XXR 527_ Good or bad wheels for autocross
 

As the title says. Sorry didn't know what subject it should be in, but figured since it was more directed to the autocrossing group, id post here. I love the xxr527's but I was curious how they r performance wise. What r the pros & cons of it. Plz explain w as much detail as possible plz. Thank you

You pay for what you get...
I would trust them on track or auto-x but i want a set for DD lol

I want them cuz they r beautiful wheels on this car, so yea they'd be for both DD & auto x. Butim worried about the performance aspect of these wheels. As far as weight goes. Know what I mean? Forgot to mention I WANTER 18's

They are a standard overweight cast wheel. Probably made in the same factory as hundreds of other wheels (find the same design in a different brand, and they will likely be the same wheel with a different logo).

I'm sure they are fine for autocross and a track day or two. As soon as you get a competitive streak, you will want lighter wheels.

:thumbdown: that's what I mean. I'd hate to spend money just to have pretty wheels but that hold me back. Idk. Anyone have any idea what the same design, lighter wheel is?

Ideally, you'd want to stick with 17's for autocrossing, not to ruin the gearing and more added weight.

What size?

The Kosei K4R is a 10 spoke and is quite light. OZ has some options, but they cost a lot. In the end, you want three things

Strong, light and cheap.

Pick TWO.

Looks sorta similar to the Volk G12's :D (10 spoke instead of the Volk's 12) but of course they will cost you an arm and a leg.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5024/...c5e2858c17.jpg

Yea no thanx lol. It goes from 600 for 4 to about 3k for 4 lol

Strenth is fine, alot of drift teams use them, but remember adding rotating weight is very noticable, so you have to decide between looks and performance...or just pay 4k for volks lol

The only thing i absolutely hate about 527s is the dual bolt pattern (10 holes)... I've seen a set fail close to the hub, but pretty much any wheel would have broken in the same condition...

On my part, i did hit a 2 1/2 inch high concrete patch on the track at about 75mph with my wheels (Phat Fux ... similar to 527s) and absolutely nothing happened, i was sure i broke the wheel in half lol.

Just my 2 cents.... If your not a high level driver on the track or auto-x, these will serve you just fine, can't really beat them for the price... People get so caught up on weight, and rotational mass, when reality is 95% of us on this forum will never push the car to the limit of needing $4000 lightweight wheels, or will ever feel the "ill" affects of a wheel that weighs 19.5 pounds, compared to a 17.5 pound wheel...

Think about it, spend the $550 on the wheels, and use the $3000+ you saved on safety equipment, proper suspension, most importantly.... TRACK TIME!!! You could do trackdays every other weekend for the entire year with the savings.

The same people who are caught up about weight, are likely the same people who don't track their cars.... they buy the $4000 wheels because the car won't see the track, or so they can tell everyone their car has "sick rims that weigh 14 pounds"... It's hype at your level of driving. Looks at the track builds on this forum.... Most guys that actually use the cars on track are running Rota (the same wheels w/different name as XXR), or other cheaper/heavier wheels. You're going to damage wheels on track, you're going to change tires very often, and your new to closed course driving... the smartest route, get inexpensive, strong wheels and save your $$ for other aspects that are much more important!!!!

I personally own the 527's, the have a dual ring on the lip that appears to add some serious strength to the exposed area of these rims, I never noticed it in photos... They look great on the car, don't let anyone tell you their not "safe" or "good" for auto-x or trackdays, total bs.

edit: and as mentioned above, you're better off sticking w/17" rim, the wheels/tires are cheaper, and more options for good sticky tires, and R compound tires that won't cost an arm-n-leg

I track my legacy wagon all the time on Xxr wheels, no problem what so ever, I've noticed that their newer wheels such as the 527 are lighter that their older wheels..
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...1346876421.jpg

Hello, I don't know your skill level or goals, but you may just pick a wheel you like for the street, and keep your stockers for the track. Save the money and spend it on seat time. I expect that the majority on the forum, myself included, would benefit more from a good school than lighter wheels.

Drive fast and people will give you wheels! Haha

Edit: Or.. all that stuff random said a minute earlier, lol

my 18" XXR 527 weighed a shade over 19 pounds... just fyi

As already mentioned, I just have to say that you need to figure out what your priorities are. If its to get better at the track or autocross, stick with 17s and invest in lighter wheels and stickier rubber. If its to look hella-flush and make the show car crowd turn their head, go with 18s. Or, if you can afford it, go for both. Or just keep your stock wheels and put some star specs on them, drive to the events with them in the back and change wheels at the events.

I know a few Evo's and STI's that have them with no problems.

Great advice & that's exactly what I was thinking of all day yesterday. Maybe ill just buy them anyways just to look clean w some normal treadwear tires & keep the stock rims but try fitting some sticky 225's or 235's for the track so I don't mess up my good rims. Idk. :thanks:

I would buy and use them and not think twice about it.

I have 527s 18x9.75 for my track supra. they weigh about 21lbs per wheel. not what id call "heavy".

My friend made a good point yesterday. He said, think about it. It's the autocross.. u don't win anything & ur not competeing w anyone else, but urself. So does it really matter if they're heavy or not?

Exactly, wheel weights are the last thing you should be worried about until you hold a pro license and are running in pro-level events, even then you'll see a lot of people using "cheap/heavy/crappy/poorly constructed" wheels on real race cars, w/good results.

Unless your pockets are very deep, it's a really bad idea to buy the latest/greatest super lightweight wheel to use on a track, because they are going to get dinged, scratched, damaged eventually... Another thing that is hilarious to me, these wheels must go through mandated testing to be DOT approved, you really think those rigorous tests aren't as hard on the wheel as auto-x'ing a car in a parking lot? A car that weighs 2800 pounds, and isn't exactly a rocket ship.. There is nothing unsafe about it!

Do not run 18's in autocross. You will easily lose at least a half second on a 60 second course. People on this forum slap 18's on it all the time because it looks nice, but the fact is that the FR-S is demonstrably slower with 18" wheels. If you really just want to fill in the fender gap, lower the car. Down the road if you mod the car and add a lot more torque, sure put 18's on it then if you still want to.

Autocross = little wheels, lots of tire, doesn't matter what it looks like.

That's exactly what I said until I went out and drove a couple of events nearby.
Everybody's just there for fun, but when you see your times and start comparing them to the rest of your class you start to get the itch to be faster than everybody.

Exactly, and when you lose by 0.05 to someone you will want to spend money to make up that difference. Sure, you could have driven better, but the 15 lb wheels would have gotten you there vs the 20 lb wheels.

Let's see, $250 each for 15.5 lbs, or $150 each for 19 lbs. Difference? $400. At resale, you should be able to get $200 of that difference back.

ONE set of good autocross tires >$600 and that is a wear item, residual value is Zero. In the long run, the better wheels cost about $200 more. Actually, after you buy the heavy wheels and start to care and then buy the light wheels, the heavy ones cost you an extra $600.

Yea I know lol my comp was a heavily modified ss cobalt so far. & that's w a completely stock frs. Times r posted on stbrscca.com

Jussayinnn'

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...ardtop/065.jpg

They aren't ideal because they are heavy, but I can't afford my dream wheels yet (Volk TE37V). They cost less than the tires, however.

Reassurance of my golden idea [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_IWa_qlt3g&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]2013 Scion FR-S - YouTube[/ame]

They'll do just fine in autox since it's mainly low speed. But I wouldn't use any wheel by XXR on a high speed track.

The reason why these wheels are heavy is because they're gravity cast wheels which is also the weakest way to manufacture a wheel. So that's a double negative right there.

you think lighter wheels will drop your lap times that significantly ..... Any data to back that up?

You do realize that 0.05 seconds on a 60 second autocross course is about 5 feet. Yes, I do believe cutting 20 lbs of rotating mass will make that difference. 20 lbs of driver will make that difference.

The question is, why don't you believe 0.05 seconds can be made up by 20 lbs.

I thought I read .5 seconds... my bad

I use a set of 15 inch xxr002's for autox, they've only had Dot-R/UHP tires, road also. They've been good wheels for me, and unless you autox with a huge, evenly-driven field of identical cars, the time differences caused by different diameters/width in rims, and driver mass will be made up with driver education, effort, and eventual skill. So buy the wheels you want and understand that, yes, any diameter larger than 17 will slow you down.

Eric G

The XXR 527's are replicas of the Wedssport tc105n. The tc10n's are only 15.4lbs! but they cost a lot more then the XXR's that's for sure. Long term id try to spend the extra money for the Wedssports

no, they are not. there are noticeable differences between them.

we're not talking grids vs te37's here. close but not the same.

My understanding was that rotating/unsprung weight was equal to about 3x static mass. IE: shaving 20lbs of rotating mass is equal to shaving about 60lbs of static mass. In addition to allowing a person to more accurately tune their suspension.

ouuu. oops.

Some 16x8 et25 Enkei Compe with 245/45R16 with some RE-11 or R compound should be even better than 17" wheels then. I've been going back and forth between that and 17x8 running 245/40R17. Supposedly the 16x8 with 245 is the ideal width but 245 on 17x8 is just .5" more tire than ideal. Both are about as close to stock geometry as you can get. Speedo should be accurate and no loss because of taller overall tires/wheels.

I read an article, that I don't have the link to, that tested Mazda Miata's with identical tires with identical sized wheels with the only difference being the weight (I think it was about 5lbs difference between the two). Times around the track showed that it didn't matter the weight of the wheel. There were laps where the heavier wheel was faster and some where the light ones were. All were very close however. I learned after reading the article that wheels weight doesn't matter. It's all about the drive. Tire compound and tire width does however matter.

As some others have said, it's all about your priorities. If you want to fight for every hundreth of a second and be competitive, I wouldn't suggest 18s and I wouldn't suggest XXRs. If you just want to go out and have fun and your bigger priority is aesthetics, then buy these. They're certainly safe for autox every once in a while. Just comes down to your goals for the car.