17 inch vs 18 inch

[Icecreamtruk]

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.

[B T]

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

[Ernest72]

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.

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by StraightOuttaCanadaEh

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.

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.

[SuperTom]

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!

[StraightOuttaCanadaEh]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

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.

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.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by SuperTom

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

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.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by B T

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

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"

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by Icecreamtruk

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.

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.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by Bfranklyn86

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

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.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by allowe

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

Taller tires are easier to drive.

[Icecreamtruk]

Originally Posted by Gforce

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.

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.

[jeepmor]

Originally Posted by allowe

Has anyone put 17 pss on their oem rims?

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I have. Mine are PSS 225/45/17 and they lasted about a year. It adds a lot of capability to the car that the Primacy's can't handle. And they don't scream like Primacy's when they break loose.

I'm looking to go to the wider 17" wheel tire combo that will fit. I'm looking at 17x8rpf1 with 245/40/17, but need to read more. Another inch of width really appeals to the canyon carver in me.

Not sure I'll go back to the pilots for my next set as they are pricey, and they don't last long. I like them, but want a little more life. We'll see, I may come back to them if the lower priced tires don't deliver. Having already had PSS tires, they perform, and how.

Tire rack is a good resource for shopping and comparing. But for price, I found Costco to be the lowest on my PSS purchase. I bought my All Season tires from tire rack and had them swapped. Took the worn PSSs home, have a 2-3k miles left on them I'd guess. I'll beat them up this summer if it ever stops raining here in the PNW.

[Gforce]

Originally Posted by Icecreamtruk

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.

You don't need to be on the track to be riding the bump stops. Nor do you need to fit grippier tires. My point was that the bump stops on these cars are just additional springs working in series with the steel springs. The suspension continues to work as the engineers intended. There is nothing abrupt nor untoward happening as the car settles onto and begins compressing its bump stops. It is unfortunate that the bump stops have such an aggressive rising rate but that is apparently what Subaru engineers intended.

Riding the bump stops does not scare me one bit. If it is scaring you then you are outdriving your abilities and should slow down.