Two months after I got my wheels, I finally have them on. I am happy with the outcome during this long journey. The dirty car, dirty tires, bad lighting and camera phone pictures don't really do the iForged justice.
These pictures will have to do for now.
A lot of research + input from others (
Andy for minimum adapter size - 23-24mm to clear OEM studs,
John for maximum tire radius/diameter & how to drill for TPM valve stems,
Humberto/Pierce for preaching Pirelli tires for years,
Lance/Andy making me change my mind from black anodized adapters to silver,
N2FX for starting the 24" Wheels Thread
http://goo.gl/u48IHfor and
many other members) has paid off.
285/35ZR24 Pirelli Scorpion Zero Asimmetrico(Street/Sport Truck All-Season)
Serv. Desc: 108W
Load Range: XL
UTQG: 420 AA A
31.9" total diameter
These tires are amazing, I pretty much chose them because of
Humberto/Pierce. The specs on paper are just awesome, but who knows how that translates to reality. These tires are sticky, silent and easy to balance -- I forgot how much wheel weights were put on but it was not much. My tire tech was impressed. This also shows the build quality of these iForged. The
yellow scorpion on the tire is really neat too,
Andy noticed it=).
The fit is pretty ridiculous, in the fact I really can't go any wider or taller of a tire, and the offset is the best it can be for fitment. I say "best" because on full on turns or hard bumps,
I do rub, only the fronts, inner plastic wheel wells. Extremely happy about this, because it's only plastic and won't wear out the tires or harm the car. A more aggressive offset, I'd be rubbing the outer trim, a more conservative offset, I'd be rubbing even more the inner plastic wheel wells.
If you see the fitment picture below, my clearance is maybe 1mm -- just barely -- where the tire meets the lower spring perch. This would be completely different if I had
coilovers and would most likely raise the car a little and would have no rub. Stock springs should probably have no rub.
You can't even seen inside the wheel well to see the lower spring perch compared to my winter setup -- that's how much it fills up the wheel wells. I had to reach into the wheel and back where the tire and lower spring perch would meet to confirm clearance. It concaves to fit, really couldn't be any more perfect. What a relief. Since the wheel is static in terms of the distance from the tire to the lower spring perch, I am good to avoid any tire to metal rubbing, which is dangerous.
Test drove,
no shake, no shimmy -- perfect
custom adapters that are wheel centric and hub centric are worth the extra $$. Even at the dreaded 60 - 70 mph speed, no shake.
Steering feels solid, even with a 10" wide wheel and 11.22" wide tire in the front.
You will notice in the last picture, I finally got a
stainless steel oxygen sensor (02) bung and stainless steel plug (be careful, a lot of bungs plugs are sometimes not stainless steel!) TIG welded (also be careful for aluminum filler).
GTSpec Mid-Chasis brace is also on, I did have to use one washer on each side to clear my
Kakumei Y-Pipe +
HKS rear section. This brings me to every single GTSpec brace except the strut tower brace because I already had a Stillen one and no reason to switch.
On a side note, I dislike the
flat mag washer seat type lugs. It takes extra time to carefully put these lugs on, not really a big deal -- but throw in the fact these lugs are more expensive (about 20x more expensive) too, makes me scratch my head.
Cone seat seems much more universal and easy way to secure a wheel and also helps it center properly when tightening. That's just me, maybe some engineer can explain why there are flat mag washer seat type lugs.
AP Racing big brake kits used to look big, they look like OEM rotors and calipers now. Surprised at how much a difference going from 22" to 24" does to the appears of the big brake kit.
I also decided not to use
TPMS adapters and just drill extra holes into the wheels. I followed
John's instructions to the "T" and it turned out perfect, no balancing issue (exactly 180 degrees of the original valve stem) and no leaks (tires have been on wheels for 2 weeks as a test before they went on the car). I also went with
nitrogen to fill the tires.
As mentioned before, tire sidewall is the same as someone riding on 285/35/22 -- 3.92". This is critical as ride quality, there is no difference moving from my 22's to the 24's and I've absorbed some
pot holes already with no issues and don't have to cringe when I see one (unless it's a crater).
I'll probably ride these wheel/tire setup for about a month or less, then go back to my winter setup. I change when the average daily temperature is 45 degrees F or lower.
Enough of the talking, but I'm hoping this helps others who want to go 24" wheels or just anyone who wants to use the maximum tire size/width on
stock springs or
H&R's (as both have a lower spring perch vs. a
coilover that does not such a wide spring perch, this is negligible).
