Greetings all,

First time poster, long time lurker. I had been following this thread for a while and looking through a lot of the posts. I have a '16 JCW and my current wheels are 18x8 Helos. They are really heavy and I like to autocross so I was searching through these threads to find info on some wheels I was looking at. I saw several posts detailing different brands that people got to work such as Team Dynamics, OZ, and Neuspeed. I did see one that referenced the Enkei TS9, which I decided would be my backup choice, however I really wanted to know if the Enkei TSR would fit over my brakes.

So started the long process of research and phone calls. In the end I spoke with a rep at Enkei International in Texas. A little bit of FYI, but I learned that anything having to do with stock wheels is dealt with by Enkei America in Illinois, and anything dealing with aftermarket wheels is Enkei International. Anyway, I spoke with the rep and they did not have the specifications for the F56 JCW. They said that they believed it was similar to the STi and in that case, the 17x8 TSR would fit but I would have only about 1mm of clearance. I contacted my sales rep at Fitment Industries, who was also trying to research the fitment, and told him what I had learned. He suggested I just order one wheel and test fit it.

I got the wheel in yesterday and tried it on. I have to say.. its a gorgeous wheel with a copper finish. As far as fitment? It did NOT fit. The spoke was touching the caliper in the middle section. Basically the fattest part of the caliper. However, the clearance is really dang close. I had a 10mm spacer lying around and tried it with that and it fit with a really good amount of clearance. With that, I decided to order some 3mm spacers and hope that will be enough. I know that my 18x8s only have about 3mm of clearance, so I am hoping that will be enough, plus I want as little poke as possible. I have included some pictures to show you how it looks.

The last 2 pictures show the clearance. The first is no spacer, and the second is with the 10mm spacer.

 

What size wheel did you want? I've seen several options out there. Also what is your budget. OZ seems to have a lot of white wheels but they are expensive.

 

Stock sizes; 17" or 18".

 

Why did you use spacers? To clear tires from strut or to clear brakes?

 

Here are my Enkei wheels on my 2021 JCW. Michelins A/S 225 x 40 x 18, and no clearance problems or spacers. Works great, and these tires worked great in the Winter here in Iowa this weekend.

 

@hemisedan Pics please!!!

 

I fitted some NM RSe12 18" wheels and 225/40R18 tyres

After the fitting and alignment I found that the steering feel and the steering self centering is worst and weak in either normal or sport mode.
I think that the different scrub radius can make this difference and I read different people with similar steering problems on the F56 but I would like to know if anyone that had different wheels and wider tyres fitted had a similar less good steering centering.

I alos tought if ther is some Electric steering assistance reset procedure to be done after alignment but not any precise information about that.

Thanks

 

Here they are Enkei’s 18” x 8” in size. No problems with steering with the 225 x 40 x 18 Michelin A/S ultra high performance tires. Tires worked great in the snow here, and cold weather. No problems, none.
Bill

 

Enkei TS-10's 18x8
General G-MAX AS-05 215/40R18
Also upgraded the brakes to slotted/cross drilled and ceramic pads. No more brake dust!

 

On BBS LM 18" 8J ET45, clears the JCW Brakes (just) and running on 215/40/18 Bridgestone Re-71RS.

 

Finally some wheels with a lip!

I'm old school, and can't stand the current wheel trend to push the spokes all the way out to the far edge of the rim (AKA high offset wheels). Certainly there are some 'wagon' wheel designs that work and look great (see above Enkei's!) but in general, I prefer to have my wheel hubs located more in-board so I can mount lower offset wheels with lips... reduced handling effects be damned. I guess I probably shouldn't have got a 2021 JCW LOL.... But those BBS LM's give me hope!

What suspension setup is that? I have OEM JCW coilovers standing by so I should be able to replicate that awesome stance too. Great color combo BTW!

 

Beware of an undue concern for "stance". The lower control arms should be level, at least, and certainly not descending from hub to chassis. Excessive lowering raises hell with handling for the following reasons:

1. the mini will experience 2.5 to 2.75 degrees of body roll during hard cornering - that consumes 1.5" of compression on the outer wheel, and equal droop on the inner at least.
2. even the OEM suspension with normal ride height has only 4.1" of travel, so with excessive lowering the available compression travel is substantially reduced
3. when cornering the car with a great "stance" is therefore likely to reach the bump stops, even on a smooth surface - with rough pavement results are potentially dangerous as weight transfer control is lost
4. if the LCA angle droops from hub to chassis, the vertical component of the lateral load on the outside wheels generates a negative jacking force which further compresses the loaded side of the suspension
5. with 1.5" of displacement at the hub, and a 10 degree LCA angle, 1g lateral acceleration lends another 170 pounds of negative jacking force to the outside front wheel, a 10% increase over natural weight transfer

I run the JCW Pro Coilovers in the SCCA Street Touring Ultra class, and my ride heights (from lower rim to fender trim with 17" wheels) are as follows - much LESS than many who satisfy the aesthetics rather than the physics.

----------------------- Front --------- Rear
---------Ride Height --mm in -------mm in
OEM Spec------------ 593 23.34 - 574 22.60
JCW Pro Spec-------- 567 22.32 - 552 21.73
Gollum-------------- 578 22.75 - 563 22.17
Darby JCW----------- 565 22.24 - 570 22.44
Eddie JCW (Albert) --- 578 22.75 - 576 22.68

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Thanks for that info Charlie- Just to be clear for me, I'm just looking for a slight tightening up of the wheel gap, and was going to only shoot for a 10mm reduction in ride height using the JCW Coilovers, and maintaining a 18" wheel (albeit a different wheel and tire combo from stock). I would guess after reading your race-spec chart, that SimpleMini's ride is well more than a 10mm drop and still quite a bit more than your race spec drops! But it does look great.

 

I'm down 15mm front and 10mm rear (approx) and the car is happy as all hell on any surface. I do really like the JCW Pro - the spring/dampening combination seems to hit the sweet spot for me.

Kind regards,

Charlie

 

Thank you Charlie.

 

Charlie... that’s a great write-up on topics that most people don’t consider...

At 4.1” travel ... is that measured at full droop (weight off the car) ?
OR...
With some sag included... full weight of car sitting on tires?

How much of that travel until it first contacts the Jounce rubbers?

Here’s my 2¢ FWIW.

I’ve seen that many enthusiasts that do ‘performance upgrades’ often mistake a ‘flat’ handling car with higher performance. Can be the case but not always... best handling is when a car has all four tires in contact with the road. Lifting a tire or the inability to control compression and rebound lower performance... a car sitting on the jounce bumpers most of the time simply has ignored the function of the damper and the spring...

When the car is riding on the jounce bumpers most of the time... the spring rate goes thru the roof... which is torture on the shock rebound circuit and will prematurely wear out the shock/strut.

A firm ride does not necessarily = better handling/cornering performance.

I understand that people want their cars to look cool ... and that is great.

If you want better performance ... you have to look at the ‘whole picture’

The concept that a lowered car handles better because of that lowered CG alone... and ignoring the other changes to the ‘system’ doesn’t hold water especially on real roads. Controlling body roll simply with stiffer springs really can be counter productive.... not always, but IMO most of the time on a street driven car and especially when you put those stiff spring in stock or other non adjustable dampers.. Even with adjustable dampers... many if not most will not take the time or know how to set them up for the new springs and conditions

 

Jeeeeesh. What a stunning car! Those wheels are serious business. I also love your color combo.

 

Cheers.

 

Another clearer view of the colour combo

BBS LM 18" 8J ET45, clears the JCW Brakes (just) and running on 215/40/18 Bridgestone Re-71RS.

 

Can you folks provide a pic looking form the rear please, so I can get an idea of how much poke these wheels have?

 

Hope this helps...

 

And that's with:
3mm Front Spacer (to clear JCW brakes)
5mm Rear Spacer

perfectly flush

 

I have a cooper S with Konig Runlite 17x7.5 et45 i am going to be fitting a set of JCW brakes onto this weekend. Seeing on this thread lots of differing fitment, anyone know if i will need spacers, ort have a measurement I can take from a fixed point on the hub to see if I will clear before fitting them on? Sounds like from others I should clear just fine, but then I see a lot of spacers being ran (assuming due to differing wheel spoke/face designs)

 

Hello!

I recently bought a F56 JCW from 2017. I wanna fit some OZ ultraleggera in 8.0x18. What tire should i get? 215/40r18 or 215/35r18? I want the 40 for the beafier tyre wall.
Will my speed reading still be correct or any other issues?

 

I have 225x40x18 no issues! Lowered with H&R springs