Wheel choice upgrade path

m1tch · June 13, 2017, 13:45

Hi all,

I am in the process of working out various upgrade paths for the various parts of my project car and one of the aspects I am in need of help with is wheels and tyres, I will be running the stock facelift 15/16 wheels with stock tyres widths for a while as the power levels won't be that high. The current goal for me at the moment with the car is to work out all the smaller issues with it, get it to a good state of repair and then reduce weight by simply unbolting things to increase the power to weight that way.

As you might have seen on the project thread I will be planning to go with a 2ZZ conversion with forced induction on the cards in the future, I am being very cautious as to the wheels and tyres as I know that if you get it wrong the car might decide to no longer be on the road.

Although I see the wisdom of Toyota's staggered sizing on the car I do find it looking slightly odd at times coupled with the fact that the tyre sizes are the most common to get your hands on I am looking for an upgrade path beyond the stock wheels as I will be looking to swap out the wheels to a lighter weight alternative.

I am wanting to run the same sized wheel all round but perhaps run a wider staggered fitment on the rear, ideally I would want to go with 15s as I would get more common tyre sizes, don't want to go with 17s as they are for show (unless you need that size to clear the brakes).

Just wondering what wheels and tyre sizes I should look to get, also the widths that I could fit on say a 6, 6.5, 7, 7.5 or 8" rim, I don't want to over tyre the car, but on the other side I don't want to under tyre the rears either - any help is greatly appreciated.

MilesH · June 13, 2017, 14:45

Track or road car?

ad_car_08 · June 13, 2017, 14:58

In the same boat (well, no plans for 2zz yet) after I goosed my standard alloys, trying to get the damn security wheel bolts out. Wasn't quite a good aim with the hammer as I'd hoped.
I'll be keeping an eye on this post

ChrisGB · June 13, 2017, 15:55

Enkei RPF1 offer useful sizes and are very light. If you use serious boost on the 2zz you may need bigger brakes if you want to properly use the performance.

cptspaulding · June 13, 2017, 17:08

Quote from: "ChrisGB"Enkei RPF1 offer useful sizes and are very light. If you use serious boost on the 2zz you may need bigger brakes if you want to properly use the performance.

IIRC you'll need 16" wheels minimum for uprated brakes.

m1tch · June 13, 2017, 17:33

Thanks guys, yeah I will be going with uprated brakes so I guess 16s make sense, the car will be a road car with occasional track days (that's what I am planning on anyway), should I go with a staggered fitment or simply run slightly narrower tyres on the front vs the rears?

Topdownman · June 13, 2017, 18:20

Could you start with Yoko AD08rs in standard sizes on your stock rims and then upgrade later? Its handy to have a spare set of wheels!

I went for a set of Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2 in standard sizes although they dont do a 6.5" front so thats 7" like the rear. I took the opportunity to go for a different offset to push the wheels out further. The tyres on these wheels are 225/45/16, 195/50/15 yokohama ad08rs.

I am sure that when I put the stock wheels back on for a while that the car accelerated noticeably quicker. Not sure if that is the gearing or weight/grip of the wider tyres or if I am just imagining it though!

m1tch · June 13, 2017, 19:13

Quote from: "Topdownman"Could you start with Yoko AD08rs in standard sizes on your stock rims and then upgrade later? Its handy to have a spare set of wheels!

I went for a set of Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2 in standard sizes although they dont do a 6.5" front so thats 7" like the rear. I took the opportunity to go for a different offset to push the wheels out further. The tyres on these wheels are 225/45/16, 195/50/15 yokohama ad08rs.

I am sure that when I put the stock wheels back on for a while that the car accelerated noticeably quicker. Not sure if that is the gearing or weight/grip of the wider tyres or if I am just imagining it though!

Hmm with the 225/45/16 the wheel diameter is 1.7% larger than stock meaning that the speedo is under-reading, I will probably look at 16s if I am honest but run a staggered fitment on the width - how light were the Pro Race 1.2? Lots of people seem to like them for lighter track wheels.

Topdownman · June 13, 2017, 19:47

Cant remember the weight (if I ever knew) but I seem to remember people saying they were similar weight to stock which are very light of course.

silversprint · June 14, 2017, 20:05

My turbo 2zz makes 280whp. I run 225/45/15 front 245/40/15 maxxic RC1 tires on 15x9 wheels. I think that's probably as wide as you can go with stock fenders. I have run hoosiers as wide as 275/35/15 on the rear of the spyder with fender flairs. I think a sticky 245 tire is fine.

Do you have a LSD? Without an LSD with a turbo 2zz you will spin the inside wheel even with sticky tires. Even a NA 2zz can spin the inside wheel on corner exit.

16s reduce tires choice. 17s reduce clearance due to taller height so you won't be able to run as wide a tire.

m1tch · June 14, 2017, 22:10

Quote from: "silversprint"My turbo 2zz makes 280whp. I run 225/45/15 front 245/40/15 maxxic RC1 tires on 15x9 wheels. I think that's probably as wide as you can go with stock fenders. I have run hoosiers as wide as 275/35/15 on the rear of the spyder with fender flairs. I think a sticky 245 tire is fine.

Do you have a LSD? Without an LSD with a turbo 2zz you will spin the inside wheel even with sticky tires. Even a NA 2zz can spin the inside wheel on corner exit.

16s reduce tires choice. 17s reduce clearance due to taller height so you won't be able to run as wide a tire.

Thanks for the info, good to get some figures down as a starting point, the plan will be to swap out the LSD from the 1zz stock box and put it into the C64 box mated to the 2zz, what sort of brakes are you running to be able to run 15s?

silversprint · June 14, 2017, 23:03

Stock brakes with carbotech xp8 pads. Brakes have never been an issue on my car even with the turbo. Good track pads and fluid have been acceptable.

m1tch · June 15, 2017, 07:20

Quote from: "silversprint"Stock brakes with carbotech xp8 pads. Brakes have never been an issue on my car even with the turbo. Good track pads and fluid have been acceptable.

Hmm so I might be ok with running stock rotors (guessing uprated discs as well) and still run wide 15s then? Have you found any other pads that are also good or do you just go with the XP8 pads?

silversprint · June 15, 2017, 18:17

I have found drilled or slotted rotors to be more prone to cracking. The rotors on our cars are on the smaller side. I run regular OEM rotors.

I only use carbotech pads because I know they work. They are expensive. I am sure there are other pads that are comparable but I don't know of any.

m1tch · June 15, 2017, 18:57

Quote from: "silversprint"I have found drilled or slotted rotors to be more prone to cracking. The rotors on our cars are on the smaller side. I run regular OEM rotors.

I only use carbotech pads because I know they work. They are expensive. I am sure there are other pads that are comparable but I don't know of any.

Yeah I wouldn't ever go with drilled rotors, they are ok if you countersink the holes to stop any cracks forming but its impossible to countersink from the inside when they are vented etc.

1979scotte · June 15, 2017, 22:14

Quote from: "m1tch"
Quote from: "silversprint"I have found drilled or slotted rotors to be more prone to cracking. The rotors on our cars are on the smaller side. I run regular OEM rotors.

I only use carbotech pads because I know they work. They are expensive. I am sure there are other pads that are comparable but I don't know of any.

Yeah I wouldn't ever go with drilled rotors, they are ok if you countersink the holes to stop any cracks forming but its impossible to countersink from the inside when they are vented etc.

I wont go with drilled or sloted anymore.
Noisey on road and they do suffer with cracking.
Just a standard disk from a quality manufacturer like Brembo.

JoeCool · June 15, 2017, 22:20

Quote from: "m1tch"
Quote from: "Topdownman"Could you start with Yoko AD08rs in standard sizes on your stock rims and then upgrade later? Its handy to have a spare set of wheels!

I went for a set of Team Dynamic Pro Race 1.2 in standard sizes although they dont do a 6.5" front so thats 7" like the rear. I took the opportunity to go for a different offset to push the wheels out further. The tyres on these wheels are 225/45/16, 195/50/15 yokohama ad08rs.

I am sure that when I put the stock wheels back on for a while that the car accelerated noticeably quicker. Not sure if that is the gearing or weight/grip of the wider tyres or if I am just imagining it though!

Hmm with the 225/45/16 the wheel diameter is 1.7% larger than stock meaning that the speedo is under-reading,

I run this size on the rear and the speedo is spot on - verified by GPS. Not sure if the car uses front or rear wheel speed for the speedo though (or gearbox output!!)

I have 205/50/R16 at the front, but will be dropping to 205/45/R16 at the front when I feel the need to change them. Yokohama AD08R's - can't recommend them enough.

Maz2005mr2 · July 13, 2017, 18:21

Hi JoeCool,

Just wondering what your thought to change down to 205/45/16 from 205/50/16 at the front on the AD08R's is?

...stiffer sidewalls? Better turn-in?

Thanks!
Maz

PS Am starting to gather beans and info to make first change to tyre shell combo. Am thinking:

15 x 7.0 ET35 - 195/50/15 AD08R
16 x 7.0 ET40 - 225/45/16 AD08R