I am planning on getting some 18 inch Volk TE37's, I was wondering if you guys could tell me what width and offset I should go for on the front and rear.

The car is mainly going to be used for the circuit.

I was thinking 18x8.5 for the front and 18x9.5 for the rear. As for offset, I'm not sure.

 

Most people go 22mm or 30mm offset with those rims sizes.

 

Most amateur circuit cars will still run 17's due to the cheaper and more readily available race tires.

18x9.5 et 22 all around is good if you run same size tires all around.

You can also run 18x9.5 et 12 if you like having the wheels more flush with the fender, but will want to lower the car to gain a bit of negative camber up front.

If you run staggered then 18x10.5 rear is more aggressive. You can run et 22 or et 18 both fit well.

 

I would go for 17's but with my brake upgrade I will need to go for 18's.

This is probably a very amateur question but what would be the performance difference with running different offsets, such as 22 vs 30.

 

30 offset is only available in the 8.5" width, which is lighter than 9.5" but too narrow for the rear in my oppinion.

It is very difficult to feel an 8mm offset difference, but my general rule is wider is better (meaning lower offset 22mm is better) because it gives the car a slightly wider stance. Also looks much better

17" TE37's will fit some pretty big brakes including the Track model Brembos, Stoptech and Wilwood 13.1" brake kits, etc... The only ones it won't fit are show style 14-14.5" brake kits which are too heavy anyway. Those will stop great and look great but they usually aren't necessary for even the most extreme race conditions (ie. Grand Am endurance race cars run 13" brakes).

 

Ahh, gotcha.

Yeah I think the 18x8.5 +22 front and 18x9.5 +22 rear is what I will go for.

 

Hmm, maybe it is time to re consider my brake upgrade and go for the 17's.

 

talk to Jason at Performance Nissan.. they have a pretty much every available configuration of Stoptechs in stock and some other options for killer pricing... and they can comment on there experience with all of the setups on the Grand Am race cars!

 

Okay, thanks

 

I've got the front stoptech kit (from perf nissan) and they fit with my stock 17's and my 17"ssr comps.

 

The 13" rotor kit right?

 

Would there be any performance advantages and/or disadvantages with 17x8.5 front and 17x9.5 rear compared to 17x9 front and 17x10 rear?

 

Other then adding a little more weight, not really. The wider wheels will allow you to mount wider tires which for track days is always a good thing. BTW, I run a 17 by 9in. wheel (et. 22 offset)running 275 series RA-1 tires all around and it works great. I can rotate the tires to any corner for more even wear.

 

How does running wider wheels in the rear such as 17x8.5 front and 17x9.5 rear compare to running the same size all around like you are?

Also, are you using that set up for AutoX or road racing?

 

Thoeretically if you run the same sized wheel/tire on all four, it should help reduce understeer and/or make the car more neutral. Usually when you run bigger rear tires, you increase the rear grip thus adding understeer, if you run smaller fronts. Like speedform said, you can also rotate the wheels which is very nice.

 

Oh ok.
Hmm, I'm confused about what I should go with now.

Before I thought about 1 inch wider in the rear would be best but now I'm not sure.

What do you run for the circuit phoenix?

 

you got other root to go with.
i personally run 235f and 265r for circuite, but you'll need some aggressive camber up front to reduce the understeer.
i go w/ this root since i dont want fat tires up front decrease the steering response.

 

keep in mind that those race car's weight is much less then our street car.
the heat generate by their car (ie the Grand Am) is less then our street car.
i personally had fade problem w/ my stock brembo brakes.

 

IIRC Grand Am 2004 cars weigh in at ~ 3100lbs. My car weighs in at 3200lbs (fully loaded track model w/navi, etc...) and I run OEM Track Brembos. They will fade with stock pads, lines and fluid, but once you get some track pads, stainless lines and higher temp brake fluid they work great!

 

Well I'm going to leave the suspension setup stock for a little while. I would like to test it out on the track with the stock suspension first plus I should probably not go overboard on the mods right away, mainly because of the cost.

I plan to upgrade the brakes right away, wheels, tires and put on an aftermarket LSD since the base model does not come with one. That will probably be all I can offered for the time being.

So, if I have a stock suspension setup it sounds like the way to go is with the same width all around to reduce understeer.
On the other hand, it sounds like the best way to go is with wider rear wheels for more grip but I'll need to do suspension mods so I can adjust my camber accordingly to get rid of the understeer issue.
Is this correct?

If so, maybe I should stick with the stock wheels for now and just get better tires, until I have enough money to do suspension as well. That way I can get wider wheels for the rear and have better grip but still be able to keep the understeer under control with the suspension mods.

What do you guys think?

Oh and as for brakes, I'm going to be getting the StopTech 13" front kit with the new 2 pot 13" rear kit.