Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

I've been thinking about it. I mean, sure, they make most 4x100 wheels in offsets for FWD, the 40-45 range. But honestly, all we're doing is racing on them, and wider is most often better right?
So pushing the wheels out a little bit can't be a bad, and there's a hell of a lot more wheels available with low 30mm offsets, and WIDER wheels too. 7", 7.5", even a few 8s (although not for STS )... Now I couldn't help but notice that Team Orange Racing is using 7" wide, +31 offsets on their EP3 (That equates to keeping the wheel's centerline the same as the stock rim), they fit in the wheelwells and they say they have no fender issues, so, I guess it can be done, but thats a complete race car.
The other thing is that its a tight clearance on the lower bracket for the struts if the wheels get too wide, it would buy a bit of room if the wheel got pushed out a little bit.

EDIT: it would have helped to have asked the question.
Has anyone test fit either Miata or e30 wheels on the car? Any idea how far they stick out and the possibility of them causing problems?

Yes, the gears are rolling in my head. I'm considering swapping the Speedmasters out for wider wheels, which may or may not be Orange ones... I may be forced to go down to just 1 set of wheels full time... so they're prolly gonna be a normal color.

jiggerachi

iTrader: (4)

I might do that if I get bored, because...ummm...well, ill show you guys this weekend

So are there retrictions on wheel width in STS?? I didnt know that. What if you got some 1/2 inch wheel spacers, does it have to be in the wheel wells to be legal??

Zzyzx

17.4. WHEELS
Any wheels up to 7.5" in width that fit over stock brakes


Some possible down sides... By widening the track you are also increasing the amount of force the wheels can exert on the springs (you are increasing the length of the leaver the wheels use to push against the springs) so you are effectivly reducing your spring rates. also, you'll be putting more stress on your wheel bearings so they may fail sooner.

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

Well you're not really "widening the track" so to say in the true definition. If you consider the tire as a load distributed across its whole width... then most of the wheels we buy are actually DECREASING the moment arm applied by the tire loading to the car. I say this because when you keep increasing the width, but the offset stays the same, the centerline (where if you were to assume the tire load was applied at one point, it would be there) is actually inboard of where it would be with a stock 6" wheel and +45 offset. Same centerline would dictate +38ish on a 6.5" wheel and a 31 on a 7" rim to maintain the approximatecenterline. Now, yes the outer edge of the wheel is farther away, but you're looking at an increase in lever arm of less roughly 1/2 an inch... thats a not a tremendous amount, and on a whole, since the inner edge is now equally as far as the outer edge, on the average, you're going to balance the loading to exactly where the factory designed it to go. I think the reasons the offsets are so inboard on most wheels is to save clearance issues and the like... there's more room inside than outside the wheel inside the well to expand width.

jiggerachi

iTrader: (4)

This weekend I swapped my race wheels off the Civic onto the Miata, im taking her out on her maiden autoX this next weekend Well, I was curious so I bolted the stock Miata 14s on the civic. They fit, but after driving around the block I noticed some noise, went home & took one off. After a little liiking around, I found out that the offset is to high(I guess, they stuck too far in the fenders) & the edge of the rim was scraping on a piece of the strut. On the rears, it wasnt a straight scrape, maybee only on bumps, but the tire was rubbing on the springs on the bumps, from what I could tell. Also the rear grease caps I found out were just a tad too big to fit in the hub of the Miata wheels, I realized this after having to pry the damn things out of the wheels

Anyway, with some spacers, they would be fine, but as they sit, no. I'll tell you what though, those things couldnt have been over 10-11 lbs, they felt like 5 lbs lighter than my 12 lb race wheels, & damn, for a minute, my civic actually felt...dare I say...fast.

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

Actually you're problem is that the Miata wheels have a 54.1 mm Centerbore and the Civic Hubs are 56. You need to bore the hubs out on the wheels. Thats probably why you got funny noises.

jiggerachi

iTrader: (4)

Well that, & the offset was too high(??) & the wheels were rubbing on the suspension.

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

They shouldn't be... Miata wheels are about the same offset as Civic wheels.
I believe the Spec Miata (the racing series) offset is 30mm.
Look on the back of the spokes... it should have a number cast into it near where it says who made it.
The ones on the back of the Honda wheels say
HONDA MOTOR CO. LTD
15x6
+45

FattyMcJ

Now THIS is interesting....

Got anymore info on this car? I'd love to read more about it. (sorry....OT a bit...but thanks) [Google Search didn't turn up much...just about the cart, no EP3)

Mr.Modify

iTrader: (3)

you darn AUto X heads you....i would like to try it but my car isnt ready for that righ tnow lol

jiggerachi

iTrader: (4)

I'll check when I get home, but there were some new scratches on the inside of the wheel, & there were some new slightly rounded off or cleaned off parts of the struts, consistent with the scratches on the wheels.

I dont know what else it could be...

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

www.teamorangeracing.com

The thing is, you probably can get away with that on a race car and thats about it. Struts with low offsets like that will give you raging torque steer. Since they're probably running 3 or 4 degrees of camber, they don't care. That and the wheel bearings probably get replaced yearly as it is.