I've made an observation after owning my Evo and coming here for nearly a year now. For some reason it seems that as a general rule, Evo owners don't buy aftermarket wheels. I understand the Enkei wheels are nice and that the car has a tough fitment with brakes and all but I'm not sure those are the best or only excuses. S2000's also have a tough fitment, yet, go to www.s2ki.com and you'll find more pics of S2k's with wheels than you will ever have time to look at. And the variety is also impressive. Now I do recognize the fact that the S2k has been around much longer, but you have to admit it was nearly as rare in terms of production.

Based on my research it seems that with all things considered, EVO owners are propoptionally less likely to put wheels on their car. I wonder why this is... Is it because the Evo attracts a certain type of practical buyer that isn't so much into flash so much as function (its not a swoopy car right)? Is it that they are young and/or broke having already stretched the budget to buy the car, or are spending all of their cash on performance mods? Who knows the reason. I just thought it an interesting fact.

Take a look for yourselves. At most of the meet pictures regardless of locale, you will find only a very small amount of aftermarket wheels. Look at the wheel threads and you find the same wheels and again only a small amount. Cars like the S2k, Z, Rx-7, etc you find wheels of all types. BTW, I've owned my Evo for almost a year and although I am notorious for putting wheels on my cars (as you can see from my website) even I still have not added any yet. Although I think I'm just a coinkydink becasue I've been focusing much more so on other things than my cars over the past year.

Anyhow, I thought about this becuase one of the main things I do when I come to this site is look for new pics of wheels becuase I knwo I am overdue for a set. Yet when I go to tireack and other sites I see wheels that I've never seen on actual evo's. Like the black SSR SP1 which I've seen on a professional marketing type of car but not posted on an owners car. Or the gold SSR GT1. Or some gold Volk GT-N's, or at least one other set of CCW's, or some work XSA 02C. Perhaps the real answer is that we're just a small family... A rare bunch of which there is simply too few to have the type of variety that is seen in other groups. Whatever the reason, I hope to be doing my part real soon to stir the pot since I have just lowered it 2 days ago!

 

I think that the ratio of people who put wheels on their Evo's is just the same if not more than any other "normal" car. As far as a car like ours coming with very nice wheels from the factory I would assume this will be fine for most people. The stock wheels look good IMHO. I just like changing mine that's all, for asthetics more than performance which is why I have 19's. Some people like keeping their cars as stock as possible believe it or not. As far as S2000's and more specifically Z's and RX7's like you mentioned, these have been in production (or were) many more years than our new (to the states) Evo. I think there are alot of owners that change their wheels.

If I had to guess I would say that the wheel change ratio for Evo owners is .... 15%. That would be about 15 out of 100 with non-stock wheels. Of course I could be totally off, but I think I am pretty close here. When you think about it 15% for any car would be extremely high. When you think about cars that people change the wheels on frequently from anything from a 17 yr old in his Civic or a 30 year old baller (or wannabe) in his Benz S-class with chrome dubs when you put 15% percent ratio there it just doesn't match. Surely out of all those MILLIONS of run of the mill civics out there less than 15% have non-stock rims. Yes there are alot of SUV's out there with Rims/wheels other than stock, but there a 100 times more bone stock ones out there at every soccer game and grocery store.

So I actually think a higher than normal amount of people per car swap out their stock Enkei wheels. Whaddya you guys think?

 

I think a big reason S2000 owners get wheels is because the '00-'03 wheels are pretty boring (I owned an '01 and swapped wheels), and other mods are expensive. I have an '04 S2K now and I actually like the stock wheels.

As for the Evo, most owners bought them for performance potential, so power-adding mods tend to be first.

I tried to balance the whole car - power, then brakes/wheels, then fuel/reliability items. The stock wheels are damn good for most owners, so it makes sense for most not to change them.

 

It's more based around practicallity, I think. I know that with my first Evo, new wheels were the last thimg on my mind. I was after increased performance - which was hard from the start, considering the car comes with enough "talent" to be able to walk almose every other car in production on a road course.

With my new Evo, I decided to change the rims mostly because I severely curb-rashed one of them when taking a sweeping turn (cloverleaf-style) at about 75MPH / sideways, got to the top of it and hit a slight "bump" in the pavement which kicked the rear end a little too wide, then curbed the rear driver's side rim. Oh well. You gotta pay to play.

Since I am changing rims, I am going with something that is the same size as stock, but lighter.

Form follows function.

 

Also the evo is a more race orienated car. Most people would rather get a turbo kit instead of wheels.

OR....... they are completly broke and are spending every last penny they have to make the payment.


OR... They like the stock wheels and do not want to change them

OR.... They just dont take pics and flaunt their rims to everybody

I have aftermarket rims, but only use them for racing since they have slicks on them.

 

OR maybe the choices are still SO limited that some of us dont want to have the same wheel everyone else already has.....

 

There is no question that OVERALL as in compared to all types of cars that the EVO gets new wheels quite a bit. But compared to similiar cars that have similar fanatics that live on sites like this and modify the crap out of them, meet up and do drives and stuff like that. Compared to these, the Evo is low and I think its a combination of everything from small selection to owners focusing on boosting performance, to the stock wheels being livable, to owners being car-broke

 

Or you could just have them powder coated a nice color and be completely happy. Like me.

 

the wheels i want aren't out till the end of Dec......Konig Unknown

 

I have aftermarket rims, 18x9's however I spent some time finding the "right wheel" for me.. and the combined weight of these larger wheels and tires came in around the same as stock..

You definitely see alot of "aftermarket wheels"on evo's.. at least the ratio seems high on this site, however this site is still a minority of the evo owners in the USA anyway.. so I do think that its probably a pretty low ratio..

I also curbed one of my stock rims, parking rash mostly so I don't have a guts or glory story about how it happened..

One thing I did do was go out of my way to find something that nobody was running, and take a chance on them (turned out they fit perfectly) and I only know of two or three other Evo's with the same rims..

Part of it is expression, I don't really care for dressup items, I think their a waste of money, performance always comes first.. in the case of the rims, I chose something that wouldn't be too much of a compromise, however they were definitly just a way to set my car apart from the others.. Not to make it look much better, but so its recognizable as being my own..

 

I wanted to get power mods first and then get a set of Volks. I think there are plenty of wheel choices available. I now have a set or Volks 18x8.5". By the way there were many more S2K's made then Evos.

 

I'm genrally not a wheel person, but I have aftermarket wheels and the main reason being I wanted to set my car apart from all the other local Evo's and I got a really good deal on them. Plus....a set of nice wheels does wonders for a car in the look department.

 

yeah...I'd get some racingharts pro series ones...WOW...saw them on that white evo with the gialla bumper...sweeeeeTness.... But I'm broke trying to make the payments...hehehe

 

That's a big part of it.

Look at the EVO. It looks like a four door sedan. Heck, it is a four door sedan. Other than the big bleacher bench wing, it looks like a Lancer econobox. The EVO isn't about looks.

It's what's inside that counts.

That being said, I have picked up a set of aftermarket rims -- for the specialty winter tires. The Advans are useless in snow.

And if you weren't careful about the camber, maybe you should save your money for the tires you'll be wearing out.

I don't really "get" the press to lower a car like the EVO. Out of the box, it corners quite well. And that rounded nose gives it a deceptively large front overhang, so you have to be careful on real world roads (at least those on the east coast) even without lowering.

The only thing the EVO gives up in cornering to my (admittedly old) Ferrari would be better remedied by adding antilag than lowering. (The EVO's turbo lag takes away a lot of benefit of heel & toe cornering.) And, unlike the Italians, the EVO is a blast in the snow -- which would be hindered by lowering.

If you're converting the car to a (street course) track racer, then you should be starting with new coilovers, pivot arms, etc. ... And you'll wind up with a car that's useless on the streets, because it would beach itself on a discarded Big Gulp cup. While the EVO is a fine rally car, there are, perhaps, other machines better suited to road course track duties. On a dry track, there's no replacement for displacement.

 

For the money The EVO is a GREAT Road Course car.