Well, i'm all new to this so please bare wit me. Well as soon as i get my S2000 this week, i was thinkin about maybe lowering it a bit and adding 17in or 18in wheels. Will biggers wheels add more performance(conering, grip, etc?). Can problems wit bigger wheels such as the wheels rubbing aganist the wheel wells or maybe brake trouble, etc arise. Well can you make any suggestion in how i should do this. I want added performance without the problems due to the bigger wheels. So what wheel size should i go for and how low should i lower it( i want to go over speed bumps and not hit curbs when i park, so i want to lower just enough to avoid such problems). Thank you!

 

I have 18" TE37s and have had no problems with them. The car was no lowered, so that leaves about 2 fingers all around. The gap is a little bigger in the fronts than the backs. The edge of the rear wheels sits flush with the fender, so rubbing would occur if I lowered it. Currently my tires don't rub at all. Since it's at stock height, there are no problems with speed bumps. You'll want to watch the curb stop that's placed sometimes at the front of the parking space. You might hit that if it's too high, especially if you have a front lip. Amazingly, the ride is still great. It's not too firm or bumpy. It's probably because there's still plenty of rubber with the Fr 225 40 Rr 255 35. I hope that helps some. If you need more info try doing a search. All of this stuff has already been posted in the past.

 

Primer,

Increasing wheel diameter alone doses practically nothing to increase performance, even under track conditions.What significantally improves performance is an increase in wheel WIDTH.

This however doses not get the looks, so it is generally ignored.

Since you will be learning to drive this car for at least a year, the single most performance improving investment you can make is driving schools & track time,otherwise even the stock S2K outperforms you.....

Good luck,

Pierre

 

I'm running HRE's, 18x10.5'' in the rear and 18x8.5'' up front.

First off, let me say that running 10.5 inch wide rear rims DOES get looks, so width does get looks. More importantly width gets major traction differences. The car is glued to the road.

If you get properly sized rims/tires then you'll have no problem with rubbing, braking, and speedo inaccuracy. There is plenty of room for a nice wide set of rims, if they are custom built for the car (S2000 needs really high offsets not usually found in generic build wheels).

As for lowering the car, wouldnt recommend it unless your doing it for looks. My rims would not rub if lowered, but I dont see any signifigant performance gains there unless an expensive suspension like the bilstein, mugen, tein, etc was selected. A simple spring swap I think would be very dissapointing other than a lowered look.

Any Qs, email me.

Ben

 

Yeah, well, the deep dish effect always gets looks. Why don't you post some pics so he can see your setup?

 

So the best way is to get some 18in wheels and not lower it. But would that make a bigger gap between the wheels and the fender or wheel well? Oh i don't know! So adding an 18in wheels decrease the gap between wheels and fender?

 

I think Ben is right about custom wheels with perfect offset. It is all about full suspension travel. I bought SSR GT1's and after getting Mugen coilovers I had to sell the SSR's to regain full travel.

I was going to get PR6's but came to find they stopped production in November.

Getting the correct offset leaves all options open if you decide to lower the car a year from now.

 

Depending on the size of tire you get for your 18's, the wheel well gap may increase or decrease. You can get 18" and lower your car without rubbing if you get the right offsets. The HRE's mentioned on the previous post will be a perfect fit.

 

Ben: can you send me some pics of your S2000 wit customs wheels on it. Thats goes for everybody else also.

 

Sure thing, here are some pics

More will be available soon at http://www.bulletproofautomotive.com






I developed the S2000 application with HRE, and I sell their entire lineup of wheels. Not to mention, I'm a sponsor here.

Ben