and they just happened to fit my budget and have the right offsets. I still love them. But I've come to terms with the fact that I can't really brag about them. No one is ever blown away by Konig. I don't race or anything so I have complete confidence in Konig's cast/spun/roll-forging process. Besides increased ride comfort, smaller wheels also have the added benefit of making our brakes look bigger. :D

Funny story-when the updated Toyota 86 came out with it's new wheels, I immediately told a buddy of mine: "See! My Konigs look like the new 86 wheels! I'm a trend-setter!" His reply was "Congratulations, you have mass-market taste." :(

Problem we have is everyone that has any other Subaru wants them as an upgrade, plus everyone with a new WRX or STI that will fit them wants them as winter wheels.

Who cares...they're obviously perfect for what you're looking for, and in my opinion, far more functional than the yahoos who immediately jump to 9+" wide 17s or 18s, because, racecar. I run 16x7 Motegis (granted, they're forged, so they're pretty light at 12.5 pounds), so no one is impressed by that brand either, but I couldn't care less. I'm laughing the whole time I'm passing 'faster' cars at the track. There's a lot to be said for making smart decisions over flashy ones. ;)

Motegi had some nice offerings!

I also shopped Enkei pretty hard but just couldn't find the right compromise. A lot of the wheels I liked were just too heavy, or didn't have the right offsets. BBS and Method had some beautiful wheels too. You can have beautiful AND light if you're willing to spend some money. I wasn't.

Hard to find here in the US though...we only got the 16x7 5 spoke pictured on the 98 and 99 Impreza 2.5RS. The 2000 and 2001 got the 6 spoke 16x7 wheel which is also nice. But there aren't many 1998-2001 Imprezas running around in good condition any more.

IMO I'd also be wary of putting a 20 year old wheel on my car...to some wheels are a wear item....

- Andrew

Yeah, I was pretty much assuming I'd be going with RPF1s until the forged Motegis came up as a barely used set, with tires, even! The 5 spoke style isn't my first choice, but for the money and performance, I couldn't say no.

Exactly!

They're probably impossible to find, but if a set pops up
A set of BBS wheels from late 90's Subaru would be my ideal snatch.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/h6GNhIvw6ao/maxresdefault.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ENwAA...TpP/s-l300.jpg

I run motegi traklites and 225/50/16. They work well for dd and track.

Wheels are around 12lb each.

The decision time is close now. After much research, it seems to me Sparco Assetto Gara in Rally Gold is the one that might work best for me, in terms of price, performance and look. I like it being budget friendly and reasonably good looking. The spec is 5x100, 16x7, offset 48 and weight 16.05 lbs.


I did some research and it seems the wheel is made by OZ. An okay maker as well. So I am wondering whether anyone has used it before? Any comments? The spec looks good enough for me. Just want to make sure it can actually deliver. Thanks.


Sorry, cannot get a direct link to TireRack.

If you are looking for a budget friendly wheel , then they are a good choice!