need help!! 17's or 18's on my s13?

[Audio Puppet]

im trying to decide to either get 17's or 18's on my s13. im going to roll the fenders and i want it to have a flush look to it. but will 18's look weird on a stock body just a front lip with a sil front end?

[Gabes13]

17s are fine

18s with aero and/or super low

[Audio Puppet]

i want to slam it but at the same time i wounder if it will give me a hard time drifting the car

[Gabes13]

You should be more worried about width than diameter if breaking the tires loose is a concern.

[24j0hn]

neither... 16x8 meshies!

[Xdisaster240sX]

17's look the best.

[S13Teddy]

17s with stock body18s with aero.

Lower the car all the way.

[Hooked on 240]

what he said ^

[MySXisSlowerThanUrs]

orrrrrrrrr. you could do 17" front and 18" in the rear! eyyy

[Tsukiko]

You should be more worried about width than diameter if breaking the tires loose is a concern.

Actually, while this statement may seem to be perfectly true, the reality is a bit different.Wheel diameter (well, moreso WEIGHT) will be much more a factor than the width of the wheel. An 18" wheel will take more torque to break its tire loose than a 15" wheel. Think about it; there is much more rotating mass to spin on an 18" wheel. While a wider wheel does create a larger tire footprint, you can rock a 15"x10" wheel on a stock motored car as long as the rubber compound supports it. So to put it simply, tire compound will have more of an impact on "driftability" than simply the tread width of the tire. Soft compound=more grip, while hard compound=less grip, and therefor easier to spin and also longer lasting!

Personally, I am torn between my next set of wheels being 15" or 16". 15" would ultimately be more performance friendly as far as rotating mass, but it will also be a bit more difficult to find a sportier tire suited for grip/all out performance (am i right?) while you can find z rated tires of softer compounds for 16" wheels rather easily.

[Tsukiko]

How much time have you spent studying drift technique? slamming a car as properly as can be done requires a very short suspension travel which is produced by very stiff suspension. Stiff suspension will actually inhibit weight transfer or alter your car's transfer characteristics to say the least. Most drifters will tell you that while body roll is an enemy (get sway bars), front to back weight transfer is key to initiating a drift in most cases. Unless you want to an e-brake or clutch abuser. lol.

that last statement is a little biased, i appreciate drivers with more finesse and technique than horsepower and torque.
Modified by Tsukiko at 1:02 AM 2/3/2009

[Tsukiko]

sorry double post

[Gabes13]

... while this statement may seem to be perfectly true, the reality is a bit different blahblahblah

yeahyeahyeah, but he's not talking about 15s

[Audio Puppet]

I think I'm aiming more to 17x8.5/-4 in the front and 17x9/-5 in the back. I think that should give it a flush look and a good drift size. If I grip at a track I'll be running 16x9 all around.

[Tsukiko]

no s***. Im sure you know every inch counts. Honestly, if you're too interested in discounting honest advice in an immature way to get the gist of what i'm saying, you should be somewhere else.
Modified by Tsukiko at 12:20 PM 2/3/2009

[Madriftshocker]

Not to just jump in but Most of your decision should be based off of the style of driver that you are and the power your car makes, possibly even where you intend to drift. Now I half agree on the rotating mass, but on the other hand, I beleive it is a leverage factor more so than a mass issue. If they are 18's and weigh 15lbs each or 25lbs each I would look more to RM issues. That's just me.

[Tsukiko]

yet another valid point.

[Audio Puppet]

Wich I understand. The wheels I'm getting will be for a daily driver and street drifting. If I build a track car that's when I'll run smaller wheels. But I could care less about smaller wheels.