[s-cars] wheel questions

[Theodore Chen]

no, i'm from the school that says larger diameter wheels are strictly for bling unless they are needed to clear larger brakes, and add unsprung weight.   ideally, you should use the smallest diameter wheel that will clear the brakes.  that's why people in spec miata would run 205/55/14 instead of the regulation 205/50/15 if they could.

it's very hard to find a high performance tire in 16" these days, which is why i've considered switching to 17".  i don't want to switch to the B5 S4 wheels, though, because those are 17x7.5 - narrower and heavier than the 16x8 rims i have now.

i actually would be willing to use 255/40/17 on 17x8 rims.  that's what ford provided on the mustang cobra, and that's what i have on the mustang (255/40/17 kumho V700s on factory 17x8 rims).  in fact, the BF goodrich g-force T/A R1 255/40/17 was engineered specifically for a 17x8 wheel on the mustang cobra.

not really interested in 18", and definitely not 19" or 20" wheels.  that's a lot of extra unsprung weight, and the only benefit would be pimping my ride.

-teddy

----- Original Message ----
From: Taka Mizutani <t44tqtro at gmail.com>
To: Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com>
Cc: Dave Kase <davekase at pdqlocks.com>; s-car-list at audifans.com; john cléirigh <john at johncleirigh.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 3:22:10 PM
Subject: Re: [s-cars] wheel questions

Not recommended, but Audi ran 255s on 17x8 wheels on several occasions, the A6 4.2 being the main case. I've done it w/o any issues as have others, but I don't know how unsafe it is to run too narrow of a wheel.

The only OE Audi wheels that are 8.5 or 9" wide came on RS models- B5 and B7 RS4, C5 and C6 RS6.

I wouldn't have thought that you want to run 18, 19 or 20" wheels, do you Teddy?

Taka


On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 1:35 PM, Theodore Chen <tedebearp at yahoo.com> wrote:
17x8 and not 17x8.5?  that ain't sweet.

i'm still running 16x8, but the selection of high performance tires in 16" is getting much smaller.  i'd like to run 255/40/17s but 17x8.5" rims would be better for that.  i had read those A6 wheels were 8.5" wide.  are there any audi rims that came in 17x8.5" or even 17x9?