Just what it says... what is the best sized rim and tire combo for auto-xing. I want to get a set of dedicated rims and r-compound tires and i don't care about keeping the same diameter as stock. Also I have Ion lowering springs (1.6" drop front, .75" drop back) i dunno if that matters for rubbing or not.
Best size of rims and tires for auto-x?
- Thread starter MSP Kirk
- Start date
I would recommend deciding what size/brand tire you want to run first.
Then find the wheel that will best accomodate that tire, since you aren't running in stock class, unless there is no restriction on wheels in your rules.
Once you figure out how much rubber you want to run and what size (for gearing for example, or sidewall heighth) you will quickly narrow down the size/brands of wheels you can run. Your offset requirement will depend on how wide of a tire/wheel you want to run.
Then find the wheel that will best accomodate that tire, since you aren't running in stock class, unless there is no restriction on wheels in your rules.
Once you figure out how much rubber you want to run and what size (for gearing for example, or sidewall heighth) you will quickly narrow down the size/brands of wheels you can run. Your offset requirement will depend on how wide of a tire/wheel you want to run.
Or if your like me...you try and go as cheap as possible without sacrificing too much competitiveness. 15" rims will fit the MSP and allow for plenty of choices in tires without much worry of rubbing anything and will probably offer the chapest combination. If you are trying to maximize the car's setup do what Wayne said. I started out with whatever I could get a hold of cheapest and worked my way up to something that worked better. I still like the 15X7 or 15X8 rim setup with 225 series tires for AutoX. It's simple, cheap, used tires are plentiful, and usually won't cause any rubbing issues. The MSP that did well at Nationals last year ran a staggered setup with 245's on the front and 225's on the back. I wouldn't suggest that unless you have a large tire budget because you can't rotate the tires and the fronts will wear pretty fast.
I'd think 15s too. After some testing, we've found that 15s seem to work a bit better than 16s on our Prelude track cars. We run 225/45/15 Hoosiers on 15x7 wheels on one car and 245/45/16 Toyos on 16x7 wheels on the other. The other driver (who runs on 16s) feels his car does much better on 15s. It's probably due to two things, a 225/45/15 has a much lower OD, which gets the car lower without losing suspension travel and since it's a smaller OD, the gearing is changed and the car is able to accelerate faster. I would imagine the acceleration would be even more valuable in an autocross situation.
I'm moving to 15x8s on my track car soon, myself.
Also, 15s are generally lighter and the tires are cheaper!
I'm moving to 15x8s on my track car soon, myself.
Also, 15s are generally lighter and the tires are cheaper!
MSP Kirk said:
If you can find them with a reasonable weight...like less than 16lbs. I would go with the 15X8. I was looking at a friends Neon today that runs 225/50-15 tires on 15X8 Kosei rims and they look noticable wider than my 15X7 setup. This is also tire dependent as well since different brands have different tread widths for the same size tire.
