Hey, I've got a 2006 evo 9 SE and Im wondering what wheel size is good for performance and looks.

What I want is 18 inch rims with a deep dish but I dont want to worry about rolling my fenders or stretching tires for clearance.

Also my dad and I are going to replace the suspension with adjustable coilovers and im not trying to "Hellaflush" it out. I just want what I call the"perfect low". What I mean is the ride height that can still do a full tilt turn but looks pretty low and sexy. Like race car low I guess? lol

Im new at this, Im turning 16 and I am very intrested in learning everything about my evo.

Thanks.

 

Start doing research then if you want to learn everything, you can't be spoon-fed information and expect to learn much.

You won't get that "deep-dish" effect without wide enough wheels and rolled fenders

 

Wheel size has little to do with performance.

Larger wheel (18") = less sidewall so less sidewall flex during cornering. However there is a such thing as too little sidewall (19" or stretched tires). The type of tire and pressure also comes into play for how stiff the sidewall is. The wheels will be heavier and have a higher MOI. Tires are more expensive. I would only recommend going to 18" if you plan to run >275mm wide tire or if you want the look of the larger wheel.

Smaller wheel (17") = more sidewall so more sidewall flex. Cheaper tires. Lower weight. Lower MOI. Hard to find anything wider than 275mm though.

If you can't afford decent wheels or tires, it really doesn't matter since the whole setup is going to be crap anyway.

This is what your question should be: "What is the biggest wheel with the lowest offset I can get away with without rolling the fenders?"

 

Put on some lowering springs from Swift or GTWorx (not Tein) and save your coilover money for something else.

For a wheel/tire setup, get some 17x9 +35 or 18x9.5" +28 (not Rota) and slap on some 255's. That'll be pretty safe and it's been done a bazillion times around here - including by me.

 

Hmmm... 16 years of age. And I thought 20 was early...
Read a lot. And you won't need to ask many questions at all honestly.

 

I did do research but I was a little confused that's why I signed up for this forum because I knew I could ask questions and get feed back or advice. It's not being spoon fed, there's nothing wrong with questions. That's what this forum is for right? To discuss and conversate with each other. Thanks for the advice though, and I can learn much with this information that people are giving me when they comment. It helps alot.

 

Just curious...why not Tein? I bought a set for my evo 9 back in the day and it felt pretty stiff....just a bit stiffer than stock, and i had a 1.6" drop front, and 1" drop rear.

Just curious why you frowned against them...is there something I do not know about them that is bad? I have actually seen them recommended for the X.

 

You are right about this to an extent. Yes, this is a medium to gain information from and a place to ask questions, but when a question is asked that has been answered many times before in the past it gets annoying and many people on the forums disregard it or flame the poster.

Just make sure you read through the stickies posted in all the forums you will be posted in. Lots of FAQs are covered and merged into one thread for you to gain lots of information. If you still have questions, do a search and look for an answer there. IF you truly can't find an answer, then start up a new thread with the question you want to ask.

Congrats on your Evo and good luck to you with it! You're parents must really trust you behind the wheel. At age 16 with 300hp under the hood, sounds like a disaster to me! Hopefully, you avoid it!

This.

 

Lookup Tein S-Tech. Or look at how many people try to re-sell them!

A lotta people jumped on these early because of the huge drop. They run on the bumpstops and ruin ride quality and end up blowing a lotta struts. Some people like them still, but a majority don't.

 

You make a good point that it gets annoying but when I read and try to search for the answers and info I need some threads are long and they don't have the info I want so why not make my life easier and ask a question and not waste my time constantly searching. People will get annoyed and ignore it but there are more out there who will answer. You know what I mean?

And my parents do trust me. I am honestly a good kid. My dad bought the Evo back in 2006 (4th grade) and promised me he would give it to me if I worked hard in school and I did. I've had a 4.0 in all of the years in jr. High, I do sports to stay fit, and I don't cause trouble. I'm in high school now and my dad already paid off the Evo so he figured instead of buying some used civic he'd give me the Evo because I EARNED it, and he said he's getting old anyways.

I'm not reckless at all, just have a passion for import cars.

 

My car came with them when I bought it, and, I'm not going to try and resell them. They're just going to the future project pile of parts that I'm going to make into a table.

They've only stayed on the car because I had been spending all my money on power mods. They're coming off in March and I would discourage anyone looking at getting them.

 

I'm in the same boat as you (Father bought my Evo new in 2003, I learned how to drive stick on it, then he passed it along to me when I turned 17). Take your time, read up here ALOT!, and see what others say about products you are interested in. Don't sacrifice performance or reliability for instant gratification- impulsively buying sub-par parts just to have them now because they "get the job done" will end up costing you more in the long run to replace.

A good place to start modifying your suspension has been repeated a countless number of times from member "Smike": OEM Bilstein struts from an MR if you do not have them already, Swift/Gt-Worx performance springs and swaybars should easily be above your driving level for quite a while and leave you with a fantastic platform to upgrade from later on if you feel necessary. Lower end coilovers will indeed give you a wider range of adjustability, but performance is equivalent or even worse then the aforementioned Bilstein/Swift combo. If you have the 2,000+ dollars to shell out for coilovers, and see them as a necessity at this point, then no one is stopping you; or even dropping 1,000 on an entry level set to get the look you're wanting. But keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

As for wheels, 18's are more expensive in all aspects. More expensive per wheel and tire. To get the "deep dish" look, you'll want an aggressive offset (+20 or lower) and wide wheels (9.5 or greater). Especially with 18's, this can cause fitment issues and will potentially lead to rolled fenders and stretched tires to prevent rubbing. You have to decide what you're looking for here, you can't have a low, deep-dished, great handling Evo without spending some serious cash and work. Once you get to being real low, there's a negative correlation between low/handling. You can however have a nicely dropped, great handling Evo with great looking performance wheels for a moderate price.

Just remember that a large portion of what makes the Evo so great is how it performs. It doesn't score big with the lady's, isn't the most beautiful car, and is definitely not comfortorable. When you start hurting the performance capabilities of the car, it loses a big part of what makes it so much fun.

 

Thanks, my dad and i always talk about how the MR and our SE are similar the only difference is the MR has a 6-speed transmission and bilstein struts. That combination sounds pretty good and cheap, ill have to tell my dad. But yeah we do have the money but only for one at a time. So like if I want rims we can buy expensive ones, but then we have to wait a year to save money and buy the suspension another time, or vice versa. (My mom gets mad when we buy mods)

I understand what you mean by the fun part is how it performs not how it looks, but to be honest, here in Washington, this car is a head turner, im one of the kids who has a decent car in town.

Thanks for the advice!

 

Nahh, im not rich, all my friends say that, but im OK, im middle class honestly. Im really not rich, my parents are just really good at spending their money wisely, they always tell me that.

 

OP:

Why do you want 18" wheels? Why do you want them to be deep dish? Why do you care about performance? What are your goals with the car? These questions can help us steer you in the right direction.

To be honest, you should take a look here:

https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...ly-thread.html
https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/ev...s-go-here.html

There are lots of cars that list their wheel/tire specs and what body modifications they have done (if any).

If you're saying that rotational mass does not have any effect on performance then I'm going to have to call foul.

Wheel size effects weight.

Weight effects handling characteristics.
Weight effects braking.

Wheel size effects tire options, which includes costs, compounds that are available to you and so on.