Wheels for '97 delSol Si... and introduction! ^_^

[Disciple delSol]

Hello, everyone... it's been a long time since I've been here (back when the site was still eastcoastdelsol.com) and I was never a really big poster... but I figured I should introduce myself again, anyway. ^_^

Recently I've been thinking about putting some new wheels/tires on my '97 delSol Si. I'm totally new to all aspects of modding/upgrading my car so I was wondering if anyone had any advice on wheels. I am thinking about upgrading from the standard 14" to maybe 15" or even 16", but I don't know what my car can handle. I figure it would be best to know exactly what size is best before I look at them. A friend of mine recommended Yokohama AVS ES 100s for rubber, and I trust him on that matter. But obviously I need the wheels before I can buy the tires... so I was hoping for some educated input. I don't want anything too flashy. I really just want something to make the wheel wells look less like gaping abysses in the side of my car, without sacrificing on the performance end of things. ^_^;;

 

[brntorangehatch]

i have no advice on rims.... but u could always lower the car to make up for some of the gap between the tire and fender

 

[B16]

avs es 100's are a great street tire, i used to run them.
for wheels go with rota, cheap, light, and they look good.
i say 15's

 

[Disciple delSol]

Yeah, I'm fairly certain I'll go with the Yokohama AVS ES100's. The guy who recommended them to me races, and he says they are the best for the money.

Do you know of any good sites to check out Rotas, along with any other comparable rims? (Or for that matter, any places in the area of Baltimore that sell a wide assortment of rims?)

The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards 15" myself, and I'll probably try to do the suspension next so I can lower the car a little if need be.

 

[90 accord]

you were on ecds?

what was your sn?


the yoko es 100's are a very badass tire. took my camber problems like ti was nothing, grip like hell.

 

[Disciple delSol]

you were on ecds?

Yeah... for like five minutes. I don't expect anybody to recognize me. ^_^;;

what was your sn?

It was Disciple delSol there as well, but like I said, I wasn't very active even then. I joined when I got my delSol, but at the time I really didn't have the money to do any modding... now I've got a job that pays much more, so it's something I might do. I expect I'll be a little more active on this forum, but I can't be sure. ^_^;;

the yoko es 100's are a very badass tire. took my camber problems like it was nothing, grip like hell.

My friend Tad races a Toyota MR2 AW11. He told me the Yokohama AVS ES100's have amazing grip -- says if I'm drifting on them, I'm already fucked, as I am going way too fast. = P

 

[kyleirwin]

check out some rota circuit 8's in the 15" x 6.5" size on http://www.machiii.net/ .
here is a direct link to the circuit 8 wheels... http://machiii.net/machiii/html/wheels/Rota_C8.html

and here is a link to all the rota wheels... http://machiii.net/machiii/html/Rota_wheels.html

good luck. and welcome back to the swap .

 

[Disciple delSol]

Thanks. I like Rota's Attack and Battle models. If I decide to buy new rims from Rota, it'll probably be between them. You know anything about either of those models?

 

[posol]

remember me?

 

[kyleirwin]

Originally posted by Disciple delSol@Sep 17 2003, 02:45 AM
Thanks. I like Rota's Attack and Battle models. If I decide to buy new rims from Rota, it'll probably be between them. You know anything about either of those models?

just about all the rotas are the same... i mean they differ in weight a bit, but they're all cast, come in just about the same sizes. it really just comes down to which style you perfer. between those two, i'd pick the attacks. they're lighter and i think they'd look cleaner on your sol. i think that the battles would just be "too much"... if ya know what i mean.

 

[Disciple delSol]

Originally posted by pissedoffsol@Sep 17 2003, 02:51 AM
remember me?

Hehehe... you're about the only person I do remember. And honestly, you were the only person I expected might remember me. ^_^;;

 

[Disciple delSol]

Originally posted by kylemarhx@Sep 17 2003, 02:54 AM
just about all the rotas are the same... i mean they differ in weight a bit, but they're all cast, come in just about the same sizes. it really just comes down to which style you perfer. between those two, i'd pick the attacks. they're lighter and i think they'd look cleaner on your sol. i think that the battles would just be "too much"... if ya know what i mean.

Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I kinda want the rims to be subtle. Nothing too flashy or distracting. In fact, I don't dislike the look of my stock wheels, they're just smaller than I'd like. The wheel wells are as gaping as a Vegas hooker's pussy by sunrise. = P

BTW, I've been wondering: what exactly is the difference between cast and forged rims? I'm sure that's a pretty amateur question... but I really don't know a lot about this sorta stuff. = /

 

[phunky.buddha]

Cast = metal poured into a mold
Forged = metal slammed / pressed into a mold

A forged wheel is stronger than a cast wheel because of the manufacturing process. Forging forms the metal under high pressure, cold working it and aligning the grains of the metal structure along high stress areas. It's also more expensive. Casting just involves pouring molten metal into a mold and waiting for it to cool. You don't get metal grains that follow the shape of the wheel, and you don't get higher grain density where higher stresses occur.

Because the forging process results in a stronger final product, forged wheels tend to be lighter than their cast cousins because they require less material to reach the same strength.

Rotas and most OEM wheels are cast because it's the cheapest way to make an alloy wheel, while more expensive competition wheels (like 8 pound Racing Harts) are forged.

If this is all over your head, I can go into much greater detail too.

Welcome to the board- stick around, even if / when you don't have money to mod your car. It's a great site.

As for wheel choice, I would go with a 15 or 16 inch wheel. ES100s are a great tire to go with- I have a few friends using them, and they love them on the street. Just make sure you close your wheel gap some when you get the taller wheels- shorter sidewalls tend to make your car look even more "lifted" if you stay with the stock ride height.

 

[Disciple delSol]

Cast = metal poured into a mold
Forged = metal slammed / pressed into a mold

A forged wheel is stronger than a cast wheel because of the manufacturing process. Forging forms the metal under high pressure, cold working it and aligning the grains of the metal structure along high stress areas. It's also more expensive. Casting just involves pouring molten metal into a mold and waiting for it to cool. You don't get metal grains that follow the shape of the wheel, and you don't get higher grain density where higher stresses occur.

Because the forging process results in a stronger final product, forged wheels tend to be lighter than their cast cousins because they require less material to reach the same strength.

Rotas and most OEM wheels are cast because it's the cheapest way to make an alloy wheel, while more expensive competition wheels (like 8 pound Racing Harts) are forged.

If this is all over your head, I can go into much greater detail too.

Nah, that is plenty enough explanation... I figured that was the difference, I just wondered exactly how the two methods affected performance, durability, and overall quality. Thanks for clearing that up for me. ^_^

Welcome to the board- stick around, even if / when you don't have money to mod your car. It's a great site.

I'll definitely try... I'd like to learn more about the mechanics of my car and cars in general, as I'm already pushing myself to learn the techniques and physics of driving better. ^_^

As for wheel choice, I would go with a 15 or 16 inch wheel. ES100s are a great tire to go with- I have a few friends using them, and they love them on the street. Just make sure you close your wheel gap some when you get the taller wheels- shorter sidewalls tend to make your car look even more "lifted" if you stay with the stock ride height.

Ok, now this is something you'll have to explain just a little further... I'm under the assumption that your wheels pretty much determine the size of tire you must use. With 15x6.5" Rota Attack rims (for that matter, ANY specific set of rims), wouldn't the size of my tires be determined by them?

 

[phunky.buddha]

Originally posted by Disciple delSol@Sep 17 2003, 04:15 AM
Ok, now this is something you'll have to explain just a little further... I'm under the assumption that your wheels pretty much determine the size of tire you must use. With 15x6.5" Rota Attack rims (for that matter, ANY specific set of rims), wouldn't the size of my tires be determined by them?

I'm glad that was enough explanation.

Wheel size... yes, your wheels do determine what size tires you can use to an extent- but you really should be trying to match the diameter of your new tires to your original tires. I assume that you're riding on 185/60/14 tires, correct? You want to buy 195/50/15 tires to keep your stock diameter. Maintaining proper diameter makes sure that your speedometer and odometer stay accurate, and also ensures that your overall gearing between your engine and the ground remains the same. If you want a little more tread, go with a 205/50/15 tire. It's close enough to your stock size (just a little larger), but you won't have to worry about speedo/odo/gearing error compared to stock all that much. Your wheel only determines what width range you can use, and what the inner diameter of the tire must be. Your preference shapes the rest of it up.

Drop height- the illusion of being "lifted" comes from the relation between the sidewall height and the wheel well gap. If your wheel well gap is taller than your sidewall, your car will look lifted. If it's the same size or shorter than your sidewall, then the car looks normal. Going from 14 inch wheels to 15 inch wheels will reduce your sidewall height by half an inch, so you should drop your car at least that much when sizing your wheels up one inch.

 

[Disciple delSol]

Wheel size... yes, your wheels do determine what size tires you can use to an extent- but you really should be trying to match the diameter of your new tires to your original tires. I assume that you're riding on 185/60/14 tires, correct? You want to buy 195/50/15 tires to keep your stock diameter. Maintaining proper diameter makes sure that your speedometer and odometer stay accurate, and also ensures that your overall gearing between your engine and the ground remains the same. If you want a little more tread, go with a 205/50/15 tire. It's close enough to your stock size (just a little larger), but you won't have to worry about speedo/odo/gearing error compared to stock all that much. Your wheel only determines what width range you can use, and what the inner diameter of the tire must be. Your preference shapes the rest of it up.

Thanks! You really cleared that up for me! ^_^

You're correct, right now I'm running 185/60/14 tires. If 195/50/15 tires will retain the same diameter, I'll look into getting Yokohama AVS ES100s in that size. ^_^

Drop height- the illusion of being "lifted" comes from the relation between the sidewall height and the wheel well gap. If your wheel well gap is taller than your sidewall, your car will look lifted. If it's the same size or shorter than your sidewall, then the car looks normal. Going from 14 inch wheels to 15 inch wheels will reduce your sidewall height by half an inch, so you should drop your car at least that much when sizing your wheels up one inch.

That makes sense. You know, I think the wheel well gap is probably taller than the sidewall height on my car right now. It really looks like crap. I was hoping that changing the wheels and tires could improve that, but if I'm understanding you correctly, by using 195/50/15 tires the wheels and tires combined won't actually take up any more space in terms of overall diameter... I guess I'll need to get a new suspension to allow me to drop the ride height of the car to fix that problem. I hate seeing so much open space between my tires and wheel wells. It really is like some gaping abyss. >_<;;

 

[phunky.buddha]

195/50/15 is a good size for you to run, but 205/50/15 is also an excellent size if you want some more traction and a slightly taller tire. It's only one centimeter taller, and only about 2% larger. Your speedometer and odometer will still be fairly accurate, and since the tire takes up more room in your wheel well, it will fill up your gap a little more.

You'll definitely want to lower your car a bit when you get the wheels because maintaining your overall tire diameter while increasing wheel size means that you're losing sidewall height, and it will exaggerate your wheel gap even more. If you go with something like Eibach Pro-Kits, you'll be pretty happy- the Pro-Kits close your wheel gap just enough to look really nice with 15 inch wheels, and doesn't drop your car enough (only about 1.5 inches) to make it scrape everywhere. However- if you're planning an engine swap in the future, you might want to check into an adjustable spring setup, because heavier engines tend to make your front end droop more, and the adjustable springs can compensate for that while a "normal" drop spring can't.