PFL 15" wheels - what alternative?

[HFB]

Was chatting to a mate about my MR2 and things that could help in its handling.

We were talking tyres and he said how good 888's are, but not for a drive to/from circuit trackday car for reasons of handling in wet, re-affirming that AD08's are a good way to go.

He went on to ask about what wheels I'm using and when I change tyres, will I keep the 15" ers? Hadn't thought much about this TBH.

If I were to change out the wheels, should I go up to 16" or even 17" and still have them staggered?

What would you guys suggest for a normally aspirated MR2 standard engine car? (hoping for something for £3-400 if I am to buy a set of wheels).

Cheers

HFB

[Jrichards20]

Stick with stock mate. Going up to a bigger size, will almost always equate to a heavier weight. Which is a bad thing. Especially for a NA standard car.

If your talking solely on performance, there is only two types of wheels I would suggest, either the SP12s (Mattperformances wheels) which are horrendously rare, but bloody gorgeous.
or
RPF1s. Which come to a total of 9.56lbs Per wheel! (but are expensive)

Obviously for looks, 15'/16. or even 16'/17' looks much better. But will add extra un-sprung weight, which effects the car a lot more than removing the weight from other places in the car.

You can get the RPF1s in 15's with 7J front and 8J rear. Which allows more stagger. (Which is what I will be getting eventually, 15's front and back. But 195 on the front and 225/235 on the back.

Obviously there are the other options, such a Rotas and Team Dynamics, and unless you are looking for the styling benefits, I doubt either of them will provide much of a benefit.



But seeming that both of these are higher than what you were hoping for, I personally would stick to OEM, they are pretty light as it is, and you can still stagger the tyres.
Also remember, with larger wheels, comes and even stiffer ride. So if you go up to 17's expect to feel a lot more of the bumps.

[1979scotte]

I agree with Josh.
Also if you go up in size the tyres start to cost more.
Get Ad08r theyll be great.
TBH r888 arent to bad. Unless you get caught in the snow. Ask Tomaky.

[JoeCool]

The Stock wheels are surprisingly light for OEM. - about 12 Kg with tyres. The 16's from the Corolla T-Sport are 16Kg with tyres.

I have a set of OZ Ultraleggeras which as as light as I'd want to go for a road wheel (as opposed to a track special) and in 16" form they're 6.6Kg each or about 11-12Kg with a tyre. So you have to spend A LOT to get wheels that will actually improve handling!!! Jrischards is incorrect re the weight of Enkei RPF-1's, they're about 14lb's a wheel so 6-7kg as well.

Wheel sizes are also counter intuitive. Large wheels seem like they should handle better with less flex in a thinner sidewall but that's not the case. In fact fitting big wheels is one of the quickest ways to ruin both ride and handling of  car. It'll feel leaden, tramline badly, and actually have lower overall grip as a function of a less compliant sidewall. In short, you need to know exactly what you are looking to do before just slapping bigger wheels on it.

[Jrichards20]

Enkeis RPF1s are 9.65 lbs for a 15" 7J wheel.

The 16" inch are 14lbs a wheel, but that's not what I was talking about.

lbs to kg went a bit wrong  s;) s;)

[TiM3]

I've been looking at options myself, with an emphasis on track use. I put a bit of a list together, Traklite Gear looked a good option in terms of lightweight and reasonable price;

Mr2 wheel weights/sizes

PFL front 15x6 et45
6.64kg

PFL rear 15x6.5 et45
6.9kg

Facelift rear 16x7 et45
8.6kg

Rota Slipstream 15x6.5 et40
4.9kg

Rota Slipstream 15x7 et40
5.9kg

Rota grid 15x7
6.2kg

Enkei RPF1 15x7
4.4kg

949 6ul 15x7
5.4kg

Pro race 1.2 15x7
6.9kg

Traklite gear 15x7 et35
4.9kg