I was curious to see what are the qualifications necessary for a wheel to be in order to stay in a stock class? I was thinking these wheels from edgeracing.com...but i dont know if ill stay stock...som help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Marco
http://www.edgeracing.com/2004/Mini/...ll)/wheel/126/

 

The wheel has to be the same diameter and width as stock, and within +/- 0.25" of the OEM offset.

All of the 16" wheels on that site are 7" wide, so no soup for you

 

I think the wheel you are looking at is the Flik bullet A 17x7... correct? if yes then it is legal. But the best R compound tire choices are in 16 inch sizes.

 

Actually...

We've said that for awhile now. But, the 205/40R17 is exactly the same dimensions as the 205/45R16 in Hoosiers. So, it really comes down to how much sidewall is better IF you're running 17's that weigh the same as the 16's. It's easier to get a lightweight 16" wheel, but not in a 6.5" width.

Let's consider this:
A set of Centerlines RPM's (on sale for $179! 13.5lbs!) or other good forged 17's might have an advantage.
Essentially, if you can find a 17" wheel under say 17lbs that you're happy with, you may be in business.

You only have to figure out, through some good test and tune, if the smaller sidewall with the 7" width is helpful or not. Heck, my Enkei RPO-1's are 14.5lbs, I may have to consider the 17's...

Ahh, an epiphany!

 

Just rethought some stuff:
1) The extra .5" of wheel width wouldn't necessarily help the camber challenged MINI. The MINI probably benefits from the more rounded shoulder it gets from a 6.5 vs. 7.
2) Although the weight is similar, you still have the heavy part of the wheel on the outside of the circle, creating more rotational mass.
3) Not sure a lower sidwall would help on the MINI, especially with a launch at a Pro Solo.

Whoops, did I get too technical in this thread? Sorry.

Brian

 

Fascinating stuff (especially about the camber challenged MINI). Thanks, everyone! Glad DrkSilver163 launched another wheel and tire thread.

 

One other thing to note, when I spoke with a Hoosier rep, on the 205/40/17, they were said to be slightly skinnier than the 205/45/16 since they have a margin for deviation on the widths when building tires. I'm not sure if that matters or not but I figured I would throw that out there since the 17's on the Hoosier site are shown to be 8.6" wide just like the 16's but thats printed incorrect on the Hoosier website and all the Hoosier dealers.

With that said, I have still been thinking of trying 17's for kicks. I did run my Kosei K1-TS(14lbs) with Kumho MX's locally for kicks and it seemed good(and the time showed it according to other national trophy drivers, beat STX and DS) to me but obviously more testing would be needed.

So, who wants to be the Guinea Pig? I think I might.

 

Heck, you've already GOT the 17's

Thanks for clearing that up with Hoosier. I was aware they have a range to build the tire in, but ASSumed their site would be correct

Brian

 

Yeah, I figure, even if they happen to be a bit slower, I might as well give them a try at 3-4 divisionals and just have a spare set of 16's ready to run in case things go badly. If Kumho will follow suite with the V710, who knows, they may make a 215/40/17 which would be interesting.

One positive factor in trying the 17's is, regardless of whether I'm burining through 16's or 17's, I'm still burning through rubber at the same cost per tire basically(only slightly higher) so its not really going to cost anything additional to do the testing to this point. If only I had the 16's and 17's side by side from Hoosier to see what the width difference was, but, I was told the difference was more than just a couple MM's. But, would it really matter or not? One other factor to consider as well is that they would be Road Race compound as well, but, thats another topic.

Craig

 

Thanks for the help! I was looking at the 17in Flik bullet-C/A, cant make a decision. In not looking to get R compound tires... $$ . Thinking of just getting a packaged deal from edgeracing with some ultra high performance summer tires for the track. Thanks.

 

Kumho MX's are a good choice for Street Use and ocassional track use since they don't mind heat like some others(At least I think). I'm running the 215/45/17's.

 

whats the difference between the 215/40s and 215/45's...besides 5 bucks.

 

 

Or in other words, the 215/40R17 will give you lower gearing than stock, the 215/45R17 will give you taller gearing than stock.
I would definitely get the 40, I always prefer lower gearing unless the diameter is significantly smaller and the wheel looks funny.

Brian

 

Is this true: smaller diameter = better acceleration and larger diameter = higher top speed? Sorry to ask such a basic question, but the premise seems logical enough for it to prove faulty in practice.

 

yes . . . although most cars are topspeed limited by aerodynamics and power, not gearing

 

Heresy on NAM! Are you suggesting that the sleek MINI could be aerodynamically challenged at top speed? Suppose it had the aero kit and a buncha splitters?

 

No don't rethink it, you want to switch to 17's. And when you do, I'd be happy to buy the RPO-1's from you

 

Well my bes has been 137 in 5th but I ran into some traffic and had to let off