Hey everyone, i tried searching but there was just too many similar results that i wasnt looking for so i decided to post. What would be the best option for performance? i wanted a 15x8 because i was looking at sportmax 002's or something similar because i wanted to run as wide a tire as i could on say a 2 inch drop with some nice coilovers. Im trying to get a good setup to track with even if i need the fender flares. Im still gonna use my xb as a daily driver so it has to work. I need suggestions because i dont have a lot of experience with fitment at all and i would rather do it right the first time. include any info you know about needing spacers or camber or whatever. Any info is apreciated! Thanks in adavance everyone! later!

p.s. im open to any suggestions on rims if you have them. performance and turning is key.

 

Yeah for performance 15's are the way to go. Depending on your tire wheel combo 55 series side wall's seem to work well. If you have coilover's you will be able to adjust the drop as needed. Sapcers are something that is best figured out after you mount the wheels and check any clearence issues. I run 15's on mine, I have a 60 series side wall and I wish I had gone to a 55. I have Konig helium's, if you want a great rim and a good value pick these up. Mine weigh a true 10.8 a piece! I think the guy at the tire place told me mounted they were like 15.2. Crazy! When you consider the stock steelies weigh in at 28.7 that is an amazing difference on a car that is very underpowered, I really like them but they are not 15X8 they are 15X6. I used a 10mm spacer from 1Ton Garage mine look clean the line is almost perfect, and best of all no rubbing! Good Luck!

 

Hey thanks man. Thats great advice. Ill have to look into this whole thing more. Thats true that it would be great if the rims were light weight, but at the same time wow 6 inches wide? hmm with spacers i bet they look clean as heck but when it comes to performance shouldnt you be getting as much tire to contact the road as possible? thats why i was talking about the 8's if its not bad to get them working. that would be kool if i found the best of both worlds rim wise, light and pretty wide. Thanks for your help though. Anyone else is welcome to add!

 

Bla

 

bump because i need to pick at all your wisdom everyone!! lol

 

a lightweight 15" should do fine. not sure how light and how durable the sportmax's are though when abusing them on the track though. remember to get a good set of sticky tires as well. this can be often neglected. you may have a wider rim but if your tires are crap then it makes no difference. since you're getting coilovers, consider taking it to a reputable suspension tuning shop to get it corner-balanced. just a couple things you can start out with.

 

ya i hear that on the tires. Ill have to snoop around and see if anyones had problems with the sportmax's as far as durability. Although if i find another 15" rim thats lighter ill look into them. Im actually thinking that the sportmax's may not be too great if i get the 8" wide ones cause i would have to probably roll my fenders.
I dont know how the flares work though, do those actually extend your fender or do they still kinda leave the part that slices your tire? Cause if thats the case then why even by them if you have to roll or cut your fender anyway. I wanted to try to stay away from that stuff though, ill gladly throw on a set of flares and adjust the suspension to get rid of the problem.

thank you for the advice though, its awesome help even if its little things. keep it commin! =)

 

I would go with 15x7s. Then get 225/50-15 tires (or 225/45-15). I say this because there are lots of great street legal racing tires in that size.

Then go with coilovers. You can lower it for the track and raise it for the street. If you get into racing, externally adjustable shocks/struts are the only way to go.

Adjustable camber is also very useful, but avoid appearance oriented camber stuff like OTG rear camber shims. You can get crash bolts for the front struts real cheap. I recommend between 1 and 2 degrees of negative camber in the front. Any more will tear up the tires.

Lowering springs are great, but don't go too stiff--even with coilovers. Too stiff means you'll be bouncing so much the tires won't stick. That's where adjustable shocks will let you tune them to the springs.

Then you have to tune. When you make a change, try it out and see if it's faster. If not, try something else.

Of course, driver training will make the biggest difference. Enter as many autocrosses, track days, etc. that you can afford. Practice makes perfect.

 

Awesome advice also FMod, i found a kool set of 15x7.5 but i think the rims i want eventually even if they arent my first set are 15x7 motegi traklites. Then ill get the 225/50 tires. WHat tires weigh the least though? Thats one of my main concerns is tire weight. I want to do what i can to reduce rotational mass and thats where im gonna have the bigger problem because rims arent too much of a problem. i saw that toyo makes a pretty light ultra performance tire and ive had good experiences with their tires but we'l see. Thanks again for the wisdom!

Lets keep it going whoever has some more insight my ears are always open. THANKS!!

 

this is really helping me too!

well, rear sway bar will def help you when you start racing, tightens up the rear and holds the body down to the axle a little more. Less body roll, equates to better cornering, more of a gliding motion, but not a "drift"
lower arm bar up front, will help to tgihten and quicken your steering, slapped mine in and it really helped

 

what about one of those hex braces? i saw that and its relatively cheap so i figure its worth buying. Anyone have one?

 

I don't know if any bracing will make a noticeable difference in performance. Flexing of the chassis will not slow you down unless the suspension is real stiff.

Finding the true weight of specific tires is almost impossible. Manufacturers don't post this info, and probably don't care. The best way is to go to your local tire shop with a scale and weigh them yourself (all the same size, of course). I'll bet that all the tires in the same class (like R-compound DOT legal autocross tires) are practically the same weight. And shaving will reduce tire weight, but not recommended in the rain.

Yes, I forgot sway bars in my first post. For front drive cars, a big rear sway bar is best, with an adjustable front. A bigger rear sway bar with the stock front will reduce understeer, but make driving difficult. Proceed with caution in this area. Having the back end come around at speed can scare the crap out of you, even if you know what you're doing. (Ask me how I know! :D )

 

How do you know??? hmm????

 

I have question on this corning topic. What happens if I get a thick front sway bar and get a rear one that's is about 2-6 mm less than the front, what will happen? I'm planning on buying a cusco sway bar up front and a progress rear sway bar. I want a great handling car, just like Tsuihousha. I also want a set of lightweight rims.

 

You know i was reading in another thread that the front doesnt benefit you much and sometimes will cause understeer or somethin. You might wanna reasearch and see if you find people who know better say the same things. Also something you might not want to forget is that you want to stay close to your stock diameter when it comes to tires otherwise you throw off your mileage and your speedo will be off. Go to www.101tires.com
then use the tire size calculater to help you figure out what is best for the rims size you want. the stock diameter on our cars is 185/60/15 i believe. Anyway good luck with your reasearch also. Thanks to people on here and calling a couple shops so far i think i already got a good idea on what exactly my setup is going to be. Also remember that if you want to decrease rotational mass by getting lighter rims, dont forget to get good light tires also because if your rims are light and your tires are still heavy, you could not even be doing better then stock weight. Stock weight with tire and rim per corner is 37lbs so if you can do better then that, you did well. Good luck!

 

Ok buddy, this is what you have to do. After being on this website for quite a while i have figured out how to make the xA corner. Ive raced on stock tires, 16x7 lightweight wedsports and 15x7 lightweight konigs. Tires are a very important choice when it comes to circuit racing but, definately, the 15x7 with nice sticky tires are a much better choice. 15x8, especially the sportmax have very small offsets and the tires tend to stick out alot, which is not good because you dont want your tires to rub your fenders during hard cornering.
These are the tire sizes:

1.) 15x7 = 205/50/15 Toyo RA-1 (Racing only)
2.) 16x7 = 205/55/16 Nitto 455 (Street and Driving School)
My everyday street tires rub on the inside fender up front, but only under full lock steering.

As for chassis bracing, very very helpful. Im sure im not the only one to have this. I have the GT Spec Front Chassis brace and the TRD rear frame brace, both together work briliantly, if anybody says different they havent tried it.

As for sway bars if you have stock power you wont really be affected by the front sway bar, but as soon as you get on the engine hard, your inside wheel will start to lift off the ground, causing wheel spin causing, all the power going to that slipping tire and you dont tranfer the power to the ground. But the rear sway bar is SWEET!! I have the progress and it really helps keeping the back in control during thresh-hold braking.

Im running Koni Adjustables with Tein S-Techs excellent choice for those that dont want coil-overs. Coilovers are too rough for streets in PR. Also you might want to look at the DC Sports front strut bar to help tension that area a bit more.

You can never go wrong with a little more stopping power and beleive me a little goes alot with out excellent brakes:
1.) Pads (Hawk HPS or EBC Green/Red)
2.) Stainless Steel Lines (Footwork or Agency Power)
3.) Race Fluid (Motul)

Thats it, for about $120.00 (if you do it yourself), you can have excellent brakes with virtually no fade.

As for the other parts, just ask me and i can give you the prices i have seen around.

 

 

awesome post. Thanks!

 

Tsui, ur box looks sick.. Where u get that sticker in the back window? I live in Mo Val, but go to school at Riverside's RCC.

 

Hey thanks man. I got the sticker from some kool guys at www.shockerstickers.com ( one of the doods owns a box and hes on here i believe). Riverside campus huh? Thats the best one. Although ive been going to the Norco one cause i dont feel like commuting that 91 freeway to riverside everyday =) Your Dampachi guy is kool, i have Charmander in my car cause hes orange lol. Your xb looks pretty slammed just with springs, do the s-techs do a 2" drop or 1.5"? Anyway, whats next on your car? more handeling or look? i would assume handeling since your checkin this thread