Project Evo IX – Part 2 – Wider Wheels And Tires
By Joey Leh, Photos by the author
In the world of the Evo’s arch-nemesis, the Subaru Impreza WRX STI, a 255-width street tire is pushing the limits of the factory fender clearance. Too bad for them but we have an Evo.
The Evolution’s blistered and flared fenders are capable of holding a 285-width Hoosier and can swallow a 285-width Yokohama Neova street tire easily for street use, u-turns and all. We’ve already burned up through the stock 235-width Yokohama A046 tires and so have relegated our factory wheels to backup track duty. That is, until we bent one so badly at Streets Of Willow that the wheel repair guy didn’t even try to fix it. Guess it’s toast.
For the street we’re now running 18×8.5-inch +38 offset 5Zigen FN01RC wheels with 255/35/18 BFGoodrich g-Force Sport tires. Bolt-on hubcentric 15mm Eibach front wheel spacers were necessary to clear the Brembo brake calipers, making the front wheels +23 offset. The +38 offset is ideal for our purposes as it provides good rear offset and clearance and, with the use of the spacers, we now have a wider front track versus rear track. This aids the car with front turn-in and grip versus the rear, helping to reduce understeer. This does have an effect on the steering feedback and scrub radius but, in the real world, we’ve found it to be acceptable and faster.
For the track we’ve moved on to 5Zigen’s ZR+520 wheel in an 18×9.5-inch +35 offset size. Our wheel isn’t light, weighing in at 26.5lbs but it’s strong, looks good and fits perfectly. It’s also very well priced. After bending the OEM wheel, we might have gone a little overboard in terms of wheel material. We’ve been toying with the idea of moving on to a 18×9.5-inch Enkei RPF1, which should help cut more than 10lbs of unsprung weight per wheel.
Since the OEM wheels use a mag-style lug nut and almost all aftermarket wheels use a conical seat lug nut, we got a set of 5Zigen lug nuts. They include one locking lug nut per wheel, which is closed end. All the other four nuts per wheel are open ended. To make installation easier, we decided to take the locking tab off of the nuts. A visit to Mack at M1 Fabrication & Development and the tabs were easily sanded off. Now we don’t have to use or keep the lug key with us, simplifying our process with a single 19mm socket. As far as wheel thieves go, we’re not worried. Just need to put the finishing touches on the electrified ultrasonic Evo perimeter.
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