Wheel Directory: XXR 53O 17x7 +35
 

XXR 530 matte black
17x7.0
+35 offset

Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2
215/45/17

Stock height
Wheels/hub rings/weights/tpms/tires weigh in at 39 lbs. each.

First impressions:
Look a little more aggressive but underestimated the rally look that would come out of this package. Probably going for the TRD lowering springs. There's not much poke besides a little in the rear.

Handling:
I was going for a more flush look than stock with as little change to OEM wheel spec as possible. My theory was that the stock wheel width would provide a similar feel but I didn't account for the fairly moderate/aggressive offset on these wheels. To be honest it feels like I kind of ripped the soul out of the car...steering is very numb with much less feedback and the steering wheel travel "feels" a lot looser now...giving a kind of balloonish feeling when taking even the slightest turns. To be honest I don't have a lot of confidence right now, it feels like one bad move could put me into a tree.

I definitely feel like there was some quickness gained in acceleration however. Of course it could all be in my head but it just sort of feels like the car doesn't fight back or bog as much in lower RPMS.
[UPDATE]
There is an undeniable increase in acceleration and smoothness from the pedal over all due to shedding all the wheel weight. The most unexpected change I've experienced is actually in the transmission (AT). Before with stock wheels I would have these pretty hard thuds and knocks when changing gears..mostly downshifting with foot on the gas. It wasnt all the time but it was enough that I just attributed it to old tranny/diff fluid and was ready for a change. But with the lighter wheels all those symptoms have disappeared. Its funny how much the tranny/diff/drive shaft seemed to be just slighty unable to keep up with the weight of the stock wheels.

Ride noise and comfort is a lot less harsh however this could be due purely to the tires.

To anyone considering this type of setup in the future I would say stick with OEM everything spec if handling is your priority over looks. This is only after a days worth of travel though maybe I'll warm up to it.

**EDIT**
I will be following this post up after ~550 miles to let the fresh rubber break in a bit to really hone in on the drastic change in steering feel.

Cheers.

http://i.imgur.com/lTxqcKE.jpg
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They look great hate to hear about the performance, though.

Thanks for your report!! I was going to same route. That mean i will go with springs and spacers. Sorry to hear

Thanks. I'm trying to come up with some last ditch effort to figure out why they feel this way. I mounted them myself but tightened them in a star pattern with a torque wrench, and have retorqued since. I cant imagine an alignment would help here.

I'm starting to wonder if a wider wheel would help but after all the headache of finding and ordering wheels its just not worth it to buy now and find out later. Is it possible that the feel is at all due to the tire? These things are freshly minted, do they need a breaking in phase??

sometimes i would think give the tires a little time to break and and remove all residues that may still be left on there and it may make a difference.

I have the same tires that i've put on about 3k mi ago and feel like I've taken turns a tad bit quicker if not the same speed as stock. Tire and wheel specs for mine are as follow:

Wheels - Prodrive P1
Size - 18x7.5
Offset - +53

Tires - Hankook Ventus V12 evo2
Specs - 235/40/18

Tires need a little time to break in as the oils in the rubber are still on the surface. Also the tires need to wear to the alignment(camber) settings very slightly. The ballooning feeling aka roll is from the increased grip so now the car now rolls more. Also check tire pressures.

Suggestion to get some camber bolts to add some front camber with an alignment.

Looks good!

Also, I'd devote some thought to getting some Perrin Steering Rack Lockdowns. It makes a more solid connection and thus vibrations travel up through the wheel. IE, improved steering feel. Should return it t stock-ish feel.

Thank you for the input! Were your tires squirrely as well if and when they were brand new?

Thanks to all the rest of you for the input I will look into those mods.

the tires were purchased new, but they definitely did make me think i was a tad bit slower on some turns (especially a u turn under the highway when leaving work) but they sure do grip better now, or maybe I'm just used to it. who knows lol

What psi you running?

See this is what worries me..because I was thinking out of all the brand new 86s that were test driven there is no way in hell they would have sold if the new tires made it feel as lose as mine do. I bought mine with 28k miles on stock tires so I have no control to compare to. Of course I'm running a low offset but by ruling out the tires, I can get closer to pinpointing what's going on.

The tires came mounted and balanced with nitrogen at 35 psi all around. However the fronts have lost about 1 or two psi each..I havent messed with it because I don't know if I can just start refilling with regular air now.

Also I'm not sure what this is an indication of..but the car has lost that feeling of the car "following" the road. So when making even modest turns below say 60mph ..I actually have to provide the input allll the way into the turn and an equal amount of input out of the turn. So imagine the car just barreling straight coming out of a turn. Also I have to constantly fight the wheel going completely straight down a flat highway..It sounds ameteurish but it's actually a lot of work to keep it in my lane and I have to constantly stay on it. I've almost even run a curb or two because the required input is just too much and too slow until the car responds.

I've been taking a few days to reply because this situation is extremely perplexing to me. I was hoping that others might chime in with their thoughts, but maybe nobody else knows for sure what might be going on.

Regarding nitrogen, it should be no problem to put regular air in them if you want to increase/reduce your pressures. I believe the door jam recommends 35psi but I think that is a little high and I generally run mine at 31 or 32 I believe. Keep in mind the psi will increase when the tires get up to temp, so you don't want to have them at too high of a psi when cold.

About the behavior/handling of the car now with the different wheels and tires, could it be partially due to tread compound? Maybe these tires are stickier and thus as a result you're now feeling limitations of the suspension instead?

Do you have a local 86 club that you could get to give you some insight? Perhaps someone else with an 86 could drive your car and/or you could drive theirs, to determine if there is something drastically different going on here?

Also I would put a couple hundred miles on them if you can this weekend and see if that helps. It just doesn't make sense to me why going with a same size wheel and tire combination as stock but +35 instead of +48 would make this much of a difference in the car's driving/turning behavior.

Thanks for taking the time out to respond. I've done lots and lots of reading around on other forums to try to make sense of it. The two major trends that I picked up were

1) Greasy tire mold release compound and lack of new treads ability to "connected" to the pavement. Also it was pointed out that old tires are likely close to bald giving the most dry traction possible..which mine were just barely at 2/32.

2) Hankook Ventus v12: I found lots of reviews that I missed about the softness of the sidewalls.

I have about 250 miles on them now and things do seem to be getting steadily less sloppy.

Thats a good point about the stickyness and suspension limit. Would stickier perhaps create more body roll? Sometimes it feels as if the wheels could slide left to right on the hub..which im sure is the feeling of body roll.

I've been hoping to run into some 86 groups around my area though! I haven't really been able to find anything specific on my regional forum but I will keep trying.

Thanks again!