I got a new job, it's paying me well, however to get that money I've had to work 50+ hours a week for the past several weeks. Now summer is half gone and I'm still rolling on winter tires. At least now I can afford to replace wheels + tires simultaneously.
Alaska has no race tracks except for a couple ovals and a drag strip. The closest we have to a road course is a few very nasty backroads that get an annoying amount of tourist traffic. The one I hit most often is probably rougher than a lot of tarmac rally stages, another has almost as much tar as it does regular pavement. This leaves me with the task of selecting wheels which are light enough to enhance or at least preserve performance and steering feel, while simultaneously being durable enough to headbutt cracks and potholes at high speed without damage (and certainly without folding over on themselves). The tires must similarly be nice and sticky (especially in the wet, which rules out a lot of otherwise good choices) but durable enough to avoid blowing out when hitting large bumps.
Checking Tire Rack, they seem to think you can go as small as a 16" wheel on a 2013 Veloster Turbo, which I frankly have a hard time believing; in any case, would it be worth going down an inch or two for lighter weight and/or better durability, or would that start to exact a heavy toll on steering and handling? Selecting for the lightest wheels in each size gave me Enkei RPF1 and OZ Allegerita HLT in 16, 17, and 18" sizes; the RPF1 apparently has a good reputation for combining performance and durability, but a user on Tire Rack claims his are constantly getting bent by potholes and needing repair. For 19", the only wheel that came up under 22 pounds each was OZ Leggera HLT.
For tires, some I found were Bridgestone Potenza Sport, Pirelli P Zero Nero and PZ4, Michelin Pilot Super Sport, and Yokohama Advan A052 (which, looking at the tread pattern, doesn't seem like it'd be any good in the rain, but apparently it is). Some of these would require slightly alternate sizes, so what sizes will and won't fit? Other than getting access to a better make/model tire, are there any known performance reasons to run a wider or taller tire than TR recommended?
TR usually seems to recommend the same tire size for a given diameter wheel on a given car, even if the wheel width is different; a narrower wheel will obviously be lighter, but is there some counterbalancing advantage to a wider wheel with the same size tire?
Alaska has no race tracks except for a couple ovals and a drag strip. The closest we have to a road course is a few very nasty backroads that get an annoying amount of tourist traffic. The one I hit most often is probably rougher than a lot of tarmac rally stages, another has almost as much tar as it does regular pavement. This leaves me with the task of selecting wheels which are light enough to enhance or at least preserve performance and steering feel, while simultaneously being durable enough to headbutt cracks and potholes at high speed without damage (and certainly without folding over on themselves). The tires must similarly be nice and sticky (especially in the wet, which rules out a lot of otherwise good choices) but durable enough to avoid blowing out when hitting large bumps.
Checking Tire Rack, they seem to think you can go as small as a 16" wheel on a 2013 Veloster Turbo, which I frankly have a hard time believing; in any case, would it be worth going down an inch or two for lighter weight and/or better durability, or would that start to exact a heavy toll on steering and handling? Selecting for the lightest wheels in each size gave me Enkei RPF1 and OZ Allegerita HLT in 16, 17, and 18" sizes; the RPF1 apparently has a good reputation for combining performance and durability, but a user on Tire Rack claims his are constantly getting bent by potholes and needing repair. For 19", the only wheel that came up under 22 pounds each was OZ Leggera HLT.
For tires, some I found were Bridgestone Potenza Sport, Pirelli P Zero Nero and PZ4, Michelin Pilot Super Sport, and Yokohama Advan A052 (which, looking at the tread pattern, doesn't seem like it'd be any good in the rain, but apparently it is). Some of these would require slightly alternate sizes, so what sizes will and won't fit? Other than getting access to a better make/model tire, are there any known performance reasons to run a wider or taller tire than TR recommended?
TR usually seems to recommend the same tire size for a given diameter wheel on a given car, even if the wheel width is different; a narrower wheel will obviously be lighter, but is there some counterbalancing advantage to a wider wheel with the same size tire?
