[MattGM]

Perhaps I'm a bit confused...when you say the same diameter are you referring to the tire diameter or the wheel diameter? FWIW I've always used OEM wheels (16 inch Enkei's very briefly) & the car handles incredibly well. Definitely not aggressive in appearance but with the OEM wheel size good rubber is cheap & options are plentiful for all driving situations. Either way, as was stated ppl have preferences based off of every variable of their setup from the wheels & tires to the suspension, strut/sway bars & even their alignment. Every suggestion should be taken with a grain of salt based on how your setup as a whole varies from someone else's (even with the same wheels & tires).

I would reiterate again that you should pick the wheels based off the available tire options (UHPS/UHPAS/track tires) for what you plan to use the car for. Personally, only having 1 high performance summer or all season tire available wouldn't be acceptable for me but YMMV

I was talking about wheel diameter, sorry for the confusion. Yeah I agree that 1 high performance tire isn’t enough. My issue is that I don’t want to jump up to 17in rims. I might look into the tires @phattires mentioned. Is 215 on a 8in wide rim ok typically?

 

[phattires]

I was talking about wheel diameter, sorry for the confusion. Yeah I agree that 1 high performance tire isn’t enough. My issue is that I don’t want to jump up to 17in rims. I might look into the tires @phattires mentioned. Is 215 on a 8in wide rim ok typically?

215 on 8" wheel is fine .

 

[Petrus]

I still do not get why you do not first gain experience with the car on the OEM wheels/tyres.

As long as you have the same brand/type on all 4 corners it is totally irrelevant how bad or unsuitable they are for the road/climate. The car still behaves the same and if anything, the worst tyres give you the experience at lower cornering speeds.
The caveat is your stopping distance but the ABS will still easily outbrake the average lardy car.

Again and again, learn the car FIRST!
In your case it may even be: learn to dríve first...
In stock trim it already is an áwesomely capable car.

 

[MattGM]

I still do not get why you do not first gain experience with the car on the OEM wheels/tyres.

As long as you have the same brand/type on all 4 corners it is totally irrelevant how bad or unsuitable they are for the road/climate. The car still behaves the same and if anything, the worst tyres give you the experience at lower cornering speeds.
The caveat is your stopping distance but the ABS will still easily outbrake the average lardy car.

Again and again, learn the car FIRST!
In your case it may even be: learn to dríve first...
In stock trim it already is an áwesomely capable car.

I mean while I understand where you are coming from I’ve had the car stock for a year, am pretty comfortable driving and have been driving stick since I got my license. There’s always more to learn when it comes to driving but it’s pretty difficult to practice safely on the roads and I can’t afford regular track days at the moment or anything like that. I bought this car to finally have a car to modify as the other cars I had been driving were borrowed from my dad and he is very much a OEM only person. So these new wheels are more about finally having enough money and a car to put them on, and of course chasing any improvements to the handling and getting more rubber on the road so I feel a little more comfortable using more of the cars potential. I agree OEM would be the smart choice but I want to enjoy the car and the experience of modifying it into something more my own.

 

[Petrus]

One; you do not, NOT need more rubber on the road to exploit the car´s potential.
Two; mods are nearly always not, NOT improvements as the OEM spec is thé best compromise for the road.
Three; even for silly cornering speeds as THÉ performance goal the OEM set up is hard to beat. Líghter wheels and sticky rubber in OEM size will do that.

That obeserved, for an older MR2 Spyder with the original stuff still fitted, thé best performance mod is new OEM spec shocks and springs. But hey, that scores nooooo points on the modding scales.

That leaves modding for moddings sake.
No problem with that.
Lots of fun to be had with that.
It liberates you from the quite tricky matter of the car set up being a complex adaptive system with every change affecting all other aspects.

As I observed earlier, if you shed the roadholding/performance goals, you can do ANYTHING and be
Even with quite extreme WRONG things the car will still be relatively quick ánd look the way YOU want.
Just do nót obscure matters for yourself by dragging performance arguments into the decisions.
´Í líke it´ with the accent on both ´I´ and ´like´ is good enough if you let the rest go

 

[pwnzor]

From the other side of this, I can tell you that as soon as I finished making my changes to the car I wished that I hadn't waited so long.

Yes, the car handles well in stock configuration. My car now handles GREAT. Not "very good" or "a lot better".... F**KING GREAT. And that's that.

 

[pwnzor]

I will stress to you that the size of the wheels has little to do with the cornering performance. Tires, coilovers, swaybars, bushings, suspension links. Those are the keys to your new kingdom.

 

[MattGM]

I will stress to you that the size of the wheels has little to do with the cornering performance. Tires, coilovers, swaybars, bushings, suspension links. Those are the keys to your new kingdom.

Yeah I’m not expecting night and day but got to start somewhere and I happen to need new wheels and summer tires.

 

[carlbecker]

I mean while I understand where you are coming from I’ve had the car stock for a year, am pretty comfortable driving and have been driving stick since I got my license. There’s always more to learn when it comes to driving but it’s pretty difficult to practice safely on the roads and I can’t afford regular track days at the moment or anything like that. I bought this car to finally have a car to modify as the other cars I had been driving were borrowed from my dad and he is very much a OEM only person. So these new wheels are more about finally having enough money and a car to put them on, and of course chasing any improvements to the handling and getting more rubber on the road so I feel a little more comfortable using more of the cars potential. I agree OEM would be the smart choice but I want to enjoy the car and the experience of modifying it into something more my own.

It sounds like you are more interested in looks and spending money then really upping the handling of the car. Very good tires in close to stock sizes make a huge difference. You might be better off doing some real research over asking in a forum and getting everyone's different opinion that just reflect the individuals personal likes. Study suspension characteristics.

 

[FormInFunction]

I agree that ya gotta start your mods somewhere. I would definitely argue that suspension should typically be done before wheels in terms of bang for your buck driving improvement. If you're going more for aeshtetics it's totally understandable too, just make sure you have adjustable ride height when you get to lowering springs/coilovers. At the end of the day it's your car...go with what makes you smile the most every time you turn the key.

I will warn you that any wheels will look out of place at stock ride height, so just be prepared for that when all is said and done...until you tackle lowering springs/ coilovers.

 

[pwnzor]

any wheels will look out of place at stock ride height,

Testify!

Behold, 17's on stock suspension. I couldn't stand looking at it like this, drove it immediately to the mechanic and left it there until all the parts arrived.

 

[Another Blue Car?]

I read some of your thread so I'll leave this photo here. 15x7 +35 front with 195/55/15 Toyo Proxes R1Rs. 16x8 +38 rear with 225/45/16 R1Rs.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[pwnzor]

@Another Blue Car?

Another Beautiful Car.

 

[cosmin]

Thanks for all the advice. After looking around a bit more I think I’m going to go with 15x7 35 offset in the front and 16x8 38 offset in the rear. Unsure about tires at the moment.

You had the answer here. Good choice.

 

[Petrus]

I will stress to you that the size of the wheels has little to do with the cornering performance.

I hope this is sarcasm.

 

[Petrus]

It sounds like you are more interested in looks and spending money then really upping the handling of the car. Very good tires in close to stock sizes make a huge difference.

Quite.
Buy the best ones you can afford in as close to OEM spec as possible.

You might be better off doing some real research over asking in a forum and getting everyone's different opinion that just reflect the individuals personal likes. Study suspension characteristics.

And tyre (load) characteristics.
Tyres are the interface between surface and car. The way thóse behave sets the limits of how the car behaves.
A ´detail´ like a stiffer/softer sidewall changes the responsiveness of the steering significantly.
Larger diameter wheels mean not only more unsprung weight but also a lower sidewall. Both are significant mods reducing conformation and altering steering response.

Again, do ponder about what your priority is.
If it is performance than STUDY.
If it is modding than this, as I wrote, liberates you and you can simply do as YOU like.

 

[pwnzor]

A lot of talk about OEM spec as if it is somehow superior to everything else.

If that were true there would be no need for new cars because every car would be a perfect design.

Not to mention that even under Kaizen, many items will be factory spec for reasons of economy rather than performance.

Yes, Toyota has brilliant engineers. The company has a bottom line, and it will always be the primary determining factor.

 

[carlbecker]

A lot of talk about OEM spec as if it is somehow superior to everything else.

If that were true there would be no need for new cars because every car would be a perfect design.

Not to mention that even under Kaizen, many items will be factory spec for reasons of economy rather than performance.

Yes, Toyota has brilliant engineers. The company has a bottom line, and it will always be the primary determining factor.

Fortunately or unfortunately there is no such thing as a perfect design. There is no such thing as one size fits all or one thing that makes everyone happy. Everything designed by man is a compromise with certain tradeoffs. A good design has taken all the compromises into account to deliver a reasonable product to try and please a large percentage of those purchasing the product.
Deviating far from the original design just creates a new set of compromises. In other words if God had wanted the spyder to have wider tires he would have delivered it that way, zero et with the wheels sticking out of the side like the off road jeeps I see on the highway. It is your spyder, do with it as you please and spend your money how you like, I certainly do.

 

[bucketspyder]

I'm pretty new to owning a car (MR2 Spyder is my first) and want to buy new wheels and tires for the Summer. I already have a set of wheels with winter tires, so I don't need to worry about All Seasons. I don't really have any idea about what wheels to get, I was hoping to go lighter (maybe obvious) then stock and a little wider in the front and rear, but I did hear that going to wide on a stock car is a quick way to make it feel sluggish and poorly effect handling. Another thing I'm a little confused about is offset and how spacers work and when they are needed.

Any advice is appreciated, and if you have a setup of your own that you like please do share it.

Thanks in advance.

I went Square
Tires / Wheels

Walmart

Accelera Phi-R 215/45ZR16 215/45R16 90W XL A/S High Performance Tire

Discount Tire

16 X7 4-100.00/108.00 42 BKMTXX

Item# 61240

 

[Barbi]

I'm pretty new to owning a car (MR2 Spyder is my first) and want to buy new wheels and tires for the Summer. I already have a set of wheels with winter tires, so I don't need to worry about All Seasons. I don't really have any idea about what wheels to get, I was hoping to go lighter (maybe obvious) then stock and a little wider in the front and rear, but I did hear that going to wide on a stock car is a quick way to make it feel sluggish and poorly effect handling. Another thing I'm a little confused about is offset and how spacers work and when they are needed.

Any advice is appreciated, and if you have a setup of your own that you like please do share it.

Thanks in advance.

My "Spydie" is awesome with Yokohama S. drive 195/45R 16 on front (84w) ~~ on the back Yokohama S.drive 215/35 R17 (83w)
Gorgeous Enkei Wheels PF01.
barbi in Carlsbad, Ca. (2001 Green Mr-2)