Hi,

My buddy got an Evo X MR 08 a few weeks ago. The car got whole exhaust upgraded, eco tuned (feels like it) and aftermarket wheels (brand Enkei).

The wheels had wider offset than the body. They are tilted with a badass look - in the track day way, but not in the crazy way. We know the previous owner works for a dealership, so we suppose the car was upgraded in the track day way.

My buddy worried that he might get pulled over by the policeman because of the wheels, so he got four new wheels (brand King) and asked a wheel workshop to install them.

I've been sitting on the co-pilot seat and experienced both the two sets of wheels. Both my buddy and I noticed the difference how the car performed.

The Enkei set made the car very 'hard'/'solid'. Basically, we felt that the car fit the road surface a lot. Everytime when the car went over a crack on the road, we could feel it. Also, we felt that the car was holding us a lot when we went through a 90 degree turn in a hard way.

The King set made the car feel like my stock Evo X Final Edition. The car doesn't fit the road surface that much and it feels much more smooth when accelerating and going over a crack on the road surface. However, the car is not holding us that much when we took a 90 degree corner in a hard way. I felt like I was throw away to the other side the corner and that side of the seat was pushing me back.

Did anyone have any similar experience? Do the wheels make such a noticeable difference? Hope my description above makes sense.

Thank you!

 

Theres a whole lot of dynamics at play here. But consider the size of the wheel/tire. If the tire is wider, it has a larger contact patch with the road, which in turn gives better traction and handling. The camber can also play a role, a small bit of negative camber is good for cornering but thats about it. The specs of the tires can also play a role (treadwear and traction grade) and whether or not its stretched.

 

Sorry, I forgot to mention that we are still using the same set of tires. Also, we figured that the fuel consumption after changing the wheel dropped when running on the same route at the same time only on different days...

 

Fuel consumption would be hard to test without doing multiple tests on the same roads, speed, etc so I wouldn't consider that too much. But if we're looking at just the wheels, the weight and offset will play a role. How much I'm not sure but there is definitely a difference.