Wheel/Tire Advice AutoX
 

So here's my situation:

I'm about 5 events into my Autocross career, looking to stay in the RTR - Stock class. (I know, the best upgrade is the Driver Mod) I use my car as my DD.

I currently own OEM wheels with Bridgestone Potenza RE760 Sports - 245/40/R18.

I also have a set of winter wheels/tires that I bought with the car. 18" Kazera KZ-Vs.

My Potenzas are on their last legs, they've got 24k miles on them, so I'm at a convenient place to upgrade. I'm thinking tire-wise my next set will be the new version of Dunlop Star Specs coming out this spring.

Wheel-wise I'm at a cross-roads. I'm trying to figure out the most cost effective way to lighten my wheels. The KZ-Vs are much ligher then OEM. I have an email out to tirerack to see if I can get the specs on the KZ-Vs to make sure I can even run them in a stock class. If I can, it would be an easy decision to put the Star Specs on the KZ-Vs and winter tires on the OEMs. If not (which I'm assuming is the case after some google research), I was looking at the Enkei Tuning Fujin in black.

My real questions are these: how much of a difference will I see by lightening my wheels? Would it be worth spending a potential thousand dollars? Is there an under-the-radar quality wheel I should be looking at? Anyone have any creative solutions to my wheel juggling problem?

The best bang for the buck is the Enkei RPF1 in terms of weight. Asuming you can look past the god-awful ugliness of them

Make sure the KZ-Vs are 18x8. Often winter tires are mounted on 18x7 or 18x7.5 wheels. Wheel width is critical for street tire classes.

Edit - although, I guess that's what you meant by making sure they are legal. STX on the brain.

Is there any reason you didn't read and post in the other Stock and RTR threads instead of starting the same old discussion all over again?

The RPF1 is not available in a Stock-legal offset.

Realistically lighter wheels are only going to be worth about 2 tenths of a second, so you won't feel a difference (or even be able to measure it given driver consistency). However, it is real and could be the difference between 1st and 2nd (or 21st and 22nd) place.

Given where you are right now, if you have a set of usable wheels, I would stick with those and save your money for something else. However, if you need an extra set, you might as well go as light as possible to avoid buying again later on. Tire Rack has several options in the 18lb range, but for the same money you can still find used SSRs which are about the lightest available at 16lbs.

Or buy a set of used wheels.