I need to see what kind of "side effects" I will have if I switch to either 17's or 18's, and maybe wider in the back. I know that I will be able to corner a little better, if I stay with good tires, but what about acceleration? will that be negatively effected, and if so how much?

Ron Smith

 

Moving from 16" to 18" decreased the accelaration of my car significant enough that I noticed it.......

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by vananron
[B]I need to see what kind of "side effects" I will have if I switch to either 17's or 18's, and maybe wider in the back.

 

I am getting 18's that weigh less than my 16's. I currently have the stock chrome 16's.

Ron Smith

 

Ron, what 18's are you getting? BBS RG-R?

 

depending on your set-up, and gearing, as well as how light those 18s are, in can improve cornering speed.

 

I am going to choose any of the rims that weigh around 14 pounds, I have not determined the exact design that I want as of yet.

Ron Smith

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Asura
[B]Ron, what 18's are you getting?

 

Remember that even when the rims are light... be careful with the tire selection that you go with.....I believe the S03 is a heavier tire the pilot cups are the lightest....... with heavier tires your rotational mass would increase and this will result in decrease in performance....

 

Toyo Proxes T1-S is the lightest tire available in like sizes. Not to be anal fellas, but I think the only area where I've spent more time tinkering with intakes is tires/wheels. I've even got tires listed with weights for pete's sake. lol
Here's a quick guideline if you want to guesstimate performance differences.
Bear in mind it's not just a matter of size but WHERE the mass of the wheel is placed. A wheel such as an ATP SPA has the spokes a significant distance away from the wheel's centerline. Not good for rotational purposes.
Notice a Spoon wheel for the S2000. The spokes are fairly close to the centerline. Good design for speed.
Take lbs and mulitiply that by 2.5 for an approximation of HOW much weight you're going to add to your ride. Four 20-lb wheels will slow your S2000 down significantly more than four, 20-lb bags of groceries.
If you're like me (albeit few march to my drum), you go SMALLER. My T1-S tires are 24-inches and weigh 19.4-lbs (front, 19.6-rear) as opposed to 24.8-inch, 24+ lb stock tires. Choosing this smaller size (yes, I lowered the car to close the wheel well gap) upped my final drive ratio to around 4.33 which is damn close to the $1000 (if you're lucky after labor) 4.44 gear change mod that everyone raves about and rightly so. My car scoots...significantly quicker than it was stock, that's for sure. I can pull off 13.7's all day long with my Tazzo launching BELOW 6K. I'm not interested in doing a 7000 clutch dump but on a nice cool day, it would be interesting to see how quick I could pull of a 1320.
Light wheels rock. Light tires (T1-S) are even nicer. Bear in mind, the Proxes is sized (like all other tires) less narrow than the OEM's so you'll want to size your T1-S appropriately.
Great rain tire, that's for sure.

Edit: My wheels are 13.5-lb Rota Slipstreams, 16x7, 45 offset. Proxes tires are 205/50/16 (front) and 225/45/16 (rear). This set-up is not recommended for those without a fair amount of performance driving time behind 'em...you're better off keeping things conservative with the OEM sizes. I've only had two or three FWD car's my whole life (the S2K is car #23) so oversteer has long since become my FRIEND.