Wheels for widebody?

[IheartSTI]

I am having a wheel crisis at the moment so i thought i would ask for some advice from people who know how to set up a car for track use. I have been told i can run 10-11 inch rims with my widebody and up to 305 tires. 11 inch rims with 305 is said to rub so i am looking to get a ten inch rim and run a smaller tire. i have called around to a couple places to ask what offset i should run with a ten inch rim and what tire i should run that is going to work best(on a track) for the application i have. so far i have received about every answer that i could have been told and it has only added to my confusion. please explain to me what is going work best for me. whether it is a 9.5 inch rim with a 44mm offset or a ten inch rim with a 22mm offset or even a 10.5 with a 15mm offset. also 17 inch rim vs 18 inch rim and what size tires to fit each? thanks

[Forgotten]

Which widebody do you have? Do you know exactly how much wider it is?
If you a serious about going with 305 R-comps the stock brembos won't cut it. You'll need a BBK which will require you to with 18s. 18x10 +25 is a good starting point. 305/30/18 is matches the stock size almost exactly. A quick search on tirerack says that only v700s come in that size. You can always go slightly smaller with 275 or 285 and open up more tires choices.

[IheartSTI]

Originally Posted by Forgotten

Which widebody do you have? Do you know exactly how much wider it is?
If you a serious about going with 305 R-comps the stock brembos won't cut it. You'll need a BBK which will require you to with 18s. 18x10 +25 is a good starting point. 305/30/18 is matches the stock size almost exactly. A quick search on tirerack says that only v700s come in that size. You can always go slightly smaller with 275 or 285 and open up more tires choices.

I want to run what is going to let my car perform the best. i have no means in running a 305 that is just what the APR site says it can run. I dont know enough about wheels and tires to say a 10 inch rim should be running a 275 or 285. If my car would handle best with a 9.5 inch rim that would let me have a wider selection on wheels; however, if my car will perform better with a ten inch rim i would like to buy a 10 inch rim

[sybir]

You're much better off getting the kit on, then taking measurements for what you can fit. Everything up until that is theoretical. What suspension are you running? What spring rates? How low? How much camber will you run? Keep in mind that there are two kinds of guys running widebodies, and only one of them is doing it for performance Part of APR's marketing (not all of it, and not saying it's you) is to the show crowd who sees a Falken FK452 that runs narrow and say "I can cram on a 305 on a 10.5 and run 5 degrees of camber and it;'s worth points". Start running stupid wide wheels with different faces/discs/pads and you'll run into brake clearance issues as well. For example, on my STi, I run 18x8.5 ET42 CR Kai's and 245's without too many problems, with tons of brake clearance. However, if I tried to run an 18x9.5 ET20, even though I'd be moving all of the extra width to the outside of the wheel via the lower offset, the spoke design would mean my calipers wouldn't clear..........which is the inverse of what you would think with a lower offset. Are you building more of a street/show type car, or something for autoX/track? If you're building something with track or uatoX in mind, and you're wanting to maximize what you can shove under your panels, get them mounted up and then work with a custom wheel manufacturer like Kodiak, etc, who will build exactly what you need instead of trying to get fitment with wheels meant for Evos or S14's/GTR's with different brake setups, etc.

[sybir]

I'd rather go with a lighter 9.5" over a 10 or 10.5 that just stretches the same tire out. Are you going to run R-comps or street tires? A Hoosier is a cheater tire in more ways than one; a "255" Hoosier fits more like a 285-section street tire in terms of section width.

[IheartSTI]

Originally Posted by sybir

You're much better off getting the kit on, then taking measurements for what you can fit. Everything up until that is theoretical. What suspension are you running? What spring rates? How low? How much camber will you run? Keep in mind that there are two kinds of guys running widebodies, and only one of them is doing it for performance. Start running stupid wide wheels with different faces/discs/pads and you'll run into brake clearance issues as well. For example, on my STi, I run 18x8.5 ET42 CR Kai's and 245's without too many problems, with tons of brake clearance. However, if I tried to run an 18x9.5 ET20, even though I'd be moving all of the extra width to the outside of the wheel via the lower offset, the spoke design would mean my calipers wouldn't clear..........which is the inverse of what you would think with a lower offset. Are you building more of a street/show type car, or something for autoX/track? If you're building something with track or uatoX in mind, and you're wanting to maximize what you can shove under your panels, get them mounted up and then work with a custom wheel manufacturer like Kodiak, etc, who will build exactly what you need instead of trying to get fitment with wheels meant for Evos or S14's/GTR's with different brake setups, etc.

I am building my car to track. I have no interest in showing my car. I do have coil overs but i cant say what the height of my car or what the camber is going to be set to for track use at this point. I think when i am able to get my car to a track i will be able to make the proper adjustments. I want a wheel that is going to work with upgraded brakes which i plan to purchase in the future. I am just trying to receive some feedback that is going to inform me what i should do to properly build this vehicle the first time

[Forgotten]

There a plenty extremely fast non-widebody subarus out there that are built specifically for the track. With rolled stock fenders and and some camber you can run 17x9.5 or 18x9.5. Most of the Subaru Time Attack cars are running Prodrive 18x9.5 which is the NSX rear fitment. They don't have any problem clearing any of the big brakes and you can fit plenty wide tires. I honestly would do a widebody as a last resort. You can have a plenty fast car as long as it's well setup and you know exactly what you want to do. So this is going to be a track car? Are you going to be competing in anything or just taking it out to RFR a few times a summer?

[IheartSTI]

Yea i just want to take it out and have a good time whenever i have a chance. building it gives me something to focus on and stay out of trouble. i decided to do the widebody because i needed some body work done anyhow and i had the extra money. I am about done with my suspension and am going get this widebody put on and start to upgrade the brakes. I already have the widebody coming so i need to figure out this wheel stuff.

[Dean]

Sybir is right. Wait until you have the WB kit on so you can measure relative to your coilovers and fenders and a known wheel/tire.

I disagree that a BBK is required. ducts for the stock Brembos and good pads should be fine at least to start. A bunch of us track that configuration.

[Forgotten]

Originally Posted by Dean

I disagree that a BBK is required. ducts for the stock Brembos and good pads should be fine at least to start. A bunch of us track that configuration.

I agree that that is plenty for most people. If he really is going to use those 305 rcomps to full potential, I'm positive he will cook the brembos. There has been quite a few failures on nasioc, but I think it's due to ineffecient ducting. He did say he wants to fork out for the BBK.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by Forgotten

I agree that that is plenty for most people. If he really is going to use those 305 rcomps to full potential, I'm positive he will cook the brembos. There has been quite a few failures on nasioc, but I think it's due to ineffecient ducting.

I've seen track cars with much higher power/weight ratios, sticky R's and similar or even less capable brake setups as STi's racing competitively wheel-to-wheel on big tracks like WSIR. Proper cooling ducting and pad selection is the key.

[MPREZIV]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

... Proper cooling ducting and pad selection is the key.

Exactly what I was thinking. Pads/rotors/fluid and cooling can go a LONG way.

[wrxkidid]

Yea, and bleed em every once in a while or youl fade 'em on an autoX course....