I was wondering if anyone could outline some of the major differences in quality vs. price on wheels. My winter tires are on their way, but come summer time I think I might replace my s-lites with a new wheel/yokohama combo. I've been browsing the selection over at tirerack, and there are a couple of different wheels I like. But having already put a nice flat spot in one of my S-lites should I perhaps look at a more quality wheel, or perhaps a specific brand?

Thanks,
Alex

 

unless you're racing, lightweight wheels are usually over kill..but i use SSR's on my weekend car which I only drive around in the streets for fun. the biggest difference ive seen so far is paint quality and durability. cheap ADR wheels flake off paint
rather quickly where as properly powdercoated wheels last a long time.

I bought some cheepo SpeedEdition TK5's from alex and they look pretty good,
at least they look powercoated with no cheap flakiness and quality is about
mille miglia's. they are decent street wheels. weighs in at about 19lbs for 16x7
so not bad either. i recommend these wheels for winter and for people on a budget. they actually look pretty good on the car. :smile:

 

Woah, if you dented your S-lite, which are tanks, there's nothing short of going to a 16" that will be more pothole-forgiving.

 

While the s-lites are heavy, the very stiff runflat sidewalls cause more load (say from hitting a pothole) to be transmitted to the wheel. Regular tires should help that situation, since the tire could help absorb some of the impact.

 

>>Woah, if you dented your S-lite, which are tanks, there's nothing short of going to a 16" that will be more pothole-forgiving.

I certainly agree with that statement. My S Lites are still nice and round after 9,300 miles and in the words of our future Governor of the Great State of “Cully-four-knee-a” the tires are terminated. And it sure was fun terminating them!

 

I agree with DID, more compliant sidewalls would be less likely to bend wheels

Alex

 

Thanks for the advice. The dent occured on what was a fun backroad until I hit what must have been a hole to china. I hit it so hard I thought the engine was going to fall out. Needless to say I haven't been back on that road.

 

SSR's are my favorite, but they're pricey. A relatively affordable lightweight wheel that the tirerack carries is the Kosei K1. I had a set of them on my old Miata and never had any quality issues.

Bonus Tip: You should wax painted wheels to help preserve the finish and help with ease of cleaning

 

>>Bonus Tip: You should wax painted wheels to help preserve the finish and help with ease of cleaning

Yes you should! it saves clean up time!

Alex

 

>>Thanks for the advice. The dent occured on what was a fun backroad until I hit what must have been a hole to china. I hit it so hard I thought the engine was going to fall out. Needless to say I haven't been back on that road.

Sorry to hear about your encounter with the mammouth pothole. It takes quite a bit to flatten an S-Lyte.
For the rest of us-maybe a good thing to do on a road that is less traveled, is to take a dry run on it at a normal or even slow speed to study it just a bit before going over it with guns ablazing. Prevention would be preferrable to destruction in my book.

On lightweight wheels, the ultralight wheels are fairly strong but will cost alot more. Even being strong they are not indestructible. Which means if you have a misshap then you are looking at an expensive replacement. Having a more compliant sidewall like 45 or 50 series tire is a big advantage over 35 or 40 series tires. Also watch your tire pressures to make sure they are in the optimal range. Generally we get what we pay for in wheels up to about $2000 a set.