New owner. fk8 for the track - should i stick to the 20" or go with wider 18"

About a month ago i decided to get a FK8 for track duties since its a so balanced car. I´m considering going with wider 9.5 wheels and 265 35 18 888R Tires, but have a huge concern about altering the amazing job Honda engineers did with how the cars handles and with no torque steer. Currently what im looking is at 18 x 9.5 wheel and ET 35. That leave me with 12mm more of inner clearance and 38mm more of wheel extend on the outside, so the entire center of the wheel tire will move considerably and this might impact torque steer.

Should I stick to the 20" and get a got tire? although there aren't that many options and whats available is expensive.

PTYFK8

R888R aren’t that great of a tire based on personal experience. I would go a052, ad08r, or Re71r. And if you are serious about tracking I wouldn’t even consider 20’s.

Go with 18s. Many more (and much better) wheel and tire options for 18s.

A +35 offset 9.5” wheel with 265s will rub on track without serious rear fender work. That’s a certainty.

Look into a +45 offset 9.5” to avoid rub.

Hungryhippo96 said:

R888R aren’t that great of a tire based on personal experience. I would go a052, ad08r, or Re71r. And if you are serious about tracking I wouldn’t even consider 20’s.

Click to expand...

Agree, R888R arent that good, i had them and only lasted 2 track days on my IFS i had.

Also agree on..... that considering using the 20" for the track doesnt seems like a good option, but what i dont want to do is mess with the oem geometry, its true that must likely it was not an engineering idea to go with the 20", but they did spend hundreds of hours tuning the suspension and it ended up being amazing. So why mess with it? on the other hand options of tires, better prices with 18" might sound appealing, but who knows......... i guess probably what ill do is to try both options, first ill go with a good set of tires on the 20" maybe Cup 2 and then ill give a try to an 18" and see lap times differences.

PTYFK8 said:

Agree, R888R arent that good, i had them and only lasted 2 track days on my IFS i had.

Also agree on..... that considering using the 20" for the track doesnt seems like a good option, but what i dont want to do is mess with the oem geometry, its true that must likely it was not an engineering idea to go with the 20", but they did spend hundreds of hours tuning the suspension and it ended up being amazing. So why mess with it? on the other hand options of tires, better prices with 18" might sound appealing, but who knows......... i guess probably what ill do is to try both options, first ill go with a good set of tires on the 20" maybe Cup 2 and then ill give a try to an 18" and see lap times differences.

Click to expand...

It honestly depends how much you will actually track. And what your goals are. If you like the 20” wheels, or want to keep the car as true from factory as possible and you aren’t going to be doing a lot of lapping days or just going out there to have fun then go for better tires on the stock 20” wheels. But if you end up going a lot of times and seeing each time if you can get another second for a personal best I would go 18’s.

Go with 18s much better and cheaper

Noize said:

A +35 offset 9.5” wheel with 265s will rub on track without serious rear fender work. That’s a certainty.

Look into a +45 offset 9.5” to avoid rub.

Click to expand...

I don't think he said the car is lowered

idragmazda said:

I don't think he said the car is lowered

Click to expand...

I wasn’t either and I rubbed.

Finally i received my track wheels and tires. at the end i didnt order the 20" cup2 tires, but i plan to compare lap times between the 18" and the 20 setups and see if going down to 18" is or not a bad thing to do.

Since there is no way to get a 60 offset, i decided to follow the geometry of the Spoon wheels, since they have long been a honda aftermaket provider so i went with a 9.5 x 18 with a 40 offset. i got TWS with a weight of 20 pounds (not as light as ill like but its ok) wrapped on a Advan A052. I will hit the track on the 24th and see how they work.

Let us know how these perform. You are running 255/40 on a ET40 offset? Were you advised you will not have rubbing issues with a 40 profile tire in this setup?

PTYFK8 said:

Finally i received my track wheels and tires. at the end i didnt order the 20" cup2 tires, but i plan to compare lap times between the 18" and the 20 setups and see if going down to 18" is or not a bad thing to do.

Since there is no way to get a 60 offset, i decided to follow the geometry of the Spoon wheels, since they have long been a honda aftermaket provider so i went with a 9.5 x 18 with a 40 offset. i got TWS with a weight of 20 pounds (not as light as ill like but its ok) wrapped on a Advan A052. I will hit the track on the 24th and see how they work.

Click to expand...

If money is no problem, definitely go with Cup2 in stock 20 inch size.

I downsized to 19 inch FK2 wheel with 245/35/19 Cup2 and you can definitely feel the turn in is much slower, but you get a bit mechanical grip with bigger sidewall. I also tried 245/35/20 re71r on stock wheel, turn in is still slower and induced bit of torque steer. Before you criticized about no torque steer change, please understand that my local track has a series of uphill and downhill sweeper/hairpin. It’s much harder to put power down if geometry is not right. Now, I’m back to my 20 inch stock with 255/30/20 Cup2.

I tried another car with 18s and 265 PS4S and around +40 offset. It definitely feels off and dull. You can definitely feel the difference if your track got uphill hairpin or uphill sweeper. I can’t power down as early cus of torque steer. It might be faster in a straight line, and that’s it.

All in all, it’s definitely beneficial to have wider tires (with lower offset wheel) ONLY if you have supporting suspension mod, and you understand suspension geometry. Otherwise, I suggest keeping stock setup with Cup2.

Did you end up going to the track on the 24th?