In terms of color, i would get the 2nd set. Im not a fan of gold on white.
Rim Question?
4
Just got a quick question. You think these wheels would be good for auto x. They are 17x8 and weigh only 17lbs and i am wrapping them in nitto neogen zr's. Just let me know what you guys think. :twothumb:
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Oh and let me know wich rim color would look better i cant decide. Heres my car.
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Oh and let me know wich rim color would look better i cant decide. Heres my car.
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idk man i'd get a set of nice wheels for the street, and wrap those stockers in some nice rubber for auto-x...thats what i used to do with my previous autocrossers/time-attackers before the eclipse!! 
the smaller you go the quicker you accelerate, so i'd do as low-pro as i can with some sticky rubber on some 16's like the stockers and save some cash...and have a nice set for the street!!
BTW the car is clean bro!!! turboing all done??
pm me if you need auto-x help i know my way around cone-dodging pretty well
the smaller you go the quicker you accelerate, so i'd do as low-pro as i can with some sticky rubber on some 16's like the stockers and save some cash...and have a nice set for the street!!BTW the car is clean bro!!! turboing all done??
pm me if you need auto-x help i know my way around cone-dodging pretty well
The guy backed out, he got a qoute from fed ex and then went back and they wanted like 200 more than what they qouted to ship them.he is giving me my money back plus 50 bucks for my troubles though.
Thanks i like em to.
Yea thats true but the stock rim is only 6" wide and im breaking loose alot on just six pounds. And these are 8" wide, figured that might be better since I asume alot of quick acceleration goes down in auto x. Also iwas going to ask do you know whay class i would be in, I'm turbo'd but have never auto x'ed before so not sure where that wuold put me.idk man i'd get a set of nice wheels for the street, and wrap those stockers in some nice rubber for auto-x...thats what i used to do with my previous autocrossers/time-attackers before the eclipse!!
BTW the car is clean bro!!! turboing all done??
pm me if you need auto-x help i know my way around cone-dodging pretty well
as far as the kind of tires...im gonna pm you with my secrets right now on that one!!
With a turbo'd car I don't think acceleration is going to be a problem, but traction is going to be a problem. I can't think of any reason to limit him to a 6" wide wheel, particularly since he's going to be in Street Mod, where there are no wheel size restrictions.idk man i'd get a set of nice wheels for the street, and wrap those stockers in some nice rubber for auto-x...thats what i used to do with my previous autocrossers/time-attackers before the eclipse!!
With that said, he could probably learn a lot about throttle control and "slow in, fast out" by sticking with the smaller wheels and tires for now, then put good sticky tires on the 17" wheels once he's got some driving experience.
Running that wide a tire on a 6" wide wheel is a waste, unless you have to do it for Stock class rules. Since he's most certainly not going to be in Stock class, there's just no reason to run a stock wheel. He could run a 245/40-17 on those 17x8"s and have a much better contact patch and better turn-in response.
Well, OK, there's one reason. Smaller wheels/tires are generally cheaper, which is always nice.
Track tire or auto-x? Will you still be daily driving on these tires?
From the sound of it he's a complete novice, so jumping straight to R-compounds would be a bad idea. All that lateral grip will just allow him to learn poor driving habits.
I think people tend to overemphasize the whole rotating mass thing. IMO, for the vast majority of "amateur" auto-xers (as opposed to the hard core Nationals types), the benefits of running a wider tire on the bigger wheel will outweigh the small loss of performance that comes about from the increased rotating mass. In other words, pulling imaginary numbers out of my ass, going from a 205 or maybe 225 section width on the stock wheels to a 245 on the wider wheels will gain him 2sec on a 60sec course, while the added weight of going from the 16" setup to the 17" setup costs him 0.5sec.
The hard core Nationals type competitor will go for the best of both worlds with custom-made CCWs or Kodiaks or whatever that are 16x9", weigh less than the stock wheels, and allow them to run a 245 in a lighter combo so they get the gain from the wider tire and don't lose out because of weight. But we're not talking about a hard core Nationals type here, so all that's a bit overboard.
If you're on a course that requires you to shift from 1st to 2nd to 1st a lot, you need to stop running with the Miata Club! :lol: Seriously, whether you're driving a torquey V6 GT/GTS or a turbo 4 like the OP, you shouldn't be in 1st gear unless you encounter a reeeeeallly tight corner on course. The car's got enough torque to pull itself out of the hole in 2nd, so downshifting to 1st is just wasting time. Shorter tires isn't going to change that.
I concur, but I could also see sticking with the stockers to use as "training wheels" for the time being.
I agree that the Nittos are not the tire to choose in that price range. I don't agree on the wheel or tire sizing, though. A 17x8" wheel will have hardly any weight penalty compared to the same wheel in a 17x7.5" - the difference would be small enough that you'd have to be a top level racer to notice it. And I think a 245/45 is too tall - a 245/40 is a better choice. Closer to the stock diameter, more wheel well clearance, and better effective gearing.
In the short term it's probably not a bad idea to learn on the stock wheels with some relatively inexpensive tires. If you do that, I would stick with the stock size (205/55-16), because there's little to be gained by squeezing a wider tire onto such narrow wheels. You'll have a flatter contact patch and better turn-in response by sticking with properly sized tires. In that size, I'd look at the Kumho ECSTA SPT or Fuzion ZRi, which are $77/78 each on Tire Rack. The next step up would be the Hankook RS2 or Kumho MX, both $91 each. At this point, I wouldn't bother going any more "hard core" than that, because you're just not going to be a good enough driver to extract the performance from better tires.
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