I know I need new tires for next year and with these new regs I could go to 17 inches from the stock 16. What's the wisdom -- 17s better than 16s? I already have the wheels.

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David Hewitt #63
ASCC Solo Director 2022

I would suggest decide which tires you want to use and what maximum width tire will fit for your rims. Use a tire size calculator to determine what aspect ratio you need to get close to the overall stock height of the tire/rim combo for your car, then find the tire that will fit best. Choose your rim based on that.

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ASCC VP Membership
'01 DHG Mustang Bullitt #16
'22 Golf R

Going smaller is more common (when they fit over brakes). Unless second gear is already too short, going shorter gives better acceleration and lower center of gravity.

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Charles

Thats what i did for a few years. Worked great. I was running is FSP and had 13X7.5 wheels with 225/45/13 toyos. Looked like tonka tires. lol. If you can fit 15s over your brakes. Really helped with accelerating. My civic isnt a monster. So getting more of what little power i have down was a bonus.

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Watch out for porcupine exiting turn 9!!!!!!

AX-1995 Honda Civic CX FSP
RR-1995 Honda DelSol VTEC GT4
2009 Canadian Solosprint Champion.
ARMS Race Director. Race@armsinc.ca

Hmmm...**checks David's car and class** Nope, 15's definitely won't fit over those brakes. You want some nice chrome 17s the weight helps you turn.

Seriously though, if you already have 2 sets of wheels, weigh both and take the lighter ones. Or look at tire availability/price for both and pick that way. Depends on what your priority is. I'd wait a bit on tires though, as there aren't a lot of good 200 treadwear tires yet, and I'm willing to bet some of the current 160-180 tires will magically become 200 sometime soon.

Ps, cause sarcasm and the Internet don't go well, 15s do fit.

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2009 Civic Hybrid. 1997 BMW 328iS
evanwritescars.com

Tirerack already has 200TW RS3s, Rivals, and ZIIs, which are pretty much the only street tires that matter for slalom. I've never found anyone locally that can beat their pricing.

And what evan said - you're limited to stock width wheels, so just go with something light. Upsizing comes into play when you want to stuff wider tires under your fenders. For example you'd pretty much never find wider than a 225 or 245 street tire on a 16" wheel.

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'99 BMW M3 / "Elvic"

Bridgestone RE-11A is what i ran all season (200TW), I'm seriously debating getting another set... From my research a bigger wheel with a shorter side wall'd tire helps with turn in feel, but larger wheels are heavier. 245 16's are hard to find now, but there are a few still available. On my car the 17 seems to be the wheel size of choice. Do a lot of research on an appropriate forum and find out what successful national level drivers use in the USA. It might be an easy choice as I know for my application most all National level FR-Ss run 245/40/17 on a 17X9" wheel.

*** edit ** i realize my input on wheel size was only a very small piece of a very big puzzle. Also, a 245 likely wont fit on your stock wheel width.

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#20 Scion FR-S 6MT Powered by:
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