Autocross Wheels and Tires
 

I am looking for recommendations (specifications and sources) for:
1. an inexpensive set of wheels and
2. a set of tires
for autocrossing

The car is a 2000 S with 9" X 18" ET52 265/35 ZR18 on the rear and 7.5" X 18" ET50 225/40 ZR18 on the front. All tires are Continental Sport Contact 2 N2. I just want to have some fun, not trash the OEM pieces parts and not sink multiple $1000's to do it.

Thanks in advance

John Appling

get 8.5" width all the way around. that way, you can rotate your tires and maximize their life. use P245's all the way around. I'd go with a 16" or 17" wheel (depending on how much you want to spend on tires). 16" rims tend to offer the largest array of choices.

you'd have to pick the wheels up on ebay, buying maybe one or two wheels at a time until you had a full set (unless you buy from wheel enhancement or whatnot, but that's expensive). any modern porsche wheel will fit your bolt pattern, but offset is another story. offset can be corrected w/ spacers, but generally you'd want a set where spacers weren't required (no change in lug bolt, meets all club rules and regs).

as for tires, that's a long thread. more later.

Are the 16's ok for an S? I thought it was minimum 17" on this model due to the larger brakes. High probability of me being wrong though :)

I don't think 16" wheels will work on the S..
 

due to the larger brakes.
17" wheels make great sense; !7" rubber is less expensive and more sizes are available.
The stock 7" front and 8.5" rears can be had for $500+ shipping. 8.5"s all around are probably the smart bet. Having said that, the stock sizes I mentioned above will be competative with 225/255 Victoracers.Next year I'm going to try 245/45/17 Victoracers all around on my stock widths rims, which I hear will work.

At end, the $ looks like this:

Stock 17" rims: (e) $600 delivered

17" Victoracers: (e) $750 delivered and mounted

So for roughly $1300-1400, you're ready to roll and have fun.

BTW, a fellow in our clun runs a 2002 S with the stock rims and 225/255 Victoracers and comes in FOA with regularity. I'd also recommend going to an EVO school for auto-x if you get a chance. You'll learn more in one day than a year or two on your own trying to figure it out.

I bought my autocross wheels on my previous car from this site
http://www.edgeracing.com/wheels/flik/
Seems like you want to stay at about 20 pounds max for a 17" wheel.
Falken Azenis RT-615 are popular 245f 255r to save some dough, the 275/35 are
steep! Never could get my head around the idea that tires will cost as much as wheels.