Light weight, nice looking, affordable wheels, Do they exist Options

[qatar11]

Imagine my shock and surprise to find Gramlights going for $4k a set with rubber on The Ebays... can anyone think of some low cost, low weight rims that will look good on our cars?


Cheers -

[delusionz]

Lightweight wheels will give you better acceleration.
Engine mods will give you better acceleration.
Spending 4k on the engine will give you better acceleration than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels will give you better braking.
Upgrading your brakes will give you better braking.
Spending 4k on your brakes will give you better braking than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels will give you better handling.
Upgrading your suspension will give you better handling.
Spending 4k on suspension will give you better handling than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels are a slight improvement in 3 areas.
Spending the money elsewhere will give a major improvement in 1 area. What are you really looking for?

[qatar11]

Lightweight wheels will give you better acceleration.
Engine mods will give you better acceleration.
Spending 4k on the engine will give you better acceleration than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels will give you better braking.
Upgrading your brakes will give you better braking.
Spending 4k on your brakes will give you better braking than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels will give you better handling.
Upgrading your suspension will give you better handling.
Spending 4k on suspension will give you better handling than spending 4k on wheels.

Lightweight wheels are a slight improvement in 3 areas.
Spending the money elsewhere will give a major improvement in 1 area. What are you really looking for?

I think you are missing a little context..... no one is talking about spending $4K on wheels, engine, or suspension. Further - in the realm of the 24 Hours of Lemons Race - Wheels and Tires are not bounded by the $500 cost limit of the vehicle, engine and suspension modifications are. So - In the racing / autocross world in which this car lives, spending ~ $160 a corner on wheels (tires are a different story) for some noticable improvement is not an unrealistic goal, especially on a car with 109 HP 15 years ago.

And yes standard disclaimer applies here: nothing can beat investing in the driver.... yatta yatta yatta......

[Hanyo]

I think you are missing a little context..... no one is talking about spending $4K on wheels, engine, or suspension. Further - in the realm of the 24 Hours of Lemons Race - Wheels and Tires are not bounded by the $500 cost limit of the vehicle, engine and suspension modifications are. So - In the racing / autocross world in which this car lives, spending ~ $160 a corner on wheels (tires are a different story) for some noticable improvement is not an unrealistic goal, especially on a car with 109 HP 15 years ago.

And yes standard disclaimer applies here: nothing can beat investing in the driver.... yatta yatta yatta......

gatar11 did you ever watch the episode of top gear where they hopped up a avantine to go faster then an EVo. top gear faster then an EVo

I personally think upgrading wheels to 17" will hurt your performance. IMO I would get smaller wheels with lower profile tires. Since your not allowed to run big brake kits and your not upgrading the horsepower, your better off with 14" wheels with some super sticky low profile tires. OEM 14" or the 15" GT rims will be a big plus in giving the brakes ventilation and reliability. When your racing sticky tires the hard cornering will chew through them.

[qatar11]

qatar11 did you ever watch the episode of top gear where they hopped up a avantine to go faster then an EVo. top gear faster then an EVo

I personally think upgrading wheels to 17" will hurt your performance. IMO I would get smaller wheels with lower profile tires. Since your not allowed to run big brake kits and your not upgrading the horsepower, your better off with 14" wheels with some super sticky low profile tires. OEM 14" or the 15" GT rims will be a big plus in giving the brakes ventilation and reliability. When your racing sticky tires the hard cornering will chew through them.

I am not sure if I ever mentioned going to 17" we started with 14" American Racing Wheels... but we couldn't find a tire we liked... it was either a crap tire... or some exotic track day rubber that violated the tread wear rules. We then went with 15x6 steelies because they came with a brand new set of Michelins Pilots. We acquired another set of steelies (so 8 total) and tried some General UHP tires.

Just an Update... after a couple races - we noticed everyone is running Falken Azenis RT615K's or equivalent. Out of sheer disregard for what would fit on the steel wheels I bought 6 of them in the 205/55R15 size. To find wheels that would better fit the tires we bought (from the celica community) 15x7 OEM GT Alloy Wheels. I have no idea what they weigh but the car is extremely well hooked up now...

The Azenis are a great tire. Very sticky but very easily ruined... we flat spotted 2 sets of fronts after some emergency braking and I think for all intents and purposes they are ruined.