I have snapped several KYOEI studs also.

 

Just for reference, here's a little writeup I did when mine failed.

http://holunfie.blogspot.com/2008/04/studdly.html

 

Seeing many wheels come in and out of our shop....

It's hard to leave out the Enkei RPF1's, when someone asks for track wheels.
Most will want to have at least two sets, and with the going prices of these you can do just that.
17x9.5 +18 RPF1's weighing in at 16.5 pounds is hard to beat, when the retail price is $295.00 each. Spoke were designed with big brake kits in mind.

Next is the Weds TC105N's
Equally light, still much much cheaper then the CE28N's which are extremely light.
The 17x9.5 TC105N's weighed in right around 16.9 pounds if I remember correctly.
WEDS sport wheels are also manufactured by Enkei Wheels Japan using the same MAT technology as Enkei RPF1's.

I think one thing that most people over look is the weight of the tires.
you can have the lightest wheels, but when you throw on those heavy rubbers... all that research into wheel weight goes out the window.

 

I dont think people leave that thought out so much as realise there is usually nothing you can do about it. What ever is the stickiest rubber (for your budget) you can get is what you should be using. Wheels on the other hand just need to be the right size. Anyone have the link of the japanese test comparing stiffness? IIRC, they said cheap & light = flexible and slow. They had faster times with a heavy stiff wheel than a cheap light wheel.

 

I remember reading that test that you referenced. It would be great if someone can find and post a link to it. . .

 

http://www.speedelement.com/images/h...tion_test1.jpg

http://www.speedelement.com/images/h...tion_test2.jpg

http://www.speedelement.com/images/h...tion_test3.jpg

http://www.speedelement.com/images/h...tion_test4.jpg

http://www.speedelement.com/images/h...tion_test5.jpg

I copied all the pages too just in case they ever go down.

 

Reading through the magazine, they claim on a 65 sec road course the stiffer wheels were worth 0.5 sec.

Anyone here who's been autocrossing a while knows races are won and lost by less than 1/10s at times. If the article holds true, then it really puts merit in spending money on quality wheels.

 

If only there was a "wheel dyno" where we could easy test wheels for rigidity. . .

 

While it is an interesting article and I'm glad enkei did the tests, I think it can be slightly misleading. They are comparing a wheel against a modified wheel. They shaved material from the wheel for the "lightweight verson" which hurt the rigidity of the original design. I would have liked it better if they compared this wheel against one of their lightweight models like the RPF1.

 

i hope you try to understand my post #22 in this thread

we are on the same page

 

There was also a test that Tire Rack did a while back.

I can't remember exactly, but I believe that the 17" wheel with slightly more narrower tire setup lapped in a better time then the 18" setup with a wider tire.

This obviously isn't true in all cases, but just a thought to be had, when you consider where you can shave off a pound or two.

 

i totally agree. with a nicely thought and set up tire and wheel combo is better then get a lightest brand but the widest rim it fits and widest tire idea... which is seems to me is a trend in the EVo community.
While it does sounds good and definitely pimpin' , might actually hurt the overall performance. Specially if the power is not there.

Rob

 

Agreed, but I think some consideration should be given to suspension, while considering wheel selection. I would think you could chose a softer spring set up while using the 18's. ...and a stiffer spring with 17's. I'm not sure many people choose to swap both when making their decision on what is the proper set up. Ijs

 

I feel soo good in the motorsport section :I agree also

 

What is everyone's experience with durability? How often are people seeing bent/deformed wheels on a track only set?