I wanted to get some input on the wheel and tire selection that I'm thinking about going with. I'm looking at getting a set of Stern ST 2 Touring Sport wheels 18x8.5 up front and 18x9.5 out back. Then wrapping them in a set of Nitto 555 265/35 and 285/35 tires. I haven't been able to find very many posts on here talking about stern wheels, so I was wondering if they were a good company that make quality wheels? Also, is the tire selection going to bulge on these wheels are will they be ok? I use my car as a weekend driver with the occasional drag strip visit and open track days. Just to give an idea of what the intended application will be for the wheels and tires.
I run stern ST-8 Hypermesh IIs. If the backspacing on your wheels is like mine, then you will want some rear spacers down the line. Also, finding the right tire sizes can be a ****, make sure you go on the manufacturer's website and check the overall height of the tire. The tire shop originally put 1" shorter tires on the back of my car. with my current setup, it looks great and handles great. Check my cardomain for details.
Spectre. Your cardomain pics aren't working for me. I was looking for that rim for the past couple of days before I order my tires. Glad I found this post. I would love CCW's or TF's Chicanes but I don't have the money for those.
Stern... I've been "studying" their wheels on ebay for a few months and I think they look pretty good. The thing to keep in mind is getting the correct offset. For the 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 I think you want a 20mm offset and 25mm offset respectively. not the offsets in the 30's... A good tool to use is on Custom wheels, chrome wheels, alloy rims - BIGCUSTOMWHEELS, the sizes chart link. It's pretty cool you can put in your current wheel/tire combination and the one you want to run, and it will give you a breakdown of the difference. Ex: the new wheel will be .1" closer to suspension components, that's acceptable for most vehicles but make sure to check clearance....it does this for inner clearance, outer clearance and wheel well. It also gives you a chart with different aspect ratio tires similar to what you specify.
Sorry for the old thread revival. does anyone know what Spectre went with? I'm interested in knowing what the offset he went with was, I pm'd him, but no response...
