Review: Kosei S8A 16x8 +38

[sciamop]

One of the big drawbacks of the S13 is its lack of fat tires. I had a set of 96 Supra MKIV NA wheels with tires laying around that looked great on the MKIII Supra (another car that suffered from being under-tired). Here's a picture of these wheels (16x8/16x9) on the Supra:



Unfortunately, the NA wheels were 5 lug -- but I had just put new 245/50/16 Kumho 712s on the back wheels (225/50/16 GT-IIs on the front). The search began for a set of cheap 16x8 wheels. I looked on Zilva.net but I only found used wheels that were $500+ (add shipping too). I eventually found these:

ebay link

I made an offer after the auction ended. I put them on my car two days ago...



-- On close inspection, they appear to stick out a few mm; hopefully a bit of camber will fix this.
-- The bright silver color is a bit much. I'm thinking of painting them black or a slightly darker shade of gray (but I don't want them to match the color of the car -- a bit too 1980s for, even, me).
-- These wheels are HEAVY -- and you can feel it while accelerating...
-- I wanted to avoid this, but I think the car needs to be lowered a little now: S-Techs or Eibachs? Car has GR-2 shocks...
-- There is ~5mm of clearance on the front inners :O
-- From the front, the car has a nice meaty stance. I love it!
-- The steering wanders a little on expansion joints/road imperfections. But the car feels much more planted on corners.
-- With these wheels/tires, the S13 has crazy understeer at the limit. This sucks. Will a larger adjustable rear sway bar fix this? I'd rather not buy a front sway bar/kit as I don't think it provides any benefit over stock. Any opinions or should I just hit the almighty SEARCH button?

Up next: Solid TC Rods/ebay FSB/weld up the rust hole in frame...
Previously completed: inner/outer tie rods and ball joints, tune-up, ceramic brake pads

Todd
$500 1990 Coupe

[knightrider]

i would recommend s-techs over the sportlines

[sleep]

i would reccomend coilovers before the other suspension work.... a good set of coilovers will get rid of the understeer

[TheSparo]

as for the understeer, what size tires did you put on the wheels, or did you use those Kuhmo?