Hi everyone, I'm new, but I haven't introduced myself since I haven't gotten my S yet. Today I just came one step closer by selling my ITR, which is pretty upsetting. So I'm most of the way there, and it got me started thinking (already).

In Canada we have no requirement in stock class that wheels for Solo 2 be the same size as stock. Depending on the series, they're either completely unlimited, or have to be within 1" width of stock. Diameter doesn't matter, and I don't really care about keeping within 1" width.

My car will be a 2004, so I'm looking at some 16s. They'll also double as winter wheels. It seems there's much more selection in 16" winter tire sizes.

What would be the widest wheel I could find. Something reasonably light, reasonably strong, reasonably inexpensive. Sorta the equivalent of the Kosei K1s I had on my Type R.

And what about width? If I went up one inch in the front (to 8") and the same in the back (to 9.5" or 10"), would I have any problems finding wheels in the right size, and would there be any rubbing issues?

Same goes for tire sizes. I've seen a Stook running 225/50 16s in the front with I think 245s in the rear. Is that about the right size, or would bigger fit?

I don't have the money for Hoosiers, so I don't have to worry about a tire being unusually wide for the size.

Sorry if this has been covered millions of times before, it's very hard finding info searching threads looking for 'wheel widths' and similar terms.

 

There's 16" wheels available up to 16x10. The hard part is the tire. For a street tire, you won't find anything wider than 245 in which case, it's not really useful to run anything wider than a 16x8.5. If you plan to run R-compounds, 265/16's are available, but it's a taller overall diameter than the stock setup, so you'll effectively be lowering your final drive ratio and make acceleration slower. It's easier to go wider with a 17" setup while keeping the overall OD the same...plus, ther'e's more options for wide street tires in 17".

 

I can't believe how many choices there are for this car! I'm a firm believer in using wheels that are as wide as possible, regardless of the tire size. Within reason of course, not like those stretched sidewall Euro guys. My plan with the Integra was to use 15x8s with a 225 Toyo, even though 15x7 was the recommended optimal width.

I've been looking up available tire sizes, and I'm actually quite surprised at how few tire sizes are available in 16". Even for race compound tires! I would have never imagined that. So I suppose a 17" autocross combo (245s f 275s r) would be much beefier than the 16"s with 225/245. Wow.

As far as winter tires go... well I guess I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there. I suppose stock 17" wheels don't come up for sale very often yet...

 

I think this car is a car with fewest choices of wheels. The high offset is a killer when it comes to finding decent non-highend wheels.

 

In R-compounds, there's a decent number of widths to choose from in 16" (especially if you're willing to pay for hoosiers). 17" has much more choices tho. SpeedxRacer is right tho, properly fitting wheels are tough to find at low prices. If you have the $2k for a set of volks tho, that's enough to get a good set of custom built track wheels. For your 245/275 setup, you'll be squeezing those if you mount them on the 04+ stock 17s. What kind of tires are you looking into?...street or r-compound?

 

Well, I was originally thinking of doing the wheels to swap between snow tires and R compound tires. Probably RA1s for relatively long life. That was assuming I could find a good compromise. Something like a 16x8 and 16x9.5, where I could fit 245s and 275s to race, and 215ish and 245ish for snows in the winter.

I understand that that's pretty much impossible to find, especially considering my budget (which is as low as I can get away with).

For one, I won't be able to find a proper 16" tire, unless I go hoosier, and I really want to avoid that expense. Especially since I'll eventually start doing solo 1 again, and I can't buy tires every weekend.

The other thing, is that might be stretching things a _little_ bit too much in the winter. 225 on an 8" rim can work well, but smaller than that and I'll probably rub a wheel on a snow covered curb.

And that's the last nail in the coffin. I'm not going to spend $2k and up for a set of wheels (Volks or a custom job) to bang up in the winter.

It looks like sticking with 17s is probably the best bet. I can squeeze a very wide tire on the stock width, and there are snow tires available in the stock sizes.

It seems like stock sets are selling for $1200ish on this board. I assume they're fairly desirable because it's hard to find aftermarket wheels in the stock width/offset. Since I don't have to worry about that I can use any 17" wheel.

I also assume that stock class SCCA classing doesn't permit rolling of the fenders. I really don't want to do that, so I can also assume that 275s will fit without any modification?

My last question is about offset. Is there enough room with 275s, or are things starting to get tight near the fender lip? Would I need to run extra camber to fit them? Or is there enough room on the inside where I can just get a wheel with an offset a little further in to avoid any problems with rubbing the fender lip?

I'm also assuming the fronts with 245s are relatively easy to fit if you're using the stock offset. But I could be wrong. Heh.

Thanks for your help! I've almost got a full handle on this!

(the moral of this story? Just get some stock 17"s)