26 Reply by bam2002 (edited by bam2002 2009-12-12 09:01 PM)

  • From: Tampa, Fl
  • Registered: 2009-05-29
  • Posts: 259

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

I have been able to find 2 or 3 e30 wheels at the junkyard at a time.
So we were using 2 different sets on the car. so the front 2 were one type and the rear 2 were different from the front. These were 15s  because the choice for good tires  is almost null for 14s.
We did have one matching set to use also.
Like it was said earlier in tire thread I dont think tires below a 190 would last 8 hours. And doing a Pit stop to change tires would lose more laps than sticky tires with 100 cars on the track would gain.

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27 Reply by LTDScott (edited by LTDScott 2009-12-12 11:58 PM)

  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,640

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

laz wrote:

There are no cheap, lightweight, 15x7" options. I'm constantly scouring craigslist for 15x7" E30 offset wheels for my spec e30. I get super excited if I can get a used set of 15x7's for $50/wheel, and those deals are hard to find.

Good to know I'm not missing something obvious. What sucks is that even if I can find cheapo 15" wheels, I'll still likely have to get expensive spacers to make them fit since they'll likely be too positive offset for the E30. I know wheels/tires/related stuff don't count towards the budget but I'm still trying to avoid spending unnecessary money.

I'm on the fence of whether to stick with the 14s since I already have 3 sets or go 15s. I actually passed up the great Azenis deal on Discount Tire for this reason. If I go with Azenis in 15", they'd be 205s which would likely fit on 15x6 wheels, so I guess 15x7s aren't necessary. But the 205/15s are actually a full 1" wider than the 195/14s according to Falken's site..

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Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

we have 'special' wheels.


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  • From: Las Vegas Baby
  • Registered: 2009-12-15
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Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

Just get the cheapest wheels you can find, and if they are shiny or chrome plated, be sure to paint them black or some other ugly color so the judges don't penalize you for getting light weight alloys.

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  • From: Detroit, MI
  • Registered: 2009-05-16
  • Posts: 1,594

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

The judges have said over and over that they don't care about brakes, wheels and tires.  There is no reason to ugly up a set of wheels.

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  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 1,993

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

in theory wheels are "free" since they are safety equipment..BUT they do attract attention...show up with a fancy car with mondo wheels-tires-brakes and they attract the attention of the CAR CRUSHER....the widebody 944 was a perfect example at Thunderhill....sure they were corvette wheels but I would guess they were 275 all around...

If you can find decent tires to fit stock wheels, then run those....since most Lemons racer stock wheels are fairly cheap or FREE....  We ran stock 16x7 wheels on the 928 estate with stock 225/50-16 tires....I mounted 6 for the race, but only used 5...

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  • From: Santa Margarita, CA
  • Registered: 2009-06-03
  • Posts: 177

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

I got both junkyard finds and expensive wheels...A 16x7" set of Team Dynamics Monza Rs for $130 at the Ecology yard in Ontario or somewhere terrible in SoCal.

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  • From: Frisco, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-05-02
  • Posts: 1,430

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

TeamDFL wrote:
Crazybob wrote:

I guess expensive might be a stretch, but I'm curious what people are doing wheel wise. Do you guys just scrounge a bunch of sets of wheels that are the same size and throw rubber on them? Do you take 2 or three sets of wheels and tires, or just one set of wheels and swap out the rubber track side?

One of our team suggested we grab 8 Kosei KS-1 off Tirerack at about $100 a pop and throw rubber on those so we have a complete change. We are wanting to run 15x7 on our '94 Sentra to help clear the NX2000 brakes we were gonna put on the front.

Sorry if it's a dumb question, but thought I better ask before spending a grand in wheels alone.

If you are driving fast enough that the difference between a 13lb wheel and an 18lbs wheel matters, you and your team will find yourselves in the penalty box frequently.  Steelies or cheap takeoffs are the way to go.

Please add weight to your car smile Every single pound that comes off the car takes load off the shocks, brakes, engine, bearings etc.... that 5lb/wheel matters a lot to me!

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34 Reply by sawinatthewheel (edited by sawinatthewheel 2009-12-30 12:41 PM)

  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 96

Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

Hey Crazybob,  We run a '91 sentra and use the nx brakes.  Stock 14" wheels will clear the nx brakes.  However, we choose to use the Sport Max 002 wheels.  We use the 15x8 with 0 offset.  Falken 205/15/50 work just fine on these wheels.  They stick out from the wheel well about an inch and half.  We never have had a problem with flats due to touching other cars.  Of course we try not to touch.  We started off with six wheels but after a couple of races we needed two more just so we could have a full fresh set for the next race.  If you choose to use the Sport Max you will need special lug nuts and socket(get 2) which can be found at www.justforwheels.com  And finally, Discounttiredirect is the place for Falkens as they are discounting $80 from a set of 4 (until April) and it's free shipping.

sawinatthewheel...sometimes too much, sometimes not enough...just like life
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Re: Expensive wheels or junkyard finds?

14" Falkens and Hankook are getting hard to find back ordered .Run cheap steels you can bend them back with a hammer if they bend.
IMHO  stay away from the 40 series tires I had 17 " w/ 205 40 and everytime I went off track I'd blow out a tire .Yes I know its best to stay on track but it does happen.

Go online and find what cars have the same bolt pattern as your car and go CR and wrecking yards.

Definately get good tires with the 200 Treadwear if you can . I couldn't find 14" last time and went and found some 15" wheels and ran Federal 595  185 /55 r15 did good they had a 240 treadwear

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