Work Equip 03 vs Rota Flashback vs Drag DR20 vs etc...

[Mr nanotech]

Well depends on size, offset and tyre choices. Take Lon and my car for instance. Her Meisters were 15x8.5 +5 and were wrapped in 195/45/15 kumho ku31.
This is her car


I'm running 15x8.5 -6 Work Cr-01's with 205/50/15 kumho ku36 on them.
This is my piece of crap


In terms of handling, mine seems rock solid. The steering doesn't feel heavy at all and I use a 330mm Nardi which should increase the steering load (feel I should say). Our wheels are roughly the same track width but the ku36 balloon a lot more than your average 205 (hence the flares) and I don't run a lot of camber either. It all depends on how you want to set your car up and what you want to do with it.

In terms of wheel sizes, you will find a lot more cheap 14" than 15"s but you limit yourself a lot with tyres and when you get to wider sizes, you will have to either stretch or run an R-spec which is a little overkill for street. I think the widest 14" decent street tyre I've seen is a 195/55/14 Toyo I think? Otherwise you'll mainly be looking at 185/60/14 Adrenalines. If you go 15", you have lot more choices. I will say that 195/45/15 over an 8" is a pretty mild stretch but I'd recommend not stretching unless you have to as you stiffen the sidewalls up and reduce the flex.

Sorry if this is a little vague. I'm on my break at work over nightshift and my brain is a little scattered right now. Most wheels you will find like Equips on YAJ (yahoo auctions japan) to import, will be 14x6.5 +15 or so. Which is pretty decent and you shouldn't have trouble with tyres. It's the low offset 8" and negative offset wheels you should try to avoid unless you want to do some guard work.

[Mr nanotech]

Well, googling says the differences between 3 piece and 1 piece are that the former might be lighter and can be taken apart to be repaired

The three piece wheels are forged where as the one piece wheels are generally cast. What I should add here is that Work and SSR wheels, although bolted together, can't simply be unbolted and separated. As part of the Japanese wheel safety standards, Work and SSR (and probably every Jap wheel manufacturer) do bolt their three piece together but the inner and outer barrels are then welded closed to prevent separation while under the stress of heavy driving, accidents etc... Basically to ensure strength and avoid litigation if one ever came apart.

[project.r.racing]

I dont think it is common practice. I've pulled apart a few wheels, and only 1 set has had welding done. And it is only a small tacking weld. So 10 seconds per wheel with an angle grinder fixed the issue.

[Jace]

all the popular ones are welded, Meisters, CR01's, Equips, and older stuff like pretty much every "3piece" wheel SSR made. thats why you hardly see customized sets of these wheels (bigger lips etc)

tack welds? what sort of wheels were the ones you pulled apart? the wheels i mentioned all have a machine tig bead around the whole wheel, which is then usually siliconed over.

[zephyrus17]

In terms of wheel sizes, you will find a lot more cheap 14" than 15"s but you limit yourself a lot with tyres and when you get to wider sizes, you will have to either stretch or run an R-spec which is a little overkill for street. I think the widest 14" decent street tyre I've seen is a 195/55/14 Toyo I think? Otherwise you'll mainly be looking at 185/60/14 Adrenalines. If you go 15", you have lot more choices. I will say that 195/45/15 over an 8" is a pretty mild stretch but I'd recommend not stretching unless you have to as you stiffen the sidewalls up and reduce the flex.

Yeah, I'd like to stay 15" to keep on using my KU31s