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helium and grip wheels

GET 10% OFF WHEN YOU BUY 2 OR MORE ITEMS, EACH PRICED AT $750 OR MORE!

Wheel width = Grip

Every major circuit racing series has moved to wider front wheels in an effort to increase grip and reduce track times.  In 2012, DTM increased front wheel diameter from 11 to 12” wide.  A few years before that, Super GT moved from 12” to 13” wide wheels.  In 2017, Formula 1 increased both front and rear tires by 25%.  LMP1 cars moved up to 14.5” or 14.75” while maintaining a narrower 14” or 14.5” in the rear.  Who would have thought that top racing teams would have wider front wheels than rear on a rear wheel driven car?  This goes to show that front grip and braking capability is just as important as rear drive grip.  Over the past several years, the Porsche GT3 RSR has evolved from 11” to 12” and now 12.5” wide wheels.  From 2009 to 2011, all of the top time attack teams had 10.5” wheels, in 2012 all the records are falling on 11” wide wheels.  In top end racing, wider wheels equal more grip, better braking, less under steer and faster laps times.

1” of extra wheel width is worth ~ 1 sec per min of track time

Over the last decade the Miata racing scene has followed this trend of plus sizing their wheels.  At first the fastest Miata’s were running 7” wide wheels.  When several racers jumped to 8” wheels, many thought they would be too heavy, but seconds were shaved off the fastest lap times and everyone moved to 8” wheels.  When 9” wheels became available, doubt again set in about the weight penalty.  Within a year, all of the fastest Miata teams were running 9” wide wheels.  Then teams moved to 10” wide wheels and times are dropping further.  There is of course diminishing returns and will obviously be a limit, but the diminishing returns is low.  Wider wheels simply allowed the fastest Matias to brake later and carry more corner speed.  At most tracks, carrying 10% more speed in the corners is faster than doubling your HP.

Each extra inch of wheel width is worth roughly one second per one minute of track time.  For example, on a track like Buttonwillow CW13 where competitive laps are around 2 minutes, you should see around a 2 second improvement.   Each extra 1” provides an increase in mechanical grip that improves both low speed as well as high speed grip.  A +1” in wheel width provides a similar improvement to moving up in tire classes, like an Extreme tire to R comps or R comps to Slicks.  Again, the extra grip gained more than compensates for the increase wheel and tire weight.

If the ultra-competitive Miata racing is not a strong enough proof point, where corning speeds and braking make up for lack of power. How about one of the main reasons the Porsche GT2 RS is faster than the Ford GT (best in class aero) and McLaren 720S (best in class power to weight ratio) around a track?  Look at the front wheel widths, the Porsche is 1” wider allowing it to brake harder and turn faster.  The AMG GT-R Pro and Black series front wheel are even wider helping it keep up with lighter and rear engine GT2 RS.  Wider wheels, especially front wheels are faster.

Helium Wheels for ultimate weight savings and ride comfort

Helium wheels is URGE’s brand name for our 18” diameter Magnesium wheels.  Magnesium is the lightest weight of all the structural metals and >30% lighter than Aluminum while being with in 10% of yield strength.  Taking wholistic wheel design into consideration, Magnesium will save 20% weight vs a comparably designed Aluminum at similar load ratings.

With our design ethos of every pound matters, rotational weight at typical wheel diameters has a 4-5X effect vs static weight.  Meaning saving 10-20 lbs across 4 wheels wheel vs a similar designed aluminum wheel is similar to removing 50-100 lbs from your car.  That is less weight to accelerate, less weight to stop and lower gyroscopic effect resisting the car to turn.

Additionally, magnesium wheels have an incomparably high dampening factor meaning they absorb vibration.  This is a noticeable effect that improves driver comfort allowing for more overall focus on driving.  Finally, magnesium has a fatigue strength that is 50% higher than typical 6160 aluminum increase wheel longevity.

 

S2000 Fitment & Experience

URGE designs have experimented with multiple sets of 17” and 18” wheels to optimize the offsets to get the widest possible wheels and clear the OEM suspension.  We can get an extra half inch wider on 18” vs 17” due to extra clearance around the suspension arms.  The chart below details the widest wheels we can fit with optimized offsets across the most common wheel combinations and tire sizes

Optimize tire widths with your wheel

Another thing to consider is tire width.  Many people believe that wider tires improve grip.  However, this is not necessarily true.  Tires should have a slight stretch on the wheels and be about the same width as the wheels.  Fitting the widest tires possible on specific wheel sizes will deaden response and create more roll due to unsupported sidewalls.  Additionally, tires wider than wheels will decrease the performance and function of your dampers as you introduce a significant damping mechanism into your system.  Extra tire width does not necessarily provide a wider contact patch as the wider tire is pulled up at the edge of the tire by the narrower rim.  The wheel width actually sets the width of the contact patch.  No top tier racing series use tires that are wider than the wheels.

See the fastest tire and wheel width combination Tire Rack test where Tire Rack tested 3 tire widths (215, 225 and 245) on 3 different widths wheels (7”, 8” and 9”).  As we noted in the article above, the widest 9” wheels consistently had the fastest lap times across all tire width.  Again, the wider wheels enabled a wider contact patch created more mechanical grip overcoming any weight increase.  Also note, the widest tires 245 on the widest 9” wheels were not the fast combo.  The 225mm tire that matched the 9” wheel was the fastest overall combination.  The wider 245 tire was loose and rolled on the narrower rim.  The 245 did not provide a wider contact patch, despite the wider tread as the narrower 9” wheel limited the contact patch, so the excess tire width became excess weight.

For the following wheel widths, we would recommend the following tire widths or the closest possible that is available based upon your circumference requirements.

  • 17×9” wheel, 225/45 or 235/45 tire
  • 17×10” wheel, 255/40 tire
  • 5” wheel, 245/35 tire
  • 5” wheel, 265/35 or 285/30 tire
  • 18×11” wheel, 295/30 tire
  • 5” wheel, 315/30 tire
  • 18×12” wheel, 325+/30 tire

17” or 18” wheels

Choosing 17 or 18” wheels can be simple choice based upon a few simple criteria.  We recommend 17” or 18” based upon the following

17”wheels

  1. Lightest aluminum wheels, fastest acceleration (in aluminum)
  2. 20-30% lower tire costs vs 18”

18” wheels

  1. Widest wheel aluminum availability fastest cornering speeds
  2. Magnesium option for smoothest ride and lightest overall weight (fastest acceleration overall)

Custom Wheel Value

All of our wheels are custom made which means they are 50-100% more expensive than comparable size wheels.  The value custom wheels can provide is maximizing wheel widths increasing corning speeds and dropping lap times, with S2000 fitments for OEM and/or over fenders that forged options don’t offer.  Additionally, custom wheels can offer 5-20 lbs weight saving per set of wheels vs forged offerings providing 25-100 lbs of equivalent static weight savings increasing straight and turn in speeds further dropping lap times.  Finally, we custom wheels can offer custom colors and designs that fits your needs that standard run wheels may not offer.  Despite the premium cost, our custom wheel options offer the greatest wheel value for the S2000.

Pricing

Grip Aluminum Wheels

17″ $3600

18″ $3750

  • 17” wheels – 9 or 10” width options, typically ~17 lbs weight
  • 18” wheels – 9.5 , 10.5”, 11”, 11.5”  or 12″ width options, typically ~20 lbs weight
  • Forged & Machined 1 Piece Design
  • Maximum BBK Clearance
  • Silver, Bronze or Black Finish included
  • Custom colors available for extra fee

ready to order?

6 + 4 =

Helium Magnesium Wheels

$5900 (starting)

  • 18”  wheels – 9.5″ or 10.5″  width options, typically <16 lbs weight
  • Forged & Machined 1 Piece Design
  • Maximum BBK Clearance
  • Silver, Bronze or Black Finish included
  • Custom colors available for extra fee

Found something you like or just shopping around?  Feel free to send us an email and a consultant will follow up to answer any questions you may have.

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