Good basic wheels?
 

Do wheel brands really matter if I'm just commuting? No track days or anything. I'm looking into White Diamond Edition wheels with tires. No real info or reviews on them, any input? Would they be okay to daily drive? I just don't want to drop $1000 into wheels & tires that are never going to see a track or really be driver extremely hard. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9f2f00cede.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...edf90dcdc5.jpg

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I think getting wheels with tires is a good idea. The handling really suffers if you don't have tires.

If they're a lot heavier you'll definitely notice. If they're only a little heavier, you may not. Since it's a daily driver and you aren't going to track it, go with what you think looks good. I would try to find a wheel that weighs close to or less than OEM, personally.

Lower quality wheels may crack/bend easier than higher quality wheels. Lower quality wheels may also need more wheel weights to balance correctly (if they even can be balanced). Same goes for cheap tires (about the balancing part). So if you frequent rough roads, I'd get something that's of higher quality/brand.

Hmm, well there's the 10 Fwy I take to work every day. & what about lowering springs cvs coilovers?

Does anyone have any info on White Diamond wheels?

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Or does anyone have any wheels for sale? Affordable ones

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I like my Tein Flex Z coilovers. I have them super maxed out in terms of being low, and they're still super comfortable over the crappy roads up here in NorCal. I don't drive hard and never track my car, so I didn't have a need for the more expensive coilovers.

On my Yaris, I have Tein S.Tech springs on OEM dampers. Good enough for me, but seems like it's a rougher ride than my FR-S.

If you don't care about going super low or any damper/height adjustability or going pretty low, go with springs like the TRD/Eibach springs.

I've personally never heard of White Diamond wheels before. If I were to chance a cheaper brand wheel, I'd either go with Rota or XXR, but wouldn't go bigger than 17s.

You can pick up a set of new Enkei RPF1s for a decent price given its quality. If you want to try to save some money, you can try looking on your local craigslist for a used wheel and tire set. Going that route and scoring a deal might make it so that the set is the same cost as new wheels only.

Save up.
Buy better quality parts.
You won't regret the wait.

if you really want inexpensive wheels I would stick to what a company like tirerack or discount tire sells. At least that way you are insured some level of quality rather than trying a company no one has ever heard of before. Or like was mentioned Rota at least isn't too bad.

Would you guys recommend Rota Grids?

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@jacubplaysdrums

You could buy copies of wheels, or you could spend a few hundred more for the genuine article wheels used and get them scratch repaired.

My recommendation for a basic, affordable wheel would be to look at enkei. Some are quite nice, depending on taste. I like RPF1's.

@Keenercarguy

@jacubplaysdrums

People will say "buy high quality wheels", but never describe what that means or what their cut-off is for when wheels reach the "low quality" threshold. Truth is they're mostly setting subjective criteria.

So how to know? Wheels with certifications have a wide degree of validity (some are voluntary and never enforced) others are strictly regulated (eg. JWL VIA). Is this what defines "high quality"? Reason why I ask are that some very expensive forged wheels never receive higher end certifications like TUV, and KBA (due to regional reasons) but are still considered to be excellent wheels.

How about manufacturing technique? Cast, Flow Formed, Forged... Which are great and which are shit? Your average joe will tell you more expensive is better (generally true). Still your budget matters (a lot). So at what point are you buying a wheel that you will never stress hard enough to detect the performance benefits from the extra money you spent? Some vendors will tell you "buy this most expensive thing from me, everything else is bullshit"... which is also bullshit.

Truth is, if you're just tooling around on the street the vast majority of modern cast or flow-formed wheels will be more than adequate for what you need. So take time to really look at as many designs as you can for this car. The forums "wheel directory" is a good place to start, but also look at sites like WheelWarehouse, CarID, Tirerack, and RIMSiD. There are thousands of designs to look at. Generally speaking, the boards members and vendors will do their best to answer questions, but everyone has bias and so hear every answer with that in mind. Like @Tcoat said, take your time. You'll only be able to save more money and buy better stuff.

Lastly, tires matter a helluva lot more than wheels when it comes to upgrading performance, comfort and safety of any car. So put your money and focus into those. Don't buy $500 ea. wheels and wrap them in shit tires. The stock wheels with a well vetted tire is a much better investment.