My Wheel and Tire ideas

[why?]

So my plans are to buy Volk Ce28n wheels sized 14x5.5 with the +35 offset, now I just need to figure out the tire. The size seems to be 175/65/14, just need to figure out the lightest one that will still give me some amount of reasonable traction. Does anyone have a tire weight guide, like that great wheel weight one? Hmmm. Would 185/60R14 tires be all right?

hmm, at this second i am thinking Toyo Proxes TPT 185/60 /14. They weigh 16 lbs, and seem to be decently sporty.

[thebarber]

i run 185-60-14 fuzion hri's

there arent THAT many tire choices for 14" wheels.....you either have to go crappy all season touring tires (like the oem tires) or to r comps

i find the fuzion hri's have good 3 season grip and fat enough tread blocks to be good in summer and hard cornering (ive auto-x'ed with the twice)

if you CAN get some 14x6 wheels....it will let you carry a wider tire and you have less chance of folding the sidwall over on hard hard cornering (assuming you do any)

there are a few problems with 14" wheels though:
1. you cant run bigger brakes (not a problem for me right now, but i thought id mention it)
2. not a lot of good summer rubber choices
3. i dont find it looks THAT good....too much sidewall
4. lots of sidewall flex on hard cornering
5. not a lot of rim choices at 14" either

good things:
1. tires are often dirty cheap (hri's are less than 50usd/tire)
2. cushy ride w/ 60 profile tires
3. 14's really light and make the car feel peppier than larger rim/tire choices

[Gideon]

No idea what the weight are, but I'm running Falken Azenis RT-615s in 195/60/14s on the exact same rims:



The tires are heavily recommended from those I talked to and they're relatively cheap, around 60-70 dollars a tire. Only a performance tire but cheaper than any DOT-R compound tire on the market, which are generally twice to three times as high in price.

Ride is fantastic, and they're very grippy. Handle decently in the rain as well.

[CASTREX]

^^^

That's the way to go!!


Azenis 195-60-14


You can go with more skiny tires and save a couple extra pounds but seriously... what's the point of buying such a expensive and nice wheels (Volk Ce28n) to wrap them with some mediocre tires only because they are lighter...

Any ways... CE28's on 14" size you can not go more lighter than that!!


On my previous Yaris I changed the OEM alloys with some 15 konig Heliums 10.8lbs each. I wrap them with 205-50 Hankook RS2's
At the end I only saved like 0.5lbs when compared with the OEM alloys... but I gained tons of extra grip.

As long as the extra grip doesn't comes at the expense of extra weight... then you are on the right track.

And there is no way the CE28+ 185/60 azenis will come even close to the weight of OEM wheels.


BTW you can check the weight of the azenis on Falken's site.

[Thirty-Nine]

Wow, those 14s look good. If I were going for a straight-up sticky tire setup, I'd probably run just what you've done, Gideon.

[Gideon]

Thanks man! I do prefer the utilitarian look myself, despite others saying the contrary.

I just need to find some decent coilovers to get just a weeeee bit more lower, about an inch to close up that wheel gap.

To the OP: Falken says 18 pounds, plus the Volks put it at about 24.5 pounds. 2 pounds more than your original tire you had in mind, but these tires are pretty darn sticky, and a whole helluva lot of fun (so far!). This is just from street driving right now. When the weather clears up I'll be going on a mountain twisty run with some Zs so we'll see how I do!

[why?]

Yea, the Azenzis look good for performance. Have you had to run them in the rain yet? That would be my one concern, living in FL when it rains, well it can be like a monsoon.

After driving the yaris on stock wheels and tires for so long, the thing handles pretty darn good for what it is, especially with those horrid potenzas it comes with.

And with the wheels, I'm looking primarily at the weight. I'd prolly buy them in black, just for fun. Btw, Falken reports the weight at 18.7 lbs, which is pretty light.

But if I'm going to spend this much money to get the lightest wheels, I might as well also try to get the lightest tires as well. Keeping in mind that they are the only contact with the road, so I'm not going to go get the pep boys special either.

[Gideon]

Yup, ran them in a rain a couple of days ago. They didn't seem like they cared when I whipped around a tight corner at an aggressive speed.

I understand what you mean with lightest tire, just make sure you're not sacrificing quality for weight and good luck!

[why?]

Thanks for the luck.

I don't really mind sacrificing some quality for weight, but there's always a line somewhere. How much better than the stock crap would you say these tires are?

[thebarber]

Originally Posted by why?

Thanks for the luck.

I don't really mind sacrificing some quality for weight, but there's always a line somewhere. How much better than the stock crap would you say these tires are?

id say grip-wise those falkens are about 10x better than stock no-seasons....

[why?]

If that is true then it would be at least worth giving them a try. That is one thing I miss about my Viggen. Well the handling and the turbo induced tourque steer. That I enjoyed. Going straight... wait no sideways time!! Fun stuff.

[MUSKOKA800]

Originally Posted by why?

So my plans are to buy Volk Ce28n wheels sized 14x5.5 with the +35 offset, now I just need to figure out the tire. The size seems to be 175/65/14, just need to figure out the lightest one that will still give me some amount of reasonable traction. Does anyone have a tire weight guide, like that great wheel weight one? Hmmm. Would 185/60R14 tires be all right?

hmm, at this second i am thinking Toyo Proxes TPT 185/60 /14. They weigh 16 lbs, and seem to be decently sporty.

Try Tirerack.com. Pull up any tires you're interested in, then click on "specs". The spec charts often include tire weight.

[Tamago]

i've run both RT615's and hankook RS2-Z212's.. and i'll say they're almost identical.. the RS2's have lasted longer though (and if you can find them cheaper, i say go Hankook)

www.edgeracing.com has the hankooks in stock IIRC

[Russelt3hPirate]

Originally Posted by Tamago

i've run both RT615's and hankook RS2-Z212's.. and i'll say they're almost identical.. the RS2's have lasted longer though (and if you can find them cheaper, i say go Hankook)

www.edgeracing.com has the hankooks in stock IIRC

I have to disagree, the 615 had more grip then the RS2 and my 615s were skinnier.

255/40 on an 8" compared to a 265/35 on an 8.5".

Dunlop Z1 Star Specs will walk both of them though. :)

[ddongbap]

RTs!

[why?]

Since I have never bought wheels over the net, I have a simple question, I buy the things without tires, and I assume I can go to the tire shop and get them to mount the tires onto the things, right? Want to make sure I know all the details before spending $1700 on wheels.

[Demon]

I'm actually running on Yokohama A.drive AA01, 175/65 R14 on stock 14' rims. But i don't know if that tire is available in your market. Pretty sporty, i get the tires 2.000km ago, so is to early to say if they're strong enough.

[why?]

Another thing that I've never had to think about: locking lug nuts. My other car I just went to the place with 4 destroyed wheels and he did everything for me. Lol, stock Viggen wheels had that happen to them all the time.

But anyways, what type should I use, and are there any lightweight varieties?