205/55/16 or 225/50/16 on 16x7 Wheel (Street Car Only)

[venturaII]

If you're not competing for points and do less than a half dozen autocross events a year, a 225/50-16 is a great size for this car, and a 7" wheel. I went from Conti ExtremeContact DW to Kumho Ecsta XS, and while the Ecsta is clearly stickier in the dry when it warms up, it still can't come close to the Conti in the wet. Obviously the Conti is much more street biased, but it certainly didn't embarrass itself when I autocrossed on it. The Conti is also drivable to a lower ambient temperature than the Ecsta, so my winters lasted longer with them. Better ride and more stick than stock - if you plan on not modding your car much, then going to a 16" wheel is a great upgrade. I think they even look better; more sidewall makes the tire look even fatter than it is.

[makesdrivingfunagain]

As I have completed nearly 3.5K miles on the Neovas I am pleased with their autocross performance! I have completed nearly 70 laps with them. I am constantly impressed with the grip these produce, seriously constantly. I would recommend if one autocrosses.However, if I was just to drive on the street I would stay with the Continental Extreme DW. In my opinion for my driving style on the street the DW is WAY more comfortable perhaps do to a softer sidewall. The NEOVA is 2/10th inch shorter than the DW and 2bs heavier. The DW are also way cheaper. The neova was the most expensive tire in this extreme performance size. Once again I just wanted a no excuse track extreme summer tire for autocrossing and I got it. Even with an automatic transmission I can get decent numbers and be reasonably competitive in the practice days, practice days

[MrDinkleman]

Can you tell me what offset your wheels are?

I am planning to go to 16 inch wheels. Instead of 16X7 tho, I am thinking of 16X8, 45mm offset.

Originally Posted by makesdrivingfunagain

It feels as stiff as the low profile stock tires even though this is a 50 aspect ratio.

LOL. I am old fart; back in the day, 50 series was low enough for everyone to go GAH GAH.

[makesdrivingfunagain]

I'm not sure who makes a 16x8 and what there offsets would be or if the rim would be heavier do to more material. A 16x8 could probably fit a 235 or 245. I am just not sure if there are any 235 or 245 in 16" tires. It might be worth going to a 17 in that case. I thought mine were a 48mm

[MrDinkleman]

Originally Posted by makesdrivingfunagain

I'm not sure who makes a 16x8 and what there offsets would be or if the rim would be heavier do to more material.

Enkei ES Tarmac is available in 16X7 or 16X8 with 45mm offset. I found the wheel on Rallispec's website.


I originally was thinking 16X7 (a few more choices) because it is usually right in the middle of the range of recommended wheel sizes for most manufacturers' 225/50-16 tires. But, after looking at a whole bunch of pictures, 225 on a 7" wheel is too "puffy" for some tires. I feel I need to hurry though; it is getting harder and harder to find 16inch wheels especially with 5X100. All of the upper-tier Japanese wheel companies have been steadily discontinuing their 16inch wheel ranges.

[makesdrivingfunagain]

Yeah, there isn't much available in this size. I know Weds, Enkei, TWS and Volk make a 16 for this car and I am sure others do also. The 225/50/16 has many tire sizes still available and 205/55/16 has some at least for my needs. I need an extreme performance summer tire or a Max Performance (according to tire racks classification). Yeah, some tires do look "puffy" with this size. I was thinking today that my Contintal Extreme contacts are not as rigid or firm looking on my rims when parked as the neovas are. However, though they aren't as appetizing with respect to appearance the comfort while driving blows the other ones out of the water. It is a difficult decision to go with form over function. That is the principle (form/function) I am having to deal with for a street driven performance car.