For some crazy reason the wife said I could get new wheels. The budget is $600.

Options:
1. Keep my OEM WRX wheels and get some Toyo Proxes 4 tires for ~$400. Use the other ~$200 for balancing and pr0n.
2. Get Rota Slipstreams 16x7 and use my RE-92s until I can get more $ for new tires. Will the OEM RE-92s fit the wider 7" rim?

I do not do any form of racing. I have no plans of any form of brake upgrade ever. My choice of wheel is mainly for weight reduction followed by looks. I assume that the Slipstreams, while being light, will withstand normal abuse, is this correct? My tire choice is based on an all season tire with good performance and fairly high tread life. I have NO interest in a summer only tire.

Right now, I am leaning towards just getting new tires and saying to hell with new rims. Can someone give me some help?

if you can scrap another 200 dollars together, id vote for c, buy these
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=598570
i have 16X7 wheels on the re92's, the tires are stretched pretty badly, it doent look too good.

put the money on hold and save it for a plus size tire wheel upgrade..You could get some wheels for 600 and save for the tires later.If not,I would upgrade my tires. I personally hate the stock wrx wheels,but tires would come first.All that hp and your gonna need better tires/pads/lines/fluid eventually...I did all of that before I went the power route.

dorifto88,

Oddly enough, I really, really like that combo you linked, BUT the ONE stipulation teh wife put on new rims was.........no gold. :( Thanks for the stretched advice. I guess some of the VW crowd is into the "stretched look" and I don't want to even think about that. Stretched tires look like butt. :(

enewtabie,
Sounds like sage advice, but I fear that unless I strike while the iron is hot, I may find the $600 used on bathroom flooring or other nonesense like that. :) I did the H-6 last weekend and plan on doing line/fluid swap in 5k. I don't mind the OEM wheel look, but they are kind of a bear to clean. Plus the whole, "Look at him, with his stock rims" attitude kind of wears on me sometimes. These darn locals.......they have nicer rims, but I would tear them down in the power department. :devil:

Like I said above, I think I know what I should do, I just need some people to tell me to shut my n00b mouth up and do the right thing. ;)

put the money on hold and save it for a plus size tire wheel upgrade..You could get some wheels for 600 and save for the tires later.If not,I would upgrade my tires.

The best choice IMO too. Other high performance all-season tires to consider would be Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S and Falken Ziex-512's, 400 & 360 treadwear respectively.

dorifto88,

Oddly enough, I really, really like that combo you linked, BUT the ONE stipulation teh wife put on new rims was.........no gold. :( Thanks for the stretched advice. I guess some of the VW crowd is into the "stretched look" and I don't want to even think about that. Stretched tires look like butt. :(



OMG OMG *** ***

no gold?! how DARE she =(
i dont know what color your car is but maybe this will change her mind.
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v291/dorifto88/IMG_123sss7.jpg

Or gold on black!:devil:

Since the OEM rims actually look pretty good on the Rex, I'd clean em up and wax them like new and then go with the Proxes 4. That way you can enjoy taking on a few country-road twisties. If you are like me, that will give you more grins for the money than just a new set of rims. :D

Tires...tires....tires......

Wheels next year...with some good summers;)

Proxes 4 on stock rims will make your car handle a lot better right now. RE-92's on wider rims will not be much improvement until you get different tires.

I replaced my RE-92's with Azenis Sports in the stock size, for about $340.00. Dry grip > .96g, measured with a G-Tech competition meter. Got a second set of rims, P1's in 17 x 7 with T1-S in 215/45-17. Dry grip in my "test corner" was .93g on nearly full tread depth. My new Proxes 4's are still to be tested, but the number will be below .93g, based on the butt dyno's preliminary report.

Both sets of Toyo's felt "squirmy" at full tread depth, but the T1-S got much better as the tread wore down. The Azenis have felt solid from Day 1. The Proxes 4's would be a good choice if resistance to hydroplaning, ride comfort, longevity and lack of noise are important. For max performance on a budget, stock rims and Azenis sports are tough to beat. With ~6000 miles on the Falkens, they're pretty noisy, but the ride is decent, and grip is awesome.

I didn't have the G-Tech when I had the RE-92's, but the B-D says they would have come in at around .85g. The B-D predicts .90 for the Proxes 4's. We'll soon know if it can be trusted.http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Cliffs notes: Get the Proxes 4's. Great compromise between performance, longevity, and comfort. I just bought a set and they're as good as I hoped they would be.

I'd suggest going with the Proxes 4 ... I was looking closely at them the other day and was impressed ... AA and A, 300 treadware ... and the tread design looks solid ...

they also have gotten some very good reviews ...

http://www.1010tires.com/tirereviews.asp?manufacturer=Toyo&model=Proxes+4

And as noted above ... you'll get much more for your money upgrading to a good set of tires in lieu of wheels ...

so IMHO ... get the new tires ... forget the wheels ...

Charlie

Thanks for the wonderful input folks. I think I have finally been bumped into doing the "right" and "smart" thing, which is getting new tires. I am still pretty sure of the Proxes 4s, but will search recommendations given here and keep looking. Tire research is REALLY a mixed bag though from what I have seen. I want a good performing tire with a good lifespan. The RE92s with their super, super crappy treadwear of 140 wear forever. How does this make sense. I'm not looking for an answer, just sort of amazed that when it comes down to it, you really have to rely on people's opinions when buying tires.

In my young, foolish days I only used Goodyear. Sadly all their all season tires, from the opinions I have read, make the RE92s look like real performance tires. :( Their summer only tires can't be beat though.

Falken FK-451's and don't look back.....;) :banana: or for a bit more treadwear the ST-115's

Get tires, Unabomber! Wheels are mostly bling.

I just replaced my re92's with Falken FK 451's. I get to do some canyon runs on my way to work. One canyon I can choose is composed of tight corners with good hills: on the re92 with Prodrive springs and a 20mm RSB, it was a high second/low 3rd gear kind of run mostly (with lots of shrieking noises). With the Falkens, I am in the high 3rd@4000+rpm/low 4th gear, and the tires are quiet! In other words, on any given corner it is a 5-10mph speed increase (or more), and obviously I have not pushed them to their limits, not a peep out of them. I'm kinda scared to do that.

The other canyon, which I didn't take a lot with the re92's, is long uphills and downhills, more sweepers, a little banked on the corners. Great high speed road. I drove it today for the first time on the Falkens: Grip was astonishing. Again, I would say I easily went 10 mph faster than on the re92's, but realize I was pushing the re92's close to their screaming limit, but not coming close to that with the Falkens.

The most noticable thing about the Falkens is the turn-in. The re92's are vague; steering input is translated into a general movement in the general direction you wish, more or less.

The Falkens are frightening: even slight movements, such as a lane change on the freeway, feel razor sharp. It turns in like a motherf**cker! I can actually see the front end of my car lead the back end now; before I felt like the back end was pushing the front.

The 451's are quiet. Very quiet. I have experienced zero tramlining on LA's grooved freeways. They seem to activate my ABS much less, in fact it used to be a regular occurance, yet has not happened once on the Falkens (but they are 205/50/16, not 205/55).

I give them an A+++ triple gold star rating!

Did I say go for the tires?

your wife's really got you by the balls

i voted for proxes on the stock rims. the stock rims are fairly light and their only deficiency is their 6.5" width. ideally, i would recommend some 16 X 7 2.5RS rims with Proxes 4 tires (or preferably summer tires and use the old rims/tires for winter)

your wife's really got you by the balls


Actually they are in a jar under the sink! :lol:

Tires it is. Thanks for the great advice, I may do some browsing at a local tire store today. The only sad part to that is the only local place that sells Toyos (and the others listed here) is a place called Lee's tires. Lee's is a buy here/pay here type of place that has lots and lots and lots of spinnaz and 190 spoke gold 26" deep dish rimz. :( I hope to steal literature, kick tires, and avoid the advice. Maybe I'll end up with something entirely different.

http://www.wallpaperinstaller.com/scooby/spinners4.gif

Any of the tires recommended in this thread would be a good choice. You should write them all down in a list and take it to the tire store. If you find yourself getting talked into something not on the list, STOP! Say "It's not on the list" and leave. Then, at a minimum, ask Nasioc for a "thumbs up" or otherwise. More than my $.02, but I've seen bad information given to customers at tire stores. Used to work at one....

Discount tires or Americas Tire stores are nationwide, no? They will order anything you want.

If all else fails, go to www.edgeracing.com, which carries those fast and furious brands toyo/falken/etc and have them sent to your house. They are so damn cheap there it will offset the $50 shipping. Tirerack is more expensive, but their shipping is cheaper. Costco mounts and balances for $10 per corner.

I wanted to order Falkens, they tried to sell me Pirelli P4000 :lol: "Man, these pirellis arre the best, those Falkens are gonna be kinda rough ridin..."

Me: "Shut up and order the Falkens, Mofo"

Excellent advice folks! One of my best friends used to manage a Goodyear and he etched into my mind the same advice. I did look at edgeracing and treadepot.com and their prices are with $2 of each other. I hope to get a good local deal and use (if I go with them) the Toyo 500 mile test ride. That test ride is a sweet idea just in case I don't live them. You can't test ride through mail order though.

Why tirerack.com don't Toyo? :(

I've had Slipstreams for almost two years with 225/50/16 SP5000s. Street use only in the Tri-State area on crappy roads. The Slipstreams have held up very well and I'm happy with the Plus-zero setup. I did bend one but it was from, uh, a lot more than a pothole and it was repaired and is fine.
IMO you need a higher budget to allow for both upgraded wheels and tires. :)

Why all season, unabomber?

I do not do any form of racing. I have no plans of any form of brake upgrade ever. My choice of wheel is mainly for weight reduction followed by looks.

I have NO interest in a summer only tire.

Right now, I am leaning towards just getting new tires and saying to hell with new rims.

After being in a similar position only with self imposed budget :), I also got my self a set of Dunlop SP5000's. Better in the wet than the re-92 in the dry... lol... See my thoughts here (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=432520).

Since you mentioned that weight reduction is a concern and tire weight plays a significant role in unsprung weight a light M/S tire might also achieve that goal. To the best of my knowledge the Dunlop is one of the lighter M/S tires you can get and it's within your $400 target as well...

Either way really get some new rubber... :)

I have the Proxes 4, had the Falkens before, and the Dunlops ad you could not go wrong on any of them. But my preference order would be Dunlops Sp 5000, followed VERY closely by the Proxes 4, and the Falkens a little down the line.

New rims are not just bling...shorter sidewalls make a nice change.

I chose all season as I don't want the seasonal tire swaps. It usually snows twice a year here, but I almost always go back to Indiana for X-mas. I need some somewhat decent snow grip for those occasions.

You guys are really piling on the advice here. I think this is my first real post here and I have been saturated with help. :) Thanks to all!

Unabomber, can't you do the 500 mile Toyo test drive if you mail order? Shipping would suck, but just as insurance...

I think you'll like any of these. The are all much better than the re92's. My wife has SP5000 on her Passat V6. They are very nice.

If you get the Dunlops, be aware that the can take up to 50+lbs of pressure, and need higher pressures to get the full performance out of them. 36PSI won't do it. I have my wife at 42 front 40 rear. It really helped the feel...

Ditto for tire pressures in the SP5000 on a suby...

Toyo's feel much better up a little bit in the pressure department as well. 40/36 currently.

Toyo's feel much better up a little bit in the pressure department as well. 40/36 currently.

I agree. 40F/38R in 215/45-17 Proxes 4's on P1's.

why unabomber just take a couple of days and paint the stock rims??? I don't remember what color your car is (I invaded a mach V meet from the tri-state ;)), but there are some very nicely painted ones out there. they may still "be" stock, but at least they won't "look" stock. I run michelin pilot a/s during the winter.....won't be disappointed with those. :D

-wYlie