Track Wheels Same Size All Round
 

Hi,

I have been searching the forums and am interested in the idea of buying 4 wheels of the same size to use as track wheels.

One suggestion was to buy 8.5x17 wheels with 245/40x17 tyres. But what Offset would suit both front and rear.

The stock 17x8.5 rear has 50mm offset, but if I got four of these would that do the job? Or alternatively should I get 4 made up at offset XXmm?

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

have you taken the car onto the track before? im just curious to know why would you even want to do that in the first place?

This setup may create problems for you such as significant oversteer and you may overheat and roast your PS pump. Several others have done this with supersize rubber up front. The Boxter spec racing series is using 225/17 and 255/17 on all cars which is a good compromise between weight and traction. That is the size I am currently using. Very neutral fore/aft balance.

I agree with Topless. I have also been running 225 front/255 rear to compensate for understeer. This setup seems very balanced at the track and on the street. Guess you'd have to try it to see what it felt like but it doesn't seem like a great idea.

Thanks guys, I will track down a set of OEM wheels.

HK987, you really need to get your car on a track to see what they are capable of. Eye opening :)

Make sure you check that the tires you're going to put on the wheels will be a good fit. I thought that for most 17" 225's (at least R compounds) you had to use a larger wheel width than 7"?

BTW - I run 17x8.5's (OEM's without any spacers) all the way around with Victoracers (225 front/255 rear) and haven't had any problems, but I only do autocrosses. It currently handles very neutral but I'm considering going to 245's up front next time I need tires. At the same time, you're not going to fry your PS pump doing autocrosses...

:cheers:

Thanks Sammy. I managed to get a set of OEM 17's from Ebay here in the UK, they have some Kumho tyres already fitted that I will use up over the next 1 or 2 events then look at some semi slick tyres. Probably the Yokohama AO48R or Toyo 888R

Cheers

This is true. Surely you won't damage your PS pump during a 1 minute Auto-X run.
Those problems all occurred on cars during extended 20-30 minute track sessions with oversize front tires. If you do track your car and run big rubber up front check out what others are doing: Beefing up front end steering components and a PS pump cooling system. Then you can run your car all day without worries.