Sweet
It is not surprising you notice an improvement in acceleration with the lighter wheels. That is the cheapest HP improvement you can make

 

Two days and 60 city miles on these wheels and I can tell it is going to be hard to go back to the big heavy 16" wheels tomorrow. These are for the racetrack I keep telling myself,... They turn this little econo car into a real demon with city traffic.

 

Hmmmmm....
Another $800 and a quick call to Tirerack. Just sayin'

 

Good move on the 15s--they are the way to go on a non-S. Mine are Kosei K4Rs which are similar and list at 10.4 lbs.


I'll now save you a bunch of grief--take the plastic hubcentric rings and throw them in the garbage before you hit the track...I also thought they could take the heat but after a day at WGI it took me the better part of an hour to pry/clean off what was left of the rings that were welded to the hub. Get some aluminum ones from Outmotoring or another forum vendor. I'd also ditch the center caps for the track.


Have fun--
Gary

 

Listen to gbuff1......he's been around enough to know.

 

Gonna be at the Glen this year? Remember that they're shutting down after NASCAR in early August.

 

The hub rings I got are not really plastic, they look like a fiber composite, wonder if they changed what they were shipping with? They do fit tight, but I put a little anti seize on it after brushing it clean.

 

Those sound like what I had--grey/black in color. The front ones melted onto the hubs.

 

Yikes!

OM just had them in plastic http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop...ric_rings.html

WMW did not list any at all

TR just has the composite ones, as far as I can tell.

ECS does not offer them in metal for the size I need

I need 73-56mm according to the invoice from TR for the wheels I bought.

Found some aluminum ones on Amazon, should be here by the weekend. Set of 4 for about $8

 

Aluminum Hub Centre Rings (Set of 4) #60632 - 1010Tires

If you have purchased aftermarket wheels, you need to install this small but very useful part. Hub centric rings are manufactured so that when they are installed ...
www.1010tires.com
www.1010tires.com/.../0mm.---0mm.-Hub-Centre-Rings-(Set-of-4)-60632. aspx


You need 73x56.15mm.


Gary

 

Never mind--didn't see that you already got some.....

 

^This^. Not only will it give you a bit better accleration, it'll cost considerably less for rubber. Here's our R50 justa on track on factory 15s.



They were narrow enough that we could only fit 195 width tires on them, but the thing handled like a dream with tons of grip.

 

$8 on Amazon, $35 on 1010 ? Wonder if there is that much of a quality difference?

73mm. - 56.15mm. Hub Centre Rings (Set of 4)
SKU: CD73-5610 $34.99

Anyway, they will be here tomorrow and I will pop the wheels back on for a spin (I really miss driving around town on 15" !)

 

Got the aluminium hub center rings today, so I had to put the race wheels back on - for science. Only 2 miles driven so far and I don't want to take them back off. Quick steering at speed or not, acceleration bonus. Noisy as heck tires though,...

The rings I got were anodized the same color as the valve stems, sweet! Noticed that when I took the center cap off I had to torque the nuts down another 3 or 4 turns,....

 

That doesn't sound right. The center cap shouldn't affect how the wheel goes on... Maybe the rings were just a little tight?

Did you grease the hubs (where the rings slide on) before you put the wheels on?

 

The shiny center cap did add to the thickness of the hub center ring area, most of that extra space was taken up by the new ally rings which are slightly thicker. The center cap was installed from the inside and had a ledge around it to hold it in place. Everything is tight now and a thin spread of cv grease went on both the hubs and the rings. Really enjoyed driving it this morning, gonna hate to take them off again.

 

We still have 12 more spots open to run the track, so far there are 4 Mini Coopers signed up. Anyone in AZ or NM care to have a go at it? March 28th, Saturday. This is one of the nicest tracks in America, and at this time of year the best.

 

i've had problems with my plastic rings from just autocrossing, so it's no wonder you guys have had issues with it on the track. for autox they're just heat resistant enough that i've only gone through one set of them so far. i didn't think of using antiseize though, i may try that and see if it helps.

after i complained to tire rack about mine they sent me some aluminum ones, which didn't perfectly fit.. so, back to plastic rings for me. we'll see if the antiseize makes any difference

 

Sorry Gary, didn't see this.


No, car still in the manufacturing stage. Then comes development! Ugh...


Been quite a pause on the build but hopefully it will pick up this fall..




But fortunately I've been getting my track fix satisfied by being a crewman on a CTSCC team this year. Sebring in two weeks!!

 

Sounds awesome.....that thing's gonna be an absolute rocketship.


Mid-O in 3 weeks....hope it's somewhat warm!