Anyone know where I can find some inexpensive wheels/tires?

 

Go to any local store, they are bound to have some cheap package deals.

Or pick up any Import car magazine, half of the magazines are filled with rim ads.

 

if you have stock TII rims. just get a set of kumho ecsta supra 712 tires $210 for all four!!!

 

I got my 17" wheel/tire package at wheelmax.com for $750 + shipping with Kuhmo 712's. The usual package price for specials at this and some other places is $699 for 17" with some bogus tires. I upgraded to the 712's for an extra $50. Keep in mind if you go with a cheap package like I did, the wheels may look great but they'll be heavy as sin. I wish I would have gone with lightweight 15's instead.

 

I think I'm about to go 5-lug conversion. What would be some good 15's? Or anything else recommended? I'm not going all-out expensive race car, just something that's good for street riding and cheap if that's possible.



Also, I know people suggest certain tires, but what has good grip but doesn't wear out too soon? I know, that's either ambiguous or an oxymoron, but do your bests.

 

I'd start at tirerack.com and just search around for package deals. Tire Rack has some Borbet 15x7's for $99 each and for really cheap tires, they have Kuhmo 716's in 205-60-15 for $41 each. Those have a 360 treadwear rating and H speed rating. If you want better handling, go with Kuhmo 712's or Yoko EVS 100's. They seem to be the best buys for the money. The reason I said 205-60-15 is because some places won't even sell you a lower profile tire if it doesn't meet or exceed the load rating of the stock tire of your car. Tire Rack and Sears would not sell me the tires I wanted. They insisted on knowing the year, make, and model they were for. I'm sure there are ways around that but I wasn't aware of the regulations put in place because of some lawsuits against Sears for selling a customer a tire that wasn't "stock spec" and the customer won a suit when the tire blew out.



A lot of these wheel distributors you see in the mags now are blowing out 16" and 17" package deals for as low as $599 for 17's. These types are usually with no name heavy wheels and real shitty tires. Tire Rack and the more reputable places will usually provide you with hub centric rings for the wheels to line them up perfect when putting them on. Some of the multi bolt pattern wheels won't have this so you have to more or less eye it up when mounting them (if that matters to you).

 

I got some 15" Rota Slipstreams and Falken Azenis Sport tires for my daily driver for under $800. Yeah, the wheels are Spoon Sports knock-offs, but they are damn good wheels in their own right, and are quite cheap. The Azenis Sport tires are also really cheap and stick like glue. In terms of price/performance ratio, this combination seems unbeatable. I believe 16" wheels and tires are also available in this combination.



-Max