[QUOTE]Originally posted by David b
S2ka it seems changing tires would have been a much cheaper route than changing tires and rims. Unless you just didn't like the looks of the BBS, which is anther issue altogether.

17" or 18" doesn't make a bit of difference, it is the overall width, outside diameter & offset. The car doesn't "know" what size rims you have all it "feels" is the tire size.

I like the looks of the BBS better than the Volks,

 

So it is hard to get close to stock with 18" or just your specific tires?

Dave

 

Unfortunately there are no 18" tires that are close to stock in terms of front contact patch and rear diameter, you can check www.tirerack.com for the specs. Bridgestone and Honda worked together on the 17" RE050 tires that come on the 2004 S2000, they are very close to the tires that came on the '00-'03 cars.

 

The Volk offsets in this case are much better offsets to minimize or eliminate rubbing.

I don't know what brand/model tires you were running, but you can get just as many options of tire size in the 18" as you can in the 17". Rated size isn't everything. You need to check the actual size. Ignore the rated sizes and compare only actual sizes. That is tough because some of the manufacturers don't give you all the specs. So far tho, if they don't give specs I have found that to mean their tires are Narrower and probably taller than the rated size.

My 17" rims were much worse handlers than the 18". It wasn't the fact that they were 17", it was the fact that the 235 BFG KDs were only a little narrower than stock on the front, but the "larger" 255 rears were actually 1/2" narrower than stock. I had terminal oversteer.

I still say you could have done the same thing much cheaper by proper sizing of the tires &/or different alignment specs. I like the looks of the BBS better, but after fighting 2 different rims I like the offsets of the Volks much better as I know it leaves you more options in the future.

Most Volk offsets I have seen have been too little and create rubbing &/or tire fitment issues so I was expecting to see soemthing different.

Apparently you are trying to keep stock widths, but as long as the stagger (ratio of front tire width to the rear tire width) is close to the same you shouldn't create any handling issues. I have seen as much as a 2" variance in the same "size" tire between manufacturers so if you get, like I did, and undersized rear tire then you will change your handling excessively.

I chose to go much wider. I have the BMW spec S02 front tires that are 9.2" wide and the Porsche spec S02 rears that are 10.2" wide. That gives me a front to rear stagger of 1.1 instead of 1.2 which is easily compensated for in a different alignment which would also benefit me with less front tire wear.

 

David b, what wheels and offsets are you running? Do your tires rub? Did you change your rear end gears?

 

I have not changed gears yet. I have a turbo sitting on my garage floor and am just waiting for a little thing called spare time. Then I will consider gears.

This link tells you about the 2 sets of wheels I've tried.

http://www.ez-fsbo.com/s2000/wheelpics.html

 

I'm not really into that kind of 18" set-up, your fronts look like they would rub even with stock springs, and the rear tire diameter looks *huge* compared to stock.

The 17" Prodrive set-up will work if you get the correct tire on there, try something like Bridgestone S-03, RE050, or Kumho's. You don't want to run a narrower tire than stock on the rear, that's a recipe for disaster.

 

Wrong on both technical counts. Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so we are both right about what look we like, but the technical aspects work.

The pic shows the REAR tires on the front. That means I am running a 10.2" wide tire with a 9.5" wide rim on the front in that pic.

The REAL front rim/tire combo is a 9.2" wide front tire with 8.5" wide rim & it should not rub at all on my stock car. I say should not because due to circumstances I have never been able to put the fronts on the ground. The much bigger rear tires didn't rub until full lock. What they would have done at speed on a racetrack I'll never know, but the point of the exercise was to see how much tire and wheel you could stuff under there. I was surprised that it fit at all! You can fit a lot more tire under the front than people imagine.

The rear tires have a 2" greater circumference (only .4" larger diameter) which theoretically should make some kind of difference, but except for very low rpm, soft starts I never noticed a difference.

Yeah, now I know that with the PROPER tires that set up would have worked, but I didn't discover that rated sizes and actual sizes varied by manufacturer and sometimes even within certain models until after my the Prodrive's were stolen. I had no idea that the 255 BFGs were narrower than stock. Tire Rack told me they were wider and I believed them.

None of the Tires you mentioned would satisfy me unless I get a separate set of R rubber for the track and autocross. Even then they would lower perfomance levels which could be disasterous in an emergency situation on the streed.

My goal was a great Street/track set up. I HATE changing tires before I can race and then changing them back to go home. It's a pain!!

 

As you've already seen with your BFGoodrich tires, the S2000 is really sensitive to tire changes. I hope you can get that 18" set-up to work to your liking. I couldn't handle the bog off the line and the rubbing during hard braking and cornering. I'm happier now with the 17's so it's all good.

 

It's not really a bog off the line. It is only noticeable when your mind has wandered and you are starting at basically an idle while you are talking to a passenger, are on your cell phone and drinking a drink at the same time.

It happened to me again today on the old tires so I guess I am going to have to put it down to driver error now.

I just found out today I have to start my quest for rims all over again. DAZZ says they have a problem with their supplier and can't get me wheels that are round.

Proper offsets are so hard to come by! I sure wish I could find a widebody kit. Right now I would even consider an ugly widebody kit. It seems that every rim in the world comes in 38-45 offsets.