Sponsored by The Tire Rack

[kc_skyrider]

Did you know? "Even a 245/40/17 will rub in the back (which is no wider then the stock tire) due to the low offsets

Did you know? " 1 series racers running our 8.5" wheel with 255's have basically mangled their rear fenders."

Did you know? " I could not recommend our 17x8.5 or 17x9" wheels to you because they will not improve your performance without some other major compromise. If you dial in negative camber in the rear to fit a 245 or wider tire then you will loose straight line grip for drag racing. To fit r-compound or drag radials you would need to roll/flare your rear fenders a lot."

Yeah I asked a question from a popular vendor and these are some money qoutes I recieved from him. Please chim in if you've ever distroyed your rear fenders running a 245/40r17 or 255/40r18...


For fairness I will include the entire conversation in small print. Names have been deleted to prevent embarassment.

Fair enough

However this statement. "1 series racers running our 8.5" wheel with 255's have basically mangled their rear fenders. We don't recommend this for regular customers who are on a budget." I believe is incorrect if your referring to the rear tires.. The reason I say that is I run a 255/40/18 on a stock 8.5" wide wheel. Dunlop Direzza star spec z1's to be specific. I know profiles and shoulders differ slightly but I also use Bilstein's Pss10 suspension that is one of the lowest coilovers available on this car. I've also driven this set up with no other modifications over the "carousel" of the Nurburgring (one of the most suspension stressing turns of any F1 race track.) without rubbing or any other modifications like rolling fenders.

Here are tires I would like to mount on my car if fitment is possible. http://www.summitracing.com/parts/NIT-207500 http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HOO-17330/ http://www.summitracing.com/parts/KUM-1798713/

They are all 275/40r17, They are all much cheaper than any 18" tire near that size, and none of them are available in a 275/35r18 or 275/40r18. Now are you saying that if I purchased this http://www.Wheel_p_17.html 17x9" wheel for an E46 3series and run a 10-20mm spacer that I'm going to cause damage to my car or have to make serious modifications? Because for the purpose of Drag racing. I believe I could easily fit two of these in the back lower my rotational mass have a large contact patch and use a far more sticky tire. I even believe I could do this with 0 camber then the next day swap tires to the one R compound I listed and dial in just enough camber to make this thing perfect for autocross or track. I'm sure that many 1 series owners have purchased your set up and thankyou for making some that are a great fit to the car. I even believe that some people have drag raced with your wheels. However the majority and almost all who are using a drag radial for it are using Kosei 17x8 or 17x8.5" wheels with 245 with drag radials. Just thought if you wanted to sell more product that you would expand your line and you can do that simply buy adding a spacer to the wheel you already sell and it WILL not damage the customers car or be such a fitment issue as you have pointed out above.

I simply wanted to know if you had a 17" option available in a similar width or offset as your awesome 18". The answer was yes. Not "17's are not what you want here's our 18" wheel you must have seen and decide to still take the time to email us about 17's instead"

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Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 13:42:56 -0800
Subject: Re:
From:
To: animalshocker@hotmail.com

Kyle,



I'm not sure what the problem is here. I answered your one question truthfully, and offered to go into more detail had you have responded to my email from 6 days ago. Your original question is posted below:



do you have the same width and offset available in a 17" wheel for a 1 series?


You provided me no details, except a short two sentence email, asking for 1 series specific offsets, which I answered truthfully as "no". You offered no specifics on what tire size you want to run, and mentioned you're focus on drag racing. There is a reason I did not recommend our 17" wheels to you, because they will not fit without rubbing for your specific application. We don't recommend fitments to people if we won't run it ourselves in that application, or if it clearly goes against the original requirement of the person inquiring.


What research did you do that gave you the impression you could use our 17" wheels with a spacer to meet the requirements of your original email message to me?


There are 1 series owners running 17" wheels with offsets similar to ours, but they all have rubbing issues, because they are 3 series offsets. If you have a focus on drag racing, then the maximum rear tire width is your primary focus. Even a 245/40/17 will rub in the back (which is no wider then the stock tire) due to the low offsets. The point of buying wider wheels is to run wider rubber, and you could not have done that properly with our wheels . Knowing this, I could not recommend our 17x8.5 or 17x9" wheels to you because they will not improve your performance without some other major compromise. If you dial in negative camber in the rear to fit a 245 or wider tire then you will loose straight line grip for drag racing. To fit r-compound or drag radials you would need to roll/flare your rear fenders a lot. 1 series racers running our 8.5" wheel with 255's have basically mangled their rear fenders. We don't recommend this for regular customers who are on a budget.


If you can't find a drag tire between 245 and 285 sizes for our 1 series specific 9.5" wheel, then I have no idea what type of tire size and model you were looking for, as you still haven't listed any details in your response. I don't know if you are looking to fit an r-compound or an extreme summer tire. I can tell you teams have fit up to 285/35/18 on the back of the 1 series though. Just so you know, the reason I recommended two 9.5" rear wheels is because some members from 1addicts.com have picked up only our rear 9.5" wheels specifically for drag racing. Front tires do not matter in a drag race, and if you're trying to be cost effective at drag racing then a dedicated set of wheels/tires for the rear costs a lot less then a full set of wheel/tires that also need to handle daily driving.


I'm sorry to hear that you will not be doing business with us any further. I wish you had worded your original question with more detail, or provided more details about your application in response to my original reply. I could have easily explained my answer in more detail via email, or over the phone if you had preferred.


Thanks for letting us know, and good luck with your wheel search.


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On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 12:54 PM, K.C. Brooks <animalshocker@hotmail.com> wrote:

So after a little research I discovered I could simply buy the 17" wheels you make for other models and buy a spacer and have all my needs met. There are no quality drag tires in an 18" diameter and especially between 245 and 315 tread widths which is where any of your 1 series wheels would put me when looking for a tire. When I decide to track my car that weighs far less than an average 1 series any benefits of a slightly stiffer sidewall would be cancelled out by the $400 a set savings on track tires. Thanks for attempting to answer my question. I see how much thought you put into customer relations and have decided to try any other product before resorting to yours.



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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:37:57 -0800
Subject: Re: CRM Request
From: To: animalshocker@hotmail.com


Kyle,


We don't produce the 1 series wheels in 17" sizes. The car is heavy and really benefits from the stiffer sidewall of an 18" wheel in performance applications. If you're interested in a drag specific setup, then you could consider only picking up a pair of 18x9.5" rears and getting drag tires. The offset is 1 series specific and would allow for a lot of rear rubber.


Please let me know if you have any other questions.


Thank you,


On Sat, Jan 22, 2011 at 4:49 PM, wrote:

A ticket was received:

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From:
kyle

Subject:
17" 1er wheels

Message:
Hello,
I'm looking to buy a set of your wheels for my 135i. I plan on mostly drag racing and even when I go to the track I think I could do much better if I could pay $400 less for the same set of tires so do you have the same width and offset available in a 17" wheel for a 1 series?
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