OK My homos. I mean -- homies. I think.

Went in today for the test fit. It's gonna be close but they said it's cool so I'll roll with it!

...however... I'm going to be doing 245 series tires all around this time again :crx: I know the whole reason for going wider was to have wider tires but they just won't fit and I need tires now. The plus, of course, is that the 245/45's on a 9" wheel will provide sharper handling. And they cost less.

And this is just incentive to wear them out sooner once I get the coilovers on so I can go wider.

Anyway... Here are the pics. I didn't get a pic of how close the wheels is to the strut tower because dumb. And my car is unbelievably filthy because fall in Oregon and crazy busy.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1383700680

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...1&d=1383700686

So, I need to get tires but they are charging wayyyy too much for tires at this store, so I'm thinking about dropping the guy who has been helping me a $20 tip and taking my wheels to Discount Tire for tires. We shall see.

Sweet. Now you have the same size wheel and tire combo as a strong track Miata.

:party:

Ha! What Miatas are running 17s?

Funny stuff, you. I don't mind though. I really like Miatas, remember?

congrats to actually committing to something lol

I heard horror stories about GTO wheel fitment, but didn't know it was this bad. bummer

Why'd you ever doubt me??? :fawk:

Yeah it's rough. But worth it. I love this car.

A really nice one popped up in PA for $12,900 with perfect mods.

Did you end up buying something?

nope. I decided if I got something else I'd lose interest in the miata and end up selling it just like I did with my previous 3 lol

Ha. Information filed away for future use.

Ordered tires today. Ended up going with a different place for tires. Went with the Ecsta 4X after reading a lot of reviews. TireRack said it feels more like a summer tire in the dry but grips better than comparable tires in the wet and snow too. Will be $374 after rebate before mounting and balance. Booya.

Ended up going with stock size tires. bwah. But wider won't fit in the front. After I do coilovers and wear these tires out I'll put wider ones.

Should have everything all mounted up Tuesday, perhaps Wednesday at the latest.

Now I'm on the search for aluminum lugnuts.





I don't know anything about aluminum lugnuts.

Would these be a bad choice? I know you typically need different lugs depending on stock wheels or aftermarket wheels. How do I know which type of lugs I'm buying, and if they're correct?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/20PC-04-05-0...p2054897.l4276

Never mind. Just found out that 949 carries some that are only $25 more, and I'm sure the 949 pieces are top shelf. Will order those.

Edit: Just got off the phone with Emilio. Knows his stuff, no question!

Can't wait to get this all mounted.

For future readers of this thread, I was just talking to my friend who has the goat and he said the VMR wheels are really popular in the GTO community, the 2 most run are the 710 and VB3.

http://www.velocitymotoring.com/link...maxDim=918x918
http://www.velocitymotoring.com/link...maxDim=918x918

Yeah, I really like the look of the VB3 on a black car. Like, REALLY REALLY like it. Both wheels are great looking IMO. But no smaller than 18" (18x8.5 to be exact) and that's a 23 pound wheel which isn't great. But the price is good, looks like around $850/set or less?? I'm confused, I'm used to finding wheels listed separately and you buy a set of 4 but I can't seem to find these priced individually.

Yes indeed. That's a price for the whole set. Yeah a good deal I would say, if weight is not a huge concern, though it's losing about 6lbs per wheel vs. the stock 18's (same as I'm losing off the stock 17's) and the price is great for an 18. If I wanted to go 18's and pursue style over function they'd be a great option! No wonder they're popular.

lulz at being concerned over a few pounds on the wheels, on a 3500lb V8 muscle car.

Yah, normally the only time you see a Fbody/GTO owner worrying about wheel weight is when it comes the the skinnies they plan to run on the front.

Also I just stumbled across this, it in no way applies to what your looking outside of it being a GTO and having wheels, but thought it looked decent.
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1383877462

well, you gotta start somewhere right?

less weight is always better than more weight

Why? Still makes a difference. Dropping the weight of each wheel/tire setup by over 20% will make a noticeable difference. It's still a performance car, and it's unsprung weight.

Oh, and I WISH it only weighed 3500 lbs :facepalm:

3770 to start
-100 for spare, rear brace and stuff = 3670
-15 for resonator to x-pipe = 3655
-10 for spoiler delete = 3645
-26 pounds for lighter wheels & lug nuts = 3619

Will be removing the underhood insulation but that's only like 5 ish pounds. Hopefully my hood will stay up after that.

So I'm making progress. I have a soft goal of 3500. We will see. Headers saves about 45-50 pounds. Can find some other junk to take out, remove front skid plate, and coilovers will save a bit more weight and get me close.

very cool man. keep at it. I was going to do exactly the same when I was goat shopping

Jesus! I thought the '13 GT I had was heavy. IIRC the shipping weight on the title was 3550.

Had I kept it, it would have been REALLY easy to pull a big chunk of weight out. The stock 19x9s were 31lbs, huge 14" single piece rotors, 35-40lb driveshaft, massive flywheel.

The only one of those that seems REALLY easy is the wheels. Changing the flywheel is pretty involved no?

But yeah, the mustangs are significantly lighter than the GTO, which is why they will outrun a GTO stock for stock.

Only took them 6 years to catch up :)

lol @ 3700+ lb 2 door "sports" car.

Yeah, all it took was a proper engine!

Driveshaft is easy, clutch change isn't "hard" but time consuming, but still a 1 day job. rotors are easy to change.

Add in a full exhaust, intake and tune, and you've gone from 420hp @ the crank to 430-435whp and you've got a beast.

I don't think a GTO has ever been marketed as anything other than a muscle car.