3.3TT Looking to buy 18" wheels (Need Advice)

[michaelpw97]

Hi Stinger Friends,

I just got a set of sweet Nokian full winter tires (225/45/18 R3's) for my 2019 GT2 AWD. Here's my Situation:

My car currently has the stock OEM 18" square setup, but with some off brand all seasons. The ultimate goal is to have a mounted all season/summer setup and a separate mounted winter setup.

I see 2 possible routes forward

1) switch the winters onto my existing OEM wheels, make that my forever mounted winter setup, and causally look for a good deal on new (or used) wheels over the next few months for my summer setup​

- I see this as the "easiest" scenario,​

-requires 2 separate mountings which are expensive here in boston​

​

2) buy new (or used) 18" wheels to mount the winters to and make that my new winter setup and leave the OEM 18" + all season setup as it is.​

- means I have to source new wheels before putting winter tires on my car.​

​

Any advice for me? What's the max wheel width I can choose for a square 18" setup? Anyone looking to sell some 18" wheels? Let me know and thanks!

 

[Volfy]

Mount the winter tires on the stock wheels. OEM rims are typically rather heavy and not the greatest for performance driving.

For square setup, the front suspension is the limiting factor. In order to stay close to OEM offset (34mm), 18x8.5 is the optimum width. For tire size, 255/40R18 is about as wide as you'd want. Any wider than that will likely rub against the strut and really does not offer any better performance. Any more would just increase steering effort, unsprung weight, and rotational inertia.

Rears you could go wider, but that would be a staggered setup.

 

[michaelpw97]

Mount the winter tires on the stock wheels. OEM rims are typically rather heavy and not the greatest for performance driving.

For square setup, the front suspension is the limiting factor. In order to stay close to OEM offset (34mm), 18x8.5 is the optimum width. For tire size, 255/40R18 is about as wide as you'd want. Any wider than that will likely rub against the strut and really does not offer any better performance. Any more would just increase steering effort, unsprung weight, and rotational inertia.

Rears you could go wider, but that would be a staggered setup.

Thanks for the advice! Sounds like the move it to make my current setup the winter setup. TBH While the all seasons I have are nothing special, they honestly are plenty grippy in most non-snow conditions for me. This does give me plenty of time to peruse and decide on a different summer setup if I so choose though so i agree that this is the way to go!

 

[Snicklefritz]

A lighter wheel isn't important unless you pay to play with a good summer tire like the OEM PS4 or PS4S. If you don't demand the stickiest tire you probably don't need to spend on lighter wheels. I've been running PS4S on lighter "summer" wheels for years. But lately I've been thinking that when this set are shot I'll just stick to A/S year-round. If I lived where winter/snow tires are essential I'd turn the heavier OEM wheels into the winter setup and run less expensive A/S the rest of the year on the other wheels.

 

[Volfy]

^true enough. It's not like most folks are gonna go nuts with their cars on winter tires. I'm sure there are those who do, but it's ill-advised. Dunno how winter tire compounds are these days. Last time I bought a set was in the laste 80's, lol. Back then, it was pretty well-known that if you get too crazy on dry pavement, winter tires will chunk rubber badly, sometimes entire tread blocks. They are for saving your a$$ on snow & ice, not for hauling a$$ on dry road.

If you have the option to shop for replacement wheels to mount Summer tires on, just about all of them have a pretty heavy performance tilt. In that case, you might as well get ones that are lightweight. There are really no downsides and plenty of advantages.