Another wheels and tires queston thread

[Grafton]

i am looking at some new wheels
http://www.wheelsnext.com/images/%5Cwheels%5Csm_thumbs%5CAR_CoilSeries388_HB_2jpg_W.jpg
http://www.wheelsnext.com/default.cfm?h ... Hyperblack (http://www.wheelsnext.com/default.cfm?home=packages&action=dspPackage&brand=AMERICAN%20RACING&model=Coil&color=Hyperblack)[/img]
they are 15x7 with an offset of 40 with a 195/60r15 tire
I believe that that is the same offset as the stock wheels so there shouldn't be any bearing issues, but i wasn't able to find out much info on the stockers i am running the steel 14 in wheels and want to make sure that the new wheels wont rub or really kill my gas milage

any thoughts about fit or width conpaired to the stock wheels?

[SilentRacer]

Go with 16s or 17s at least. 15s are too small.

[Grafton]

Go with 16s or 17s at least. 15s are too small.
are you saying that from an aesthetics standpoint or a mechanical one?

[SilentRacer]

aesthetic, I don't know many people on this site who run wheels that small. I see they will cost you over $500 for the set. For less then that you have many choices of 16"and 17"wheels. What is your logic behind going with 15s?

[Grafton]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

[Sarra]

I'd do 15"s, except they wouldn't physically fit over my brakes. :(

[Mr. Sociable]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

[Sarra]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

15" wheel = 18 lbs
16" wheel = 25 lbs
205 60R15 tire = 20 lbs
205 55R16 tire = 21 lbs

[Reason]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

15" wheel = 18 lbs
16" wheel = 25 lbs
205 60R15 tire = 20 lbs
205 55R16 tire = 21 lbs

And where did you get these numbers from?

[Okin DaVanh]

Not everyone is into asthetics. I run 15's on my car for comfort, reliability, and not to mention a highly paid engineer at Subaru designed them towards safety and working with the brake combination. My ride comfort wasn't sacrificed, and it handles a bit better than the L - 14" alloys it came with. +1 sizing is great if you're looking to extract the most performance out of your suspension or a show stoppper, but not everyone is tracking their cars or hitting the show circuit. I dunno, I guess I'm a believer of, get what you need and what's useful.





















Now let the :smt067 :smt072 begin! j/k

[Huffer]

Not everyone is into asthetics. I run 15's on my car for comfort, reliability, and not to mention a highly paid engineer at Subaru designed them towards safety and working with the brake combination.

Actually that same engineer designed them around a heavily constrained budget as well. It's cheaper to build and mass produce a 15" wheel versus a 16" because they're physically smaller. The overheads for a manufacturer are less, so the production cost per car are lower.

Hence why they built cars with donuts for spare wheels instead of full-size spares.

Safety and performance have a hand in it sure, but ask any major auto producer what really drives design is the bottom line.

16" is a perfect size for any 90s-05 Subaru. You get access to decent tire sizes and aesthetically the wheel looks more proportionate.

End of the day the choice is yours + your wallet.

[Sarra]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

15" wheel = 18 lbs
16" wheel = 25 lbs
205 60R15 tire = 20 lbs
205 55R16 tire = 21 lbs

And where did you get these numbers from?

I weighed my 15" and 16" stock wheels long ago, and that's what they came out at.

For the tire weights, I went on tirerack.

I believe that lower profile tires have thicker side walls, so therefore they weigh more. Tires for 24" wheels weighed like 45 lbs a piece. Staying with 205 tread width, the larger the wheel size, the heavier the tire.

[Mr. Sociable]

cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

15" wheel = 18 lbs
16" wheel = 25 lbs
205 60R15 tire = 20 lbs
205 55R16 tire = 21 lbs

O rly? I'd be interested in where these numbers are from as different wheels/tires can weigh vastly different amounts.

Lets look at some examples from Tire Rack. Here are some wheels from Kosei, the K1 TS, a good middle of the road example that's performance minded:

Stock Legacy 15" steel wheel (Click (http://wac.addr.com/auto/obs/wheels.html)):
Subaru Steel (Impreza, Legacy) 15x6 +55 19.5lbs

Now, the 17" (zomg big wheel!!!!) wheel from tire rack (Click (http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/results.jsp?filterSize=All&filterFinish=All&filterBrand=Kosei&filterSpecial=false&filterNew=All&autoMake=Subaru&autoModel=Legacy+L+Sedan&autoYear=1996&autoModClar=&sort=Brand)):
Offset: 50mm Backspacing: 5.95" Bolt Pattern: 5-100
Rec. Tire Size:205/45-17
Weight: 14.6lbs.


By upping the wheel diameter by 2" and increasing the width by an inch, you actually LOSE 4.9lbs of unsprung weight per corner.


Now, onto tires...

I don't know what the stock tire size is, but on 15x6" wheels, let's go with a few possible sizes, and I'll use the Kumho Ecsta ASX for all comparisons as it's a good cheap all-season:

click (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Kumho&model=Ecsta+ASX&partnum=96VR5EASX&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=4)

195/55/15 - 18lbs
195/60/15 - 19lbs
195/65/15 - 20lbs
205/50/15 - 20lbs

Assuming you used the LIGHTEST of these tire possibilities, the total weight of the stockers/tires comes to 37.5lbs per corner.

Now, lets look at the two sizes closest to the Tire Rack reccomended size for 17x7" wheels (205/45/17):

205/40/17 - 19lbs
205/50/17 - 22lbs

The 205/40/17 is spot on for overall diameter when compared to the stock wheels (0.1" larger than stock) and weighs 33.6lbs per corner, a savings of 3.9lbs of unsprung weight per corner. Now, lets assume you went with the larger tires that are a poor match for overall diameter (1.7" larger than stock). the total weight of this package would be 36.6lbs per corner, or 0.9lbs LIGHTER than the lightest possible stock combination. since you would be best off going with the 205/40/17's as they have a shorter sidewall and are the best dimensional match possible, you save even more weight and increase performance at the same time.


Tire size calc (http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html)


That is why larger, lighter wheels (that can still be found on a budget, the Kosei's I used are less than $200/each, and just slightly heavier weight wheels like the Sport Edition D5 are only $109/each) with smaller tires are better for someone looking for any kind of performance increase. Now if he's going for a plush ride, by all means use 15's, but that wasn't what I was trying to prove :wink: .

[SilentRacer]

the plot thickens.....

[Grafton]

looked up the 16in version and the proper size tire ~ $40 difference on the same type of tire between 195/60r15 and 205/50r16 thats $120 every time i go to put new tires on i'll stick with the smaller wheel
Plus i need to take care of body roll before i begin worrying about tire sidewalls
i am on 14" steel wheels right now, anyone know anything about these things offset, width, weight?

so going up to 15" will allow me to have shorter sidewalls :D even if its not by much
plus CHEAPER tires than 16in wheels

[Sarra]

[quote=Grafton]cheaper tires, and lower weight than the large varients, plus i am not a big fan of larger wheels

Your tires will weigh more. Going with a heavier 16/17" wheel will probably weigh the about the same/less than those 15's because of the tire weight and will further increase performance through less sidewall flex on a lower profile tire.


Do what you will though.

15" wheel = 18 lbs
16" wheel = 25 lbs
205 60R15 tire = 20 lbs
205 55R16 tire = 21 lbs

O rly? I'd be interested in where these numbers are from as different wheels/tires can weigh vastly different amounts.

Lets look at some examples from Tire Rack. Here are some wheels from Kosei, the K1 TS, a good middle of the road example that's performance minded:

Stock Legacy 15" steel wheel (Click (http://wac.addr.com/auto/obs/wheels.html)):
Subaru Steel (Impreza, Legacy) 15x6 +55 19.5lbs

Now, the 17" (zomg big wheel!!!!) wheel from tire rack (Click (http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/results.jsp?filterSize=All&filterFinish=All&filterBrand=Kosei&filterSpecial=false&filterNew=All&autoMake=Subaru&autoModel=Legacy+L+Sedan&autoYear=1996&autoModClar=&sort=Brand)):
Offset: 50mm Backspacing: 5.95" Bolt Pattern: 5-100
Rec. Tire Size:205/45-17
Weight: 14.6lbs.


By upping the wheel diameter by 2" and increasing the width by an inch, you actually LOSE 4.9lbs of unsprung weight per corner.


Now, onto tires...

I don't know what the stock tire size is, but on 15x6" wheels, let's go with a few possible sizes, and I'll use the Kumho Ecsta ASX for all comparisons as it's a good cheap all-season:

click (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Kumho&model=Ecsta+ASX&partnum=96VR5EASX&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes&place=4)

195/55/15 - 18lbs
195/60/15 - 19lbs
195/65/15 - 20lbs
205/50/15 - 20lbs

Assuming you used the LIGHTEST of these tire possibilities, the total weight of the stockers/tires comes to 37.5lbs per corner.

Now, lets look at the two sizes closest to the Tire Rack reccomended size for 17x7" wheels (205/45/17):

205/40/17 - 19lbs
205/50/17 - 22lbs

The 205/40/17 is spot on for overall diameter when compared to the stock wheels (0.1" larger than stock) and weighs 33.6lbs per corner, a savings of 3.9lbs of unsprung weight per corner. Now, lets assume you went with the larger tires that are a poor match for overall diameter (1.7" larger than stock). the total weight of this package would be 36.6lbs per corner, or 0.9lbs LIGHTER than the lightest possible stock combination. since you would be best off going with the 205/40/17's as they have a shorter sidewall and are the best dimensional match possible, you save even more weight and increase performance at the same time.


Tire size calc (http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html)


That is why larger, lighter wheels (that can still be found on a budget, the Kosei's I used are less than $200/each, and just slightly heavier weight wheels like the Sport Edition D5 are only $109/each) with smaller tires are better for someone looking for any kind of performance increase. Now if he's going for a plush ride, by all means use 15's, but that wasn't what I was trying to prove :wink: .[/quote:2dkni4fm]

:shock: That's the lightest fuckin wheel I've seen in a long time...

I was using the Sumito HTR Z for my basis, it's a cheap tire, but it was avilable in all the tire sizes I was looking at. :p

I was attempting to compare a stock wheel with a stock wheel. When you get into aftermarket, you open a whole new can of worms.

Sure, going aftermarket is a good way to get some really light wheels, but with a wheel that light, you have to wonder if it's going to be strong enough if you go off the paved road.

Nice wheel/tire package, though. Sure is lighter than stock, but I'm one of those people who will only ever have stock wheels on their car. ;)

[Mr. Sociable]

:cool: Just providing my experiences. I can't argue with your stock wheel comment though, they don't compare to the things available in the aftermarket.

To the OP, just make an informed decision. :grin:

[Reason]

Not all 205/55 16 tires weight the same, nore do all 15" rims, those numbers are limited to the ones you weighed. Give us some real num,bers to work with.

[Mr. Sociable]

Reason, was that directed at me? If so, there are links in my post, feel free to find some different wheels/tires. I can't promise they'll all weigh less, but I can promise that a 17" wheel (as long as it's not super super heavy) with good summer tires will outperform stockers.

[Reason]

Last night was a little cloudy so not sure. But yea numbers are always good to compare.