Expensive light Rims+Expensive light Tires or Suspension+Cheaper Rims+Cheaper Tires?

[OnionTou]

Not sure if I should post this thread in suspension or here in wheels...

The GT86 in Peru comes with 16" tires, which don't look as nice as bigger size rims. As background info I bought the car as a toy, I use it on weekends, and whenever I go out after work hours. For everything else I have my minivan (very useful for work, not a nice car to pick up a date... makes them think i wants kids).

I want to do autocross/drifting events, and perhaps a little spirited driving in between. My overall plans for the car are to do tires/rims, suspension, brakes, and exhaust/intake mods. All of this within the course of a year or two, I can't afford all the mods at once.

Yesterday I stopped by a local tire shop to ask around for prices and I discovered that light rims (OZ Ultraleggera) and light tires 225/40R18 Yokohama Advan Neova AD08 or Bridgestone Potenzas S-02, will cost me close to US$5,000. yup 5 freaking grand (that's tax included, all 18% of it). Importing them myself will still cost me somewhere close to that.

What is the weight of this combination of these light weight rims and tires? About 40 pounds.

when compared to the stock (someone correct me if I got my figures wrong):
16" tires and rims about 37 pounds.
17" tires and rims about 40 pounds.

and the suspension is the same for the cars that use 16" and 17" tires.

So I know that the stock suspension is ok to handle the new rims and tires because the weight is the same. and the overall diameter is the same.

I can get cheaper rims and cheaper tires but that means that the overall weight goes up to 48 pounds. and the total price is about US$2000, but with 20% more unsprung mass, it means I probably need to tweak suspension as soon as I install those tires/rims on the car. and coincidentally it costs about $3k to get a kit of that installed .

If I get the fancy tires/rims I'll still get the suspension reworked in a few months, and if i get the cheaper tires/rims+suspension I'll still get the light weight rims/tires down the line.

To get better bang for my buck at the time being, which would you guys suggest?

[MVJ1975]

I can't in good conscience recommend going cheap on tires, especially if you intend to track/auto-x the car. Go with the lightweight wheels and quality tires now.

[Superhatch]

If you can afford to do suspension anyway down the road I would suggest not skimping on tires. The wheels are debatable (knock off light vs original light), but the tires should be quality imo.

[shu5892001]

What I did is, light weight forged rims + quality tires. I will do suspension later, probably KW/Ohlins/JRZ

The way I see is, do it once and do it right. If you can't afford everything at once, take it slow.

[djliquidsteele]

I did michelin PSS on stock rims, sways, springs, bushings. Pretty darn happy with it so far. I figure I'll get the nice rims somewhere down the road.

[CrazyWookiee]

I went light weight wheels and better tires. You can run a really good suspension on sloppy tires and it'll feel terrible. But lots of people are upgrading the stock tires and getting very nice results.

[yoshiharadesign]

We would recommend a moderately priced wheel with good tires. Especially if you do some tracking, too expensive of a wheel and you are going to feel really bad if the wheel gets damaged. We believe wheels should not cost $1000 a piece no matter how light or strong it is, especially weighting in the benefit to cost factor. Paying 5 times what a normal wheel costs to get 5lbs lighter is not going to make anyone another Aryton Senna anytime soon.. A good lightweight but moderately and affordable wheel that looks good coupled with good tires will be better on both the wallet and performance.

[eddieEndo]

sorry do threadjack but what would be a step up in terms of lightness from the hankook ventus????

[TRD_07]

Wheels and tires I would have to say.

[Timmy_Jones]

The stock FR-S/BRZ suspension is fine....get the wheels and tires.

[OnionTou]

Originally Posted by Timmy_Jones

The stock FR-S/BRZ suspension is fine....get the wheels and tires.

Even with the heavier rims and tires?

How much heavier could you go without changing driving feel?

[n2oinferno]

Originally Posted by OnionTou

Even with the heavier rims and tires?

How much heavier could you go without changing driving feel?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but changing the wheels and tires aren't going to put a lot of stress on the suspension. They're unsprung weight.

[Noob4Life]

Originally Posted by OnionTou

Even with the heavier rims and tires?

How much heavier could you go without changing driving feel?

They're saying spend the money on rims and tires first so you should have enough of a budget to get a nice lightweight setup and some good tires. Like stated the stock suspension is great, unless you want to be lower.

[fatoni]

a couple things. good tires are heavy tires. if you want to be fast, get good suspension and good tires. wheel weight isnt really objectively important even though it feels cool. buy the stickiest compound you can bear and the suspension to support it.