Hello all,

I am one of those frustrated buyers who wants to upgrade his wheels WITHOUT increasing weight -- or going over $200 a wheel. Obviously the price limit kills a lot of the obvious solutions!

One options that seems attractive are the Konig wheels (Driver and Septor models, specifically) -- any experience with these? Does Konig have any ultra-lightweight models? I'd like to go 17" and stay under 16.5 lbs a wheel, or stay 16" and go below 16lb if possible.

How about Enkei RC5s?

 

Konigs are ok but if you want some affordable lightweight wheels you should check Rota wheels at subydude.com

 

Rotas seem perfect for you: Lightweight and inexpensive. I don't particularly recommend Konig's, their quality just doesn't seem up to par (I've a few friends that have them and are not particularly happy with them).

 

Rotas are the wheels to go for on a Subie for the perfect blend of performance & practicality.

 

I could be wrong, but IIRC, some of Konig's rims are made by Rota.

 

Thanks for your suggestions -- I have looked into Rota wheels several times. Unfortunately, the only Rota style I like (I HATE the subzeros!) is the heavy one, the Formels. Also, no local dealers carry them, so I'd have to mail-order, THEN get some tires, THEN go to a shop and get them mounted and balanced (which shops hate to do, when they didn't sell you the stuff). I'd rather just do wheels-tire-mount in one shot, which is why I was considering the Konigs; the local Discount Tires carries the entire line of them, as well as the tires I want.

 

local tire shops don't hate it when you get tires mounted there and didn't buy from them, i always buy tires from tire rack and then just go to discount tire and they could care less if i bought from them, they are getting paid to do the work.

i wouldn't buy konigs though, in my opinion like mentioned above, they are not known for being that high in quality

 

i'd have to second wrx ish.. i've had several sets of tires and wheels bought separately and brought to tire places to mount (america's tire co) and have never had a problem. they are still sooper friendly and nice

 

Hmm... this raises a logistical issue I've been puzzling over... if I DID buy new rims and tires, how would I actually transport them to the shop to get them mounted? Can you fit four wheels and tires into a WRX?

Also, supposing I want to keep the stock tires and wheels (perhaps try them on eBay) -- how would I get those nasty, dirty wheels back to my house without destroying my trunk and back seat? I suppose I could get some super-duty trash bags or plastic and just bag 'em...

 

the drivers are 18.2 lbs or something for the 16.

i love them, but it's to heavy.

we are in the same boat my friend, i have been looking for a long time to find a nice 16 inch wheel that is light and well priced. not easy.

~SGD

 

Well, from my point of view, I do know that some people in the industry are not enthusiastic about mounting someone else's tires for a customer (BTW, I pimp tread @ SAC). At one store I worked in, a Volk TE-37 was scratched while mounting loose tires that were not our own. The guy paid $18 per wheel for the mount & balance, & we paid $400 for a new wheel. Of course that is a training issue, but there are people in the automotive industry that work on cars as if it's still 1965. BUT you can buy Rotas @ America's Tire Co. All you have to do is ask. Hell, I aalmost bought some SDRs last March from them. Also, I know that if you buy tires or wheels from Tirerack, you can get them to send the product to a shop, so you don't have to transport them. BTW, ATC also carries 5Zigen wheels -> FN01RCs

 

With the price range you want for wheels your choice is very very limited...

 

yes you can fit 4 wheels and tires into a wrx and they will put your old ones into a nice plastic bags so you can transport them and keep everything clean

 

I did what your talking about a couple of months ago. I bought the a set of Rota Tarmac's from Subydude and had them shipped to my house then took the wheels out of the boxes and stacked them carefully in the trunk with moving blankets went to discount tire where I had some Conti-Sport Extreme Contact 225/45R17's installed for about $115 a tire after a little haggling. Then leaving the OE wheels/tires on the car put the new tire/wheel combo in tire bags (discount has bags specially designed for this and they're free) with two in the trunk and two in the back seat and drove back home. I then raised the car and removed the wheels myself one at a time and put the new ones on with black McGard spline drives and torqed them down to 62ft/lbs (OE spec is 58-72 ft/lbs). It was pretty painless, BTW with the expense of the lugnuts at around $80 and the fact I didn't want the wheels installed at that point I prefered to install them myself later, but it would be just as easy to have discount do it and at no add'l cost. Hope this helps

-Sal

 

My friend has the 5Zigen FN01R-C wheels on his WRX. They're light, inexpensive, and look great. His car is the silver one on the 5Zigen website.