Why are there not more 18/18's setup?

[nxpham]

hi everyone,

i'm currently have the oem 16/17's on my 95 and thinking about upsizing soon.

i see alot of 17/18's and 18/19's but not alot of 18/18's. the 2002-2005 oem's are 17/17's so i was wondering why are they not more 18/18's setups? is it because of certain looks, ride, price? i have no clue, please fill me in.

thanx

nick

 

[ntgr8td]

First off I can't post pics right now I'm on my blackberry...
I put 18x7.5 with 225x35x18 42 offset in front ..
18x9.5 with 275x35x18 with I think a 35 offset in rear?
Love love love it. Car is pretty low...on a set of coilovers.
I'd would personally never go rim staggered I don't care too
Much for the look.btw the rims are a work emotion cr. The front
Rims are fairly flush with the fenders and the rears are hella concave.
I'm super happy with the look. No tcs problems...no gas mileage notice
I had the oem blingy chrome 16s & 17s on my car...hated to wheel well
Gap and overall look. And I too am surprised you don't see more
18s front and rear. I know a lot of people it comes down to tire
Preference. I noticed it was harder to find a front tire than a rear
But if I were to run a 17 up front...possibilities were endless.

Bill

 

[synth19]

Here is a good thread on the topic:

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1110972

RYU said it best:

From a purely design perspective, the lines of each car ultimately helped me with my decision. Cars with larger rear "hips" like the NSX and the Corvette looks more proportionately balanced staggered when you consider that the beltline/hipline from the back is higher than in the front. You can tell from the NSX above with the 18/18 combo that the rear wheel definitely looks proportionately smaller (I don't know.. maybe i'm the only that sees it). Looking at Corvettes with 18/18 and 19/19 combo seemed to look off to me as well but it's not as pronounced as in the NSX.

The one easy way to understand what i'm talking about is to look at a sideview pic of your NSX. Follow the lower floor line and proportionately follow the top of each (F & R) wheel well. The top of the rear well is easily much higher than the front (with the car's floor parallel to the ground).

 

[RJPKRP]

It's a bit of an optical illusion the rear wheel looking smaller than the front wheel.

In my case (running 17/17) it stems from two things, neither one being the body lines of the car. #1 is the staggered width tires. My front tire is 215/40 and my rear 245/40. This means that the distance from the edge of my rim to the edge of my tire is .5" larger in the rear than in the front (if I were running 255/40 in the rear it would exacerbate the illusion). It creates the illusion that the rear rim is smaller. When running the OEM 16/17 setup with 215/45 in the front the difference from the edge of the from rim to the edge of the tire is 2mm, hardly noticeable.

Difference in sidewall height helping to create the illusion....



The other factor that makes my rear rim look smaller is the fact the the rear has a 1.75" lip while the front is basically flush. From certain angles, especially angled from the rear looking at the car, the front rim can look larger.

As evidenced here....

It bothered me at first, but I really like the way the rims look. However, I suppose that these factors and illusions are one of the reasons you don't see a lot of same size F/R setups.

 

[W]

One of the reasons I don't run an 18/18 setup is the lack of available super sticky tires. 17/17 and 17/18 seem to be the sweet spot for NSX friendly super sticky tire sizes. Even the oem 15/16 and 16/17 are lacking.

 

[nsxtasy]

One of the reasons I don't run an 18/18 setup is the lack of available super sticky tires.

True. None of the super sticky tires are available in the best front 18" size of 215/35-18 (although there are some in the best rear 18" sizes of 255/35-18 and 265/35-18). Until the recent introduction of the Continental ExtremeContact DW, there weren't even any "max performance" tires available in that front size.

17/17 and 17/18 seem to be the sweet spot for NSX friendly super sticky tire sizes. Even the oem 15/16 and 16/17 are lacking.

That's true of the 15"/16" sizes, but not true of the 16"/17" sizes, in which there are three excellent options:

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 205/45-16 and 245/40-17
Kumho Ecsta XS 215/45-16 and 245/40-17
Kumho Ecsta XS 215/45-16 and 255/40-17
Toyo Proxes R1R 205/45-16 and 245/40-17