Wheels / Offsets????

I was thinking of getting some new wheels for my Supe and after reading a few threads on here, there is a lot of mention about offsets.

First of all, what on earth does everyone mean by offsets?

Also, do I need to take offset into consideration if I want to put some 18 inch wheels on my Supe?

These may be daft questions but I am new to this game so need to be enlightened.

Ta very much..

Basically the offset is how far the wheels stick out. See this for an explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_(wheel)

Standard supra wheels have an offset of +50, you want the new wheels to be as near this as possible.

Someone else gave me this excel spreadsheet which might come in use for your search. Here you go:thumbs:

Supra Tyre Fitment.xls

what wheels do you have in mind

what are you doing with your (soon to be) old wheels?

I've obviously looked in your garage and having a facelift NA you may have the uk sized brakes on your car.........do you know if you do?

These brakes will make it crucial that the look at an alloys spec, including offset and face type on some alloys........

as said 50mm is standard offset, but many aftermarket wheels come in around 35-40mm.......front wheels with any sort of dish will usually not fit over the larger uk style calipers at near stock offsets, they may clear at lower offsets but this can cause arch rubbing issues and poor handling / tyre wear.

I mentioned 'face type' earlier and this is where the same type/model of alloy has different faces to allow caliper clearance.......so you can get a Face 1 type Volk blah blah blah with a 45mm offset that will clear the big calipers but a Face 2 type Volk Blah Blah Blah with the same 45mm offset won't......

Surely a lower offset wheel will aid handling (wider track), and the tyre wear will be no different as long as they fit under the arches properly?

(You'd probably burn me at the stake if you knew what offsets I was running )

Stratty, if you want dished wheels, the lower the offset of the wheel, the more dish it will have. Also, the lower the offset, the more brake clearance and suspension clearance it will have. As a side effect, it will stick out more, and may foul the arch. An easy way to avoid this is minor arch rolling or pulling. Not too sure how easy this is on supras, but its a piece of cake on our cars.

Hope this helps

Surely a lower offset wheel will aid handling (wider track), and the tyre wear will be no different as long as they fit under the arches properly?

nope the opposite. Sus is desgned around a +50 offset, anything outside this will cause handling irregularities as the suspension geometry is not loaded correctly.

some of the worst handling supras have the widest track and biggest wheels. I've been through about 5 different sets and now waiting on +47 offset, 18" and the lightest rim I can get.

Most aftermarket wheels are 12kg+ which wrecks the handling even more.

Ahh OK, thanks for clearing that up. I know its extra cost, but if you had adjustable suspension (ie, adjustable coilovers, camber arms, etc), would having lower offset wheels in no way aid handling (obviously if the susp. geometry was adjusted for it).

Also, a lot of the lightest wheels on the market are available in lower offsets only; would the benefits of lighter wheels outweigh the downsides of lower offset wheels, or vice versa?

This isn't me grilling you, simply a debate

light wheels and the closest to stock offset, everything else is a compromise

what are you doing with your (soon to be) old wheels?

 

I've obviously looked in your garage and having a facelift NA you may have the uk sized brakes on your car.........do you know if you do?

 

I have no idea what I am going to do with the old ones yet.

I would imagine I have the J-Spec brakes on it as it was imported last year and there wasn'y any mention of having the brakes changed.

Someone else gave me this excel spreadsheet which might come in use for your search. Here you go:thumbs:

Thanks for the spreadsheet..

It is all very confusing but I will try and get my head around it.

what wheels do you have in mind

I havent quite decided yet.

I did nt want to spend a fortune on them, just something a little bigger than what I have.

I also like the white on white look so may try to find some white alloys.

 

I would imagine I have the J-Spec brakes on it as it was imported last year and there wasn'y any mention of having the brakes changed.

my point was/is that the later facelift model NA's come with either type of brake setup from new, so they won't have been changed by the importer necessarily........

have a look on here for pics (or post one of your own setup) to find out what ones you have as it'll be crucial to know for sure when ordering new wheels.........

my point was/is that the later facelift model NA's come with either type of brake setup from new, so they won't have been changed by the importer necessarily........

 

have a look on here for pics (or post one of your own setup) to find out what ones you have as it'll be crucial to know for sure when ordering new wheels.........

Ahh... okay..

I didnt realize that the J-Spec Supes could come with both types of brakes.

I will have a good look when I get back and let ya know..

Ta..

now waiting on +47 offset, 18" and the lightest rim I can get...

Which brand/model are they? I still can't find any ~50ET R18 with proper caliper clearance...