and actually the ES owns the fastest stock times because of the same powerplant but less weight problem

 

This is correct!

 

Our illustrious "mitsu rep" comes to the rescue again with poor information...

Seriously, chances are they're the same steelies that came with a ton of Mirages, and this also prevents dealers from taking the OZ wheels and slapping them on the ES as a dealer option.

 

Dude! That is SOOO right!

saves money by using some crappy steel wheels they already have lying around and they prevent dealer from doing that. AND they also figured that everybody would put 17's on their OZ's and didn't want them selling their wheels to the "lesser" ES owners and confusing the general public about which ones are the OZ model and ES models.

I think it is lousy of to do that. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, VW, etc. don't pull those kind of tricks.

 

well actually it helps you that they are the same as the mirage. It allows you more options than the OZ model. so there is good and bad.

 

Although I seriously doubt that Mitsu was thinking as far ahead to "prevent ES owners from having OZ rims", I think you get the general idea.

I've said it time and time again: the ES is the best of the Lancers (non-Evos, at least) for tuning. It's lighter, no frills, and has a ton more suspension options since unlike the LS/OZ, it has the same bolt pattern as a much much longer lived "generation" of cars and suspension components of that same car. That means more brake rotor options, more spring options, more shock options, and more wheel options (sort of). Also, it shares the same bolt pattern as the Civic, so, there is even some hushed talk of seeing if a Civic big-brake kit could work for the ES for cheaper than current options. This isn't proven, yet, so, don't say it's true one way or the other. Someone somewhere will try, hopefully, and get back to us.

 

Ha, ha, pretty funny. I honestly don't think there was any sort of conspiracy in keeping you from having the same wheels as an LS/OZ.

Besides, look on the bright side.

4x100 is a far more popular bolt pattern, you share it with the Civic.

"Cheap steel wheels" Well yeah, that's the whole point of having a price leader car. Many Camrys, Accords, Civics and Corrollas have steel wheels and hub caps. It isn't anything new.

So when you slap 17's on your ES, just be glad you don't have to worry about trying to sell some rims that nobody else really wants anyway, and slap a couple of drag slicks on those steel wheels, oh wait, got carried away...

 

Yeah, I don't think there was a conspiracy... Mitsu doesn't own a large portion of the aftermarket wheels segment, so, I don't think there'd be a whole lot of profit. There could, theoretically, be a "loss" of profit if they were being put on ESs as a dealer option.