Break It Down
Cost Enkei RPF1: $271 per wheel; Falken Azenis RT-615: starting at $144 per tire; fender rolling: varies on application.
Pros Much more improved grip and stability in turns. Fender trimming allows for a wider selection of wheels.
Cons With all the right parts, I have no more excuse when it comes to slow track times.
Install Difficulty High; take your car to a professional to have your fenders trimmed and the tires mounted and balanced.
Verdict Great setup for daily driving and track use; I can drive up to the track, drive all day and back home, all on the same set of tires.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am into shoes. Now, I'm not one of those hardcore guys who will wait in line overnight to get the newest Jordans or put the latest Nike retro release in a glass box just to stare at it. I have to wear all the shoes I get; no point in buying something that looks good just to have it sit around collecting dust. The same thing applies to wheels; I'm not going to get a set of wheels to put on my car so I can just have it park there and look pretty. I need my wheels to be able to perform and look good at the same time.
As with most cars nowadays, there are a ton of choices when it comes to wheels, and because this is my daily driver/weekend track car, I had to narrow down my selection to wheels that are lightweight, durable and can stand up to the abuse of crappy L.A. streets. After weighing all of my choices, I decided to go with a set of Enkei RPF1s in F1 silver. For those of you who aren't familiar with Enkei, it's one of the largest wheel manufacturers in the world. Besides being the wheel supplier for many OE car companies it is the supplier of McLaren's F1 team. You can't get more legit than that. The Enkei RPF1s employ something called M.A.T. technology, which uses a casting process that allows them to reduce wheel weight, but at the same time increase structural integrity. Long story short, these wheels are light (only 15.9 lbs) and are more than strong enough to handle the biggest potholes out there.
In choosing the right wheel size, I looked to what the popular track setup is in Japan. Looking at the top tuners in Japan, the majority I found were running a non-staggered setup. After talking to Elton Lo of Raceline and Mike Chang at Evasive Motorsports, both assured me that a non-staggered setup is the way to go. Mike suggested I go with a little more aggressive sizing that would allow me to run up to a 255/40-17 tire all the way around, so I went with 17x9 +45 RPF1s.
The non-staggered setup is the choice for the fastest time attack cars in Japan and the U.S.-but those cars are all driven by pretty accomplished drivers. Talking to Robert Walker, one of our favorite Super Lap Battle drivers and fellow S2000 owner, I found out one of the benefits of a non-staggered setup is that it gives you more control under braking, but you have to be experienced enough as a driver to be able to control oversteer. I know I don't have nearly enough track time to warrant this setup, but I wanted to have something that I could still use as I become better. An easy solution to this came in my tire selection.
Since I help coordinate the Super Lap Battle series, I know which tires perform well. One of the consistent performers is the Falken Azenis RT-615. At a 200 UTQG rating, it is one of the best tires out there to be able to drive everyday with and be ready for track use at a moment's notice. For my novice level driving abilities, I decided to go with 235/40/17 for the front and 255/40/17 for the rear. Once I get better, it will be easy to upgrade to 255/40s up front.