Hello All,
2011 sSport 2.5L 6MT hatch
I am battling it out internally on whether to try and run H-street or STF. This mainly pertains to getting some wheels/tires to get off my all seasons. Right now I'm on a combo of OEM 17x7s (22lbs?) and Kumho Ecsta 4x (21lb-ish).
This debate is largely academic as the biggest influence in the next few years is likely to be me, but I would find it satisfying right now to get off of 420 and onto 200 UTQG.
My goal is to keep tire/wheel no heavier than the combo I have now...and since I will unavoidably be going up to a heavier tire, it would be nice to save as much weight as possible close to the hub (barring absurd $$$).
H-Street?
My dilemma is that there are very limited options for a set of 17x7s with a >45.5 offset (assuming the proposed 7mm bump over 6.35mm goes through...though there are so many 45s on the market, if I wonder if shaving 0.5mm is possible/safe) and even more limited 205/50-17 tire selection. The original RE-11 was all that I saw. I could try and pinch a 225 on there, but they are big and heavy...and it's a pinch.
There are a few 16x7 options that can take a 205/55-16 or 225/50-16, but they are also very heavy and typically represent some down-gearing. I've hit the limiter a few times, being capped at 55 in 2nd, but that's largely been due to wheelspin during newbie sprints.
Looking at my region, I think I could be lower to midpack here, and that would give me good motivation to improve.
STF?
This would let me go up to 17x7.5 and flirt with 225s and maybe less of a gear penalty, but then again I'd be down the rabbit hole of springs and tunes and camber plates and all that...and that might be a bit too much, too fast. I'm in an apartment right now so mucho mods are tough. Plus, even if it's for fun, I'd like to avoid prepping myself into dead last every time, if I can avoid it. The idea of a 205 stretched onto the 7.5 sounds interesting from a grip point of view, but I don't want to cook anything either.
I'm guilty of reading a lot of info that's quite beyond my appreciation right now, so I'm probably overthinking this. I'm happy to invest in a quick set of h-street wheels now and then maybe get some STF at a later date, that I can grow into, but maybe with a set of tires I could take with me? 225?
I can't make it to the next few local events (personal stuff + the NEFR), but I'd like to have "real" tires and my Racing Beat rear bar on by the next that I do attend. We'll see how long the stock endlinks last. I also have a set of their springs...not hard enough to make much of a difference in STF I'm sure, but would probably represent a bit of an improvement over stock as far as rates and COG, though I hear it's a rear rake. My stock dampers are probably ready to replace anyway...so the RB springs could go on with some str.ts or something. (It's my DD/the roads here suck/my ass is delicate/etc.).
Going to H-street also means finding some OEM brake lines and getting them on the car. I got some freebie SS way back when, and they class me up right now. Hawk HPS front and rear currently. Plan to keep those for the foreseeable future.
Oh wise sages, I am humble before thee.
P.S. the other option is of course to just miserably shred the all seasons and eventually try and work toward something like a focus st..but I can't see those recaros being comfortable on a spontaneous road trip from MA to Lucas Oil Dragway or something.
2011 sSport 2.5L 6MT hatch
I am battling it out internally on whether to try and run H-street or STF. This mainly pertains to getting some wheels/tires to get off my all seasons. Right now I'm on a combo of OEM 17x7s (22lbs?) and Kumho Ecsta 4x (21lb-ish).
This debate is largely academic as the biggest influence in the next few years is likely to be me, but I would find it satisfying right now to get off of 420 and onto 200 UTQG.
My goal is to keep tire/wheel no heavier than the combo I have now...and since I will unavoidably be going up to a heavier tire, it would be nice to save as much weight as possible close to the hub (barring absurd $$$).
H-Street?
My dilemma is that there are very limited options for a set of 17x7s with a >45.5 offset (assuming the proposed 7mm bump over 6.35mm goes through...though there are so many 45s on the market, if I wonder if shaving 0.5mm is possible/safe) and even more limited 205/50-17 tire selection. The original RE-11 was all that I saw. I could try and pinch a 225 on there, but they are big and heavy...and it's a pinch.
There are a few 16x7 options that can take a 205/55-16 or 225/50-16, but they are also very heavy and typically represent some down-gearing. I've hit the limiter a few times, being capped at 55 in 2nd, but that's largely been due to wheelspin during newbie sprints.
Looking at my region, I think I could be lower to midpack here, and that would give me good motivation to improve.
STF?
This would let me go up to 17x7.5 and flirt with 225s and maybe less of a gear penalty, but then again I'd be down the rabbit hole of springs and tunes and camber plates and all that...and that might be a bit too much, too fast. I'm in an apartment right now so mucho mods are tough. Plus, even if it's for fun, I'd like to avoid prepping myself into dead last every time, if I can avoid it. The idea of a 205 stretched onto the 7.5 sounds interesting from a grip point of view, but I don't want to cook anything either.
I'm guilty of reading a lot of info that's quite beyond my appreciation right now, so I'm probably overthinking this. I'm happy to invest in a quick set of h-street wheels now and then maybe get some STF at a later date, that I can grow into, but maybe with a set of tires I could take with me? 225?
I can't make it to the next few local events (personal stuff + the NEFR), but I'd like to have "real" tires and my Racing Beat rear bar on by the next that I do attend. We'll see how long the stock endlinks last. I also have a set of their springs...not hard enough to make much of a difference in STF I'm sure, but would probably represent a bit of an improvement over stock as far as rates and COG, though I hear it's a rear rake. My stock dampers are probably ready to replace anyway...so the RB springs could go on with some str.ts or something. (It's my DD/the roads here suck/my ass is delicate/etc.).
Going to H-street also means finding some OEM brake lines and getting them on the car. I got some freebie SS way back when, and they class me up right now. Hawk HPS front and rear currently. Plan to keep those for the foreseeable future.
Oh wise sages, I am humble before thee.
P.S. the other option is of course to just miserably shred the all seasons and eventually try and work toward something like a focus st..but I can't see those recaros being comfortable on a spontaneous road trip from MA to Lucas Oil Dragway or something.