For competition only a 17-inch wheel is a good idea. But for the street you can find 18-inch wheels in a wide selection of styles, prices and weight.

 

Got it... Your wheel/tire setup looks great, and I would bet the handling and performance is even better.

Thanks for posting and the nice pic. I think your post helps people suffering from "size anxiety."

--Spike

 

I tried the 17" setup and i got laughed at... but maybe it was b/c of the ADR rims i bought So I went with 18" and i am 100% satisfied. But what ever you like... go with it.

 

Two things..

First, when you get wide 17" wheels/tires that are slightly shorter than stock diameter, it maks your tires look a little wider than the same width on a taller wheel/tire combo. So the width of rubber on the road looks larger. (my 275's look a bit wider than than 275's on 18" wheels at the track.

Second, and more important, fast times are fast times. Once you put up the numbers, no one will laugh at you, or your car. (at least, not at the track)

Thanks. And you are correct, lighter wheels helped the car's performance in a noticeable way.

 

I ended up going to 18"s this year for autoX b/c I was looking for a specific width and the 17" tires didn't offer the sizes I wanted ...

 

i got some 17 x 9 +24 for free, gift certificate from work, to replace my 19" volks. the tires at that size are just too much. so less money on tires means more time at the track. its a give and take. now im just between tires,

 

the only issue I see with 17s so far is that no one uses an agressive enough offset on them. for racing it's understandable.

I would like to see some better fitments in this thread

 

Just a quick question on 17" stock wheels. What would be the widest tires that would fit stock 17s from an 04 touring model with automatic tranny without causing any problems?

Thanks

 

^^ 235mm on the stock 17" wheel.

Of course you can fit many other sizes depending upon the wheel width, your courage, etc.

--Spike

 

My 17's are for the track only , and i love them.

 

Spike100,

235/50-17 (R) and 225/50-17 (F) are OEM sizes. Are you saying that you can not go any bigger than that with the stock wheels? I was hoping to go a little wider when I replaced the tires without buying new wheels.

 

I ran (DD and many autocross events) 245/45 17F and 255/45R rear with zero problems on stock 17's (I was running MX's and even Kumho said the stock wheel widths were ok for the tire sizes)

IIRC, both front and rear are only about 1% off from factory diameter's. (1% smaller than stock)

 

Thanks for the first hand tire size info. That will help when I decide what size to buy.

 

Spike 100 is right on the nose!

 

aggressive offset? you mean like chulo gangster slot wheeled look? like wheels/tires sticking out 2" on each side? there's a guy here who has that lol myv6isfaster.. but his car STICKS... what offset are your fronts Tom? i'm looking at sticking with 17's and will probably end up running 17x9 or 17x9.5 all around with 275/40's on all four corners.. of course these won't go on until JUST before ZdayZ

 

For autocross, I've mounted 275/40 tires on four (4) 17x8 stock rims without issues.

17" <- Autocross
18" <- Street
19" <- Show
20" <- Baller

 

^^ Exactly. Good post explaining preferred wheel sizes as to use.

--Spike

 

Hey guys I'm tryin to figure out what the stock 17" rims are on our Zs. I have decided to go wit 17" wheels for cost/weight reasons. My car has brand new tires on it and along with the tmps, I figure I can just use my new tires that were just mounted to put on a set of new rims that I want. But I am trying to match up the right wheels with the stock OEM sizes so that they fit. The whole point is so that I can reuse my tires since they are brand new. Anybody know what size wheels I need to do that?

Thanks