Budget 8th Corolla Race car: Wheels

Wheels Are the First Mod

Real Wheels for Trivial Money

Mighty Car Mods has their first four mods they recommend: Fluids, Tint, Security, and Wheels/Tires. It’s true and sound advice. Ever since I bought my 2001 Corolla used I never really cared for the style of the MB 747 wheels. Well, around a good 7/8 years later reality hits me in the head like a couple of bricks.

Good wheels cost real money. Your wheels dictate what tire size you can run. Two solid bricks of reality that should be common sense. It should have been the first mod, but I choose lowering springs instead. You cannot stop and grip well with small skinny wheels and tires. The 14×6 baby MB 747 wheels were not cutting it. I even had trouble on public roads and having no abs really dumps all the braking skills and responsibility to the driver, me.

My plan was to get Konig Dail In 15×7 or 15×8 wheels. They are affordable, strong, and lightweight. But right now, isn’t the time to spend big money. It’s quite the opposite actually. Now is the time to build cashflow, cut spending, and invest time in new skills/fundamentals.

For old JDM cars: 15″ is the best

However, sometimes a deal is just too good to pass up. We need to think about the whole package: strength, tech, quality, fit, style, and deos it fit my build or the time of my car’s period. This Marketplace deal ticked so many boxes and it didn’t help that it was for a complete steal. Also, didn’t help to see these on another 8thgencorolla facebook group member’s car: pure hot and sexy wheel. Period correct too!

Why I could not pass up a 17×7 wheel?

Most important: one the hottest wheels I’ve seen on an 8th corolla
Highest Build Quality
JDM High Tier Names
Period Correct: 17″ was the craze back then with low-profile tires
A Price that made me a theif: The seller wanted space again
Already was considering these and the price triggered me

Set of 17x7 Miata Mazdaspeed Racinghart wheels stacked on each other; 3 like pnacakes, 1 leaning aroung 75 degrees on the other three in front

Mazda Miata Mazdaspeed

The most hotest Mazdaspeed that was short lived due to a factory fire. A beauty of a sports car with turbo and those hot Racinghart wheels. Mazda helped corolla owners too. The hub matches with Toyota hub bore. No rings required. Enkei made these wheels for Racinghart using MAT process. The Quality of Enkei, the name of both Racinghart and Enkei, the lightweight and stong sturcture, and the hotness of the 5 spoke design. All for $150 dollars.

It’s like the JDM gods blessed me with their wishes. JDM High Tier wheels. Corolla is going places.

What deos 17″ RacingHart do for us?

This really transform project 8th corolla into both a car I want to drive on weekends and a weekend race car, light autocross in the beginning.

Cons:

17×7 with 205 40 r17 will be very bouncy compared to the old 14×6 that had huge tires on them
Not as lightweight as 15×7 or 15×8
Not as many tires as 15″
Tires will cost a little more
Gearing might be better with 15″ – we did stay close to the oem diameter of whole wheel
Exposes the uglyness of my wheel wells and brakes
Rear wheels need 10-15 mm spacer to not hit sturts
Makes my 2006 civic coupe rsx base wheels look bland
Now we have lots of work to get the rest of the car to match these wheels

Advantages:

The low profile tires look hot – no more truck tires
We can run 2005 Scion TC calipers and 2004 Mini 275mm rotors now
Forces us to get coils to lower car a hare more
Forces us to take care of the style of the car to match the hot wheels
Forces us to run ARP studs
Next time when we get tires we save money by skipping wheels and we get a wider size
These wheels are still light and strong for their size: they can take track abuse
Makes me feel like I’m a teenage back in the hayday of jdm tuning culture
Finally real wheels on my car, something I really like
Makes it a car I want to drive; no low baller shame