My friend and I were arguing over the purpose of buying larger wheels. I want to get a set of Spoon 16's so that I can get a light-weight, wider wheel that will fit a wider tire on it than stock. He wants to get something like 18's but with the purpose of filling wheel gap. I would think that what he is doing would kill power by incresing the outer diameter of the wheel. Let me know what all you seasoned vets think. I am really jsut interested in knowing if anyone ever does what he is looking to do.

 

Kosei K-1 come in 15x7.5 and are about $109 each and weigh like 12lbs each. Why would you need anything wider than 7.5?

 

A larger diameter wheel will slow acceleration because the weight is further away from the wheel hub. Not only that, acceleration will suffer as well because larger wheels are usually heavier. The one bonus though is that a bigger diameter/heavier wheel will increase gas mileage on long and highway drives. That's because even though it takes more energy to get the wheels moving, it takes less energy for them to keep moving once accelerated.

 

will stock brakes clear a 15 inch wheel?
anyways yes, i would recommend like a light weight 16, you will feel the difference, if you are into speed you wont want heavy wheels.

or have the best of both worlds and drop an insane amount of money on big but light wheels.
btw i think real spoon rims are too soft for the street, might have better results with a knock off or a different rim, just what i have been told.

 

You don't want to increase the overall diameter too much because your speedometer will be off. Making the overall diameter larger would be done while choosing the tires and using larger tires could lead to rubbing. So, if he want his speedometer to be close to correct, a larger wheel size isn't going to "fill" his wheel gap. Lowering springs would be the way to go about this.

 

I have 18" Racing Hart C2 Evos and the acceration isn't all that bad. I was running the Stocks on it previously and sure the car "launces" easier with the 16" wheel but the difference on the street is hardly noticible. Maybe a professional driver would be able to tell the difference but you wouldn't.

The benefit of having a 16" lightweight wheel WILL increase acceleration but remember how wheels become lightweight...removing weight (and usually structural rigidity). This is not a good choice if you lan on driving with them quite regularly. I have a friend that bent a set of RH cp-035 race wheels in 3 weeks cuz he hit a pothole.

Just my 2 bits

 

The stock wheels are 15s last time I checked, so I'd certainly hope that the brakes would clear. If he wants to get rid of wheel gap tell him to lower his car. If he wants to slow his car down tell him to get 18s. I switched to 15" ITR rims from the stock rims and I could easily tell the difference in acceleration. if I ever switched to 18s, I'd have to buy another $1000 in mods to make up for the acceleration loss.

 

5th gen's come with 16" wheels

 

On a simmular note, does anyone know how wide I can go w/ some lightweight 17's on my 92 lude? Right now I have it dropped, and unfortunetly I have no real clue how low. I did how ever notice that it's about 2.5"off the ground at the lowest point up front (not counting mudd flaps or anything cosmetic). I was thinking about 6 or 7 spoke charcoal colored rims, anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!

 

Ive got Racing Hart C-2 (non-evo) in 18x8 and I can tell a difference in speed. But on the other hand the car does handle better with the 18's