The best wheel size for 2?

Anonymous · January 8, 2004, 03:15

What is the best wheel size for a non-mod 2 ?
16 or 17 ?
and what tyre size do u recommand?

Slacey · January 8, 2004, 08:30

Bit of a touchy subject for some, this one - TBH, stock 15's are the best - that's why Toyota chose them.

17's look good and are fine for street use (I have 17's), and I hear 18's can be fitted but IMO look way to much for a small car.

I would suggest you just fit whatever YOU like, but performance will suffer slightly with bigger wheels.

As for tyres, stick with the stock sizes in the 15/16" stock wheels, for 17's I would recommend 205/40 for the fronts and 235/35 for the rears - this keeps close to stock rolling radius at the rear wheels. For 18's I have no idea!

Tem · January 8, 2004, 08:44

Quote from: "Slacey"TBH, stock 15's are the best - that's why Toyota chose them.

I'm not 100% convinced s:)

s:)

They might or might not be the best for stock car. I think it's safe to say that money is involved in the decision as well. If a set of 16" wheels would be better, but it would raise the price £2000, they might decide not to use them.

And even if 15" would be the best for stock car, once you modify the suspension, 15" might not be the best choice.

...it's worth remembering, that Toyota used 16" wheels for rear in 2003+. We can only guess if they did it for the suspension mods or looks, but whatever their reasons are, they thought 15" is not the best anymore.

...I'm actually starting to wonder, if 16" would be the best choice (with suspension mods). Performance-wise that is...

Slacey · January 8, 2004, 08:55

Quote from: "Tem"...I'm actually starting to wonder, if 16" would be the best choice (with suspension mods). Performance-wise that is...

Why? Techie explanation please! s:)

s:)

Anonymous · January 8, 2004, 09:33

i went for 17" cause the price of the tyres are cheaper than 16" s:shock: :shock: s:shock:
it might have something to do with 17" being more popular with young kids modding there motors,i have no idea.
i was advised not to fit 18" if you plan to lower the car at a later date as problems with rubbing on the front.

Tem · January 8, 2004, 09:35

Quote from: "Slacey"Why? Techie explanation please! s:) s:)

I'm just starting to wonder about it...no techiestuff yet s8)

s8)

(TRD does recommend 16" wheels for Sportivo, 205/45 and 215/45 IIRC)

Anonymous · January 8, 2004, 14:06

Quote(TRD does recommend 16" wheels for Sportivo, 205/45 and 215/45 IIRC)

You are right Tem, TRD's Japanese site does mention they designed/tested the Sportivo set up with 16" wheels. I have to say I would love a set of 16" SSR's Type C (I think) alloys all round which are lighter than the stock 15"s with a Sportivo set up but that is big bucks s:x :x s:x

Tem · January 9, 2004, 08:17

<mod comment>
Tons of mumbojumbo deleted. Feel free to post the funny pics to Jokes area and the chitchat to Chit-chat area.
</mod comment>

Anonymous · January 9, 2004, 22:53

I would think twice fitting 17s on a stock MR2. I feel that handling could be seriously compromised. I would suggest to test drive it, if you have the option, before you splash out...

Personally, I would stick to stock wheels on a stock MR2.

Anonymous · January 10, 2004, 08:34

Quote from: "Emmanuel"I would think twice fitting 17s on a stock MR2. I feel that handling could be seriously compromised. I would suggest to test drive it, if you have the option, before you splash out...

Personally, I would stick to stock wheels on a stock MR2.

Well I have no handling issues with 17's on. It would be interesting to know one thing though. Several members of the site have spun their 2's on general driving. What size wheels did they have & do they think it contributed to the spin in any way. I get my 2's arse twitching quite often but it i mainly on slower corners where i have booted it myself & could only blame myself if something happened s:? :? s:?

Slacey · January 10, 2004, 09:54

Quote from: "Emmanuel"I would think twice fitting 17s on a stock MR2. I feel that handling could be seriously compromised. I would suggest to test drive it, if you have the option, before you splash out...

I agree with Silver... other than the ride being a tad harsher, and the car now turns in slightly slower than stock, I have had no problems whatsoever, and have never spun the car on the road (and it is pushed, believe me).
A couple of the guys will testify to the fact that at the airfield day we did, mine had a lot more grip than any of the stock cars there - even the instructor commented on this (he was the one that ponted out that the turn-in was slightly slower than stock as well).
I'm happy anyway, but I do still have my stock wheels should I want to change back.

Anonymous · January 10, 2004, 10:38

i spun mine when i had stock wheels on and it scared the s@#t out of me.
since having the 17" on i cannot get the backend to even twitch let alone spin,and i have noticed no difference in handling just abit harsher ride but i put that down to lower profile tyres.
also i feel more safer in the wet, it holds the road better especially around islands.

juansolo · January 10, 2004, 10:56

Quote from: "jonboy"since having the 17" on i cannot get the backend to even twitch let alone spin

Which means when it does let go it will happen all the more suddenly and at higher speed. Not neccessarily the solution to the problem (and why you find so many Elises flung into hedges).

mph · January 10, 2004, 11:38

Quote from: "juansolo"
Quote from: "jonboy"since having the 17" on i cannot get the backend to even twitch let alone spin

Which means when it does let go it will happen all the more suddenly and at higher speed. Not neccessarily the solution to the problem (and why you find so many Elises flung into hedges).

This is one of the two reasons I've got from 17s to 15s (the other being cost). Further, I'm on ultra-low grip A539s at the moment. In combination with the turbo this makes the car a bit of a handful - I don't think 'twitchy' would quite sum it up, but never do I get a surprise.

In summary, 17s with S03s - fantastic grip, BUT, if the backend does step out, then you'll very likely not have the talent, nor the space to catch it.

markiii · January 10, 2004, 11:45

Which brings me back to a conversation I had with Liz last year.

Think carefully about the reasons for going to a bigger wheel. If it's cosmetic, which 99% of the time it's going to be. What are you trying to fix?

My reason was that the 15" looked silly with the amount of wheelarch gap they have.

And if that is teh reason you can solve this much cheaper, and far more beneficially to teh cars handling, by fitting lowering springs.

A good not too heavy set of 17" wheels with tyres when bought new will likely cost over £1000

lowering springs will cost a quarter of that.

Martins also right with regard to the limits. You'll feel so much more in control, but to a large degree thats an illusion. Due to teh far smaller sidewalls tyres on bigger rims often won't be as communicative as those on smaller rims. By the time you do feel that your losing it you'll usually be going way to fast to recover it.

juansolo · January 10, 2004, 11:45

I don't know, a turbo Mr2 on 539's sounds like a lot of fun to me. Gets my vote! s:D

s:D

markiii · January 10, 2004, 11:47

you should have seen his face doing 150mph on them.

I've seen corpses with more colour

aaronjb · January 10, 2004, 12:25

Of course, it also depends what you're going to do with the car..

If you'll mostly be driving like a granny (like me.. s:lol: :lol: s:lol: ) then it doesn't matter so much if the area between control and out of control is smaller - because you never get near it anyway s:)

s:) And in that case, looks could well be the primary concern.. Lowering isn't always a great idea either - in my case, it'd mean I'd not be able to get to my house (it already hits the cobbled speed strip outside with two people in it!)..

I can't personally comment on how 'snappy' a '2, or any other RWD car, gets on 17"s though, as both my '2 and 300 have standard wheels (15" on the '2 as it's pre 2003, and 16" on the 300ZX). I've had 17"s on a FWD car though and had the odd moment, but there was nothing that wasn't controllable.

All IMHO of course..

Aaron

P.S. Mark - any pictures of Martin looking like a ghost? s:D

s:D s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

markiii · January 10, 2004, 12:49

unfortunately not.

It was just prior to our quick stop to attach headlight deflectors. So it was all hands to teh pumps to get tehm on before teh light went.

Makes your realise how fast it is though, because at 120 he left us like we were standing still.

SteveJ · January 10, 2004, 13:06

Quote from: "markiii"unfortunately not.

It was just prior to our quick stop to attach headlight deflectors. So it was all hands to the pumps to get tehm on before the light went.

Makes your realise how fast it is though, because at 120 he left us like we were standing still.

Hmm - old age is playing tricks with your memory Mr Jones - the 150mph run was on the way home (daylight all the way), and the stop was to check Adam was OK after his engine cut-out whilst trying to keep up with us (dman j-spec speed limiters!)

[admin hat]

Topic drift index = high

[/admin hat]

mph · January 10, 2004, 16:50

[uh, I'll reply since it's amusing and let one of the mods split the thread s:wink: :wink: s:wink: ]

Quote from: "juansolo"I don't know, a turbo Mr2 on 539's sounds like a lot of fun to me. Gets my vote! s:D s:D

Anglesey will be fun s:D

s:D s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:D

s:D So tempted to have a play at Elvington too - I have a set of spares to trash...

Quote from: "markiii"you should have seen his face doing 150mph on them.

I've seen corpses with more colour

Mitigating circumstances me thinks. That it had just started to drizzle was a bit disturbing, see previous comments about 539s and wetness. Driving on the wrong side of the road* wasn't so bad, but fear of someone pulling out infront of me wasn't pleasant. Then of course, full throttle at close to 7000rpm in 5th, I was almost getting religious about thoughts of seeing the odd piston or two pop up in my rear view mirror.. but all for benefit of the club s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

*For those not read other previous threads, this all happened on nice and legal derestricted German autobahns