What wheel size and rim size are the best for performance purposes. And why are they the best?

 

well if you want more speed, go w/ ultralight 16s but if you are going for cornering ability, defenitely go w/ 18s with grippy tires (nittos, toyo proxie t1s, kumho's etc. etc. etc.)...the lighter, the faster your car will go but the bigger the wheel, the better the car will handle (upto a certain point of course)...i've heard that the bigger the wheel the worse u-turn radius you get, though...i'm pissed about mine, i have a stock se w/ my stock 17s my u-turn is right around 40 feet whereas a stock maxima w/ the stock 16s u-turn is right around 32 feet...thats almost a full lane difference

 

For pure performance in handling, 18" rims would be the choice. But keep in mind, the larger the rim, the heavier it can potentially be. In my opinion, 17" wheels are a good choice for overall performance. You can get a set of light 17" by 7.5" rims and put some 235/45/17 tires on them. Also, if you hit a pothole with an 18" rim, you could be looking at some damage. At least with 17's you won't feel like you are running on rubber bands.

 

Why does everyone like 18x8? I have 18x7. Are mine too thin?

 

 

17X8 is the preferred size by fellow Max owners.

 

Go here and enter your measurements:
http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

Use 225/50 17 as stock and 245/45 17 as new... it's .6851400730815917% too fast

Play around and see what you get.

 

Ahhh, if it were only that simple. What most people don't realize is we need to be concerned more with Revolutions Per Mile rather than just tire size to maintain the calibration. The tire size calculation is a good start but you need to find the tire specs. Same tire size from different companies will yield different RPMs. Even same size tires from the same company but different models will have different RPMs. Here's a quick run down of what I found:

Dunlop SP5000 235/45-17 816 RPM
Dunlop SP9000 235/45-17 826 RPM
Kumho Ecsta712 235/45-17 820 RPM
Dunlop SP5000 245/45-17 806 RPM
Dunlop SP9000 245/45-17 817 RPM
Kumho Ecsta712 245/45-17 813 RPM

 

well if you want 18's but light then get a set of konig toxxins these rims weigh 17.5-lbs in 18x7.5 not bad for 18's

 

In terms of speed (accelerations in particular), I would imagine that a small uniform wheel (ie.. 16 non aluminum), would give you the best performance..

Why... the Moment of Inertia for an 18" aluminum wheel is MUCH greater than for a 16" non-aluminum wheel. The lower the moment of inertia, the less energy it takes to get it spinning..!!!

 

i got 19x8 for shows, 18x7.5 for street

 

I think you mean "Momentum"

 

No, he meant "moment of inertia." That is basically the torque required to give a certain wheel a certain angular acceleration. It increases with the square of the radius of the wheel. A 20" inch rim would take 4 times the torque to accelerate than a 10" rim...all other things being equal (which they always are in class, but never are in life).

It's all right here:
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/inecon.html

[Edited by mzmtg on 12-13-2000 at 04:05 PM]

 

Exactly what he said!!! But i'm just not sure how much of a difference one would see between a 16" and 17" wheel...
Just thought I should mention it for completeness...


Maybe if you have a 18" chrome wheel compared opposed to a 15" hub-cap!!

 

I have 16" alloy-alluminum rims that are the 9 spokes fron the factory. I am thinking about putting some more tires on them cause factory tires spin to much when you floor it. What would be the recommended tires to get? would it be ok to get a tire size of 16 x 8 instead of the stock tire size of 16 X 6.? Would light 16's be faster than 17's?

[Edited by 2Maxed-out4u on 12-13-2000 at 05:19 PM]

 

I don't quite understand your question, but will try to answer what I think you asked...

Stock 16" wheels are 16x6.5". My 4th gen SE wheels are the same dimension, and I have 225-50-16's on them. They fit but bulge a bit...the rim is a little too skinny, but the tires do fit. You could fit 225-50-16's on yours as well, I have no doubt. The optimal rim width for that size tire is 16x7.5 or 16x8. 16x8's would be perfectly flush with the side of the tire, no bulge at all. That's the size I would target if I were getting new 16" rims.

 

Yes, The best rim for performance would be a superlight 16" rim with good performance tires it will handle as good as 17"s and will feel better as far as grip and acceleration tradeoff, the reason people buy 17" or 18" is for the looks and the handling as long as the rims are not too heavy, then they will hamper the handling.