rim size

hi guys, whats the best size alloy to run? i have 17inch at the moment but been told handling wont be good... is this correct

I have 17s on mine and the handling is fine, I had 15s on my old one and would say it was worse, but that could be totally down to tyre quality?! If you have a wider rim, say an 8j, you will have a more tyre on the Tarmac, and with a decent tyre more grip? That's just my thought.

16 is best in my opinion that said i run 17's so my answer is kind of stupid but i loose abit of handling for looks

Why do you think you lose handling Johnny?

I just found abit more travel on suspension and gap between the arch and wheel suited my style better. I suppose smooth track would differ but i am talking b road hard driving

i have yokohama parada currently on...but there pricey! will need to get new tires soon whats a good brand that wont break the bank?

I personally rate toyo proxes t1r, not overly expensive, I put them on a 205 gti6 conversion that I had and it transformed the car grip wise! I'd use them again any day, may be worth having a look?

Depending on the purpose looks or performance. Imo 16 are the best. 15's will limit you in the future if you want to upgrade the brakes. 17's are alright, I just think they can look a little big depending on the wheel. I have 15x8 and want 16's now.

I was just going to say 15s will limit you on your brakes. Got to be 16s or 17s, I personally prefer 17s, they look great and can get good size brakes inside. I don't think you will be blown away if you changed to 16s, not a great deal in it tbh. I found 17s with gabs and Godspeed made the car handle brilliantly, by far the best handling pulsar I had over the teins, if you want to improve handling your better off getting good suspension all set up with big brakes but you might already have them?

hi, my car is pretty much standard so has standard shocks... should i do away with them and get coilovers?

Depends what you would like to do with the car long term? Ifs it's pretty much standard maybe a more suitable option would be a nice spring/ strut combo rather than coilovers.

I personally wouldn't bother with coil overs from having tried 2 cars with coil overs. Best all round for me was the gabs by far but haven't tried Konis or whiteline which I hear are pretty good

hi. when you say a nice spring and strut... is there a brand i should be looking at.thanks

15 or 16"

i changed from 16" to 17" and noticed a huge difference especially with steering, car feels alot heavier

hi, so would you go back to 16? i want to get new wheels so im not sure as no idea its just a standard pulsar for the road

I had 16x8 Rota Slipstreams and found they scrubbed like hell on the roads. Think the et may have been 34 so that may explain it. I have 17" just like the look of them.

What did they rub on? The inner arch?

Yes inner arch, they were on your car but it was horrible to drive as it was scrubbbb scrubbbb scrubb every time you banked into a corner or bump. Think they only had 195 on too! Weird setup tyres looked stretched too.

Yes they did, Iv put tyres with a larger profile on now and had to raise the car up 20 mm all round, and make adjustments to the inner arches to accommodate them, will see how that works out when back on the road

tonydtp wrote:hi. when you say a nice spring and strut... is there a brand i should be looking at.thanks

Gabs do seem popular. I'd just do abit of searching and see what people recommend and throw some ideas here. To be honest I've only ever run coilovers but that's because my car isn't driven daily.

if you can stuff a 15x9 under your arch with some pulling with a 245/40/15 r comp that would be my choice

i will be running a 15x8 +32 with 10-15 mm spacers next with 225/45/15 hankook rs3 v2 next

i run 15" wheels with 11" discs all around on 15x7's and a fairly expensive suspension setup, worth about 3grand usd
poor handling is generally down to poor damping, lack of travel (the car barely has 3 inches stock, bc racing and shitty coilovers have like 1inch of bump travel), and tire choice

the less unsprung weight you have the better, if you need the large brake kit then of course 16/17's
but i like the low weight, inexpensive tires and rims in the 15" size. they give you low rotating mass, less unsprung weight which helps handling, braking, acceleration.

in north america the list of tire of choice for performance use not including track r compounds is in the 15" rim size are 195/50, 205/50, 225/45

bridgestone re11a (soon to be replaced with the re71r) (had the older re11 Not re11a, good steering feel, good in wet, not great cold and not great hot)
bfg r1 rival ( soon to be replaced with a new compound) (not my favorite in the old spec, lacks outright grip and not great from cold)
hankook rs3 v2 (my favorite tire on heavier vehicles in hot temperatures, not great steering feel a bit mushy but best out right hot temp dry grip)
toyo R1R (soon to be replaced with a new compound) (driven several hundred laps on these on various cars, my fave tire awesome cold and in wet, but get greasy if over heated, which it does quite easily in autox competition, lacks a bit of steering feel with a soft sidewall but u can run a shit ton of slip angle)
dunlop z2 starspec (ok in wet in the older z2 (non ss compound), but doesnt like cold and wet, good steering feel)
falken rt615k (driven on these not my favorite tire, pretty terrible in wet)
advan neova ad08r - never driven

hi nick thanks for that info appreciate great help

For road use 15 or 16 inch is best really. Like gtirnick points out coilovers are pretty shite in general unless something special & quality strut system is far far better for road blasting.
Toyo r1r are quite a good buy tire.

these 15x9's are fairly popular out here as are the smaller 15x7 and 15x8's
http://949racing.com/15-wheels.aspx

relatively cheap and light