i have trouble looking at rims that cost 3 4 thousand dollars witch would make my car look sick but how do you justify buying rims over performance!
heads
exhaust
ect
even supercharger possibly!
?

 

different folks, different strokes

 

I agree 100% about the cost of wheels. I'd love to go to a 18/19 setup, but the cost is just rediculous. As far as performace issues go, i'm pretty much stock. I would love to have a supercharger but just can't see spending the money for that either.
I do think though if you ever plan on selling your car, which i do to get a C6 Z06, that appearance mods will be a better selling point than performance ones. Any time i see perfomance cars for sell, i think people are afraid the car has been run pretty hard and don't want to take a chance on spending money on a hot rodded car. Just my opinion.

 

To each his own

 

i agree, 4g on forged wheels is rediculous...

but they find people to pay it so what do they care.
(the wheels in my avatar came with my car, i didnt buy them lol)

 

do both you know you want to, you can find a lot of wheels for less money than 3-4K

 

I got some i-Forged Swifts on e-Bay way cheaper than what they are new.

 

My Corvette is the first of about 15 vehicles I have owned to wear aftermarket rims. Since the car is highly modded (590rwhp), I wanted it to have the look to match and also wanted it to have better traction (as it can get hairy on stock tires). So, I went with a mini-tub and CCW505a's with a 19x13" rear. This is substantial effort and/or money.

It looks great and is great for car shows (it can be the difference between getting a trophy or not), but makes a definite noticeable difference in all-round performance. This is on a high HP car. I imagine it would absolutely kill performance on a near stock car.

Here's the weight differences:

Rear:

Stock: 9.5x18 GM Rim - 275/40R18 F1 Supercar tire (non runflat) - 43.4lbs
CCW 505a: 13x19 505a rim – 345/30R19 Pilot Sport tire – 61.2lbs

Front:
Stock: 8.5x17GM rim – 245/45R17 F1 Supercar tire (non runflat)– 40.2LBS
CCW 505a: 10x19 505a rim – 275/30R19 Pilot Sport Tire - 50.2LBS

That's a total weight gain of: 55.6lbs of rotating mass on the car. This is HUGE! In fact, I daily drive on the stock rims, as it just simply rides better, handles better, and has better top end pull. For me, $4k is a lot to have sitting there just for car shows and the odd photo. I wouldn't do it again.

So, I'd say if bling is your thing or winning car shows, then spend the $4k. Otherwise put the money into performance mods. You will enjoy the investment WAY more. The power puts a smile on my face every day. The rims don't......

 

I don't NEED to justify any mod I make. It's called making CHOICES! As they say--"to each his own." Ain't life, and our hobby GRAND.

 

For those of us with warranties still on the car, the choice of going with appearance rather than performance mods becomes an easier choice.

 

I just purchased a new set of forged 19/18 made in America for $1900. shipped. You dont need to spend four thousand dollars on wheels, just gotta shop around.

 

I just did both

Twice!

 

Stock wheels here, the size an weight of the Z06 wheels is hard to beat, an tire prices

 

WHERE DID YOU LOOK!

my car is far from show car i just want some rims to make it look better but i agree z06 stock are light but matching black rims would look so nice

 

I already had done most everything else to my car, so I finally sprung for nice wheels AND nice brakes to go in them! I have 19" on the front, and 20" on the rear. I already have a procharger installed, with methanol spray.

 

You're thinking of wheels as only an appearance option. A good set of lightweight, forged wheels ARE a performance option.

BTW, what's the 3rd item in your performance list "ect"

 

Buying the proper wheels are a performance mod


The challenge is most guys do performance mods, then spend $5-6 grand on heavy wheels and tires, which just negates their performance mods.

each 1 lb removed from a wheel is ~ 6.5 lbs removed from the car.

each 100 lbs removed from the car, or 17 lbs less in wheel wight is ~ 10 hp more or 1/10 quicker in a quarter.

So yes the right wheels 18s all around are performance mods

 

Street wheel

CCW Classic 18x12 with Mich PS 18x335/30 = 52 lbs



CCW Classic Track 18x13 with GoodYear G19 18x11.5x25.5 = 39 lbs


12 lbs difference or 24 lbs per rear wheels and 20 lbs per front wheels

or 48 lbs of rotating wt removed x 6.5 lbs ~ 312 lbs removed from the car or ~30-31 HP more by lighter wheels

so YES the right wheels are performance mods.

 

I did the CCW wheel upgrade a couple of summers ago to take care of the "show", and only this past winter/spring installed an A&A S/C to take care of the "go"....be patient and look for a nice set of used rims & tires as they come up fairly often..

 

Do you see yourself racing every weekend? or autox every weekend? if not then its easier. My 02 z06 has a stinger catback and vararam intake and then i put 19s and 20s on it which i purchased used in great conditon from a forum member on here...Id rather get compliments on how the car looks sexy rather than having a blower under teh hood (which i had on my last mustang)...not saying that the power wont come..its just not first priority to me...headers are next month for me btw..