16" Rally Wheels?

[BRGT350]

I don't know if they still have the MSport WRC Academy, or if that is now the DMack series. Those could be MSport cars that are loaned. Pretty much, if you want to get into the sport and have money to throw at it, there are ways. Rentals, customer cars, feeder series, buy your own, whatever. I would not be surprised if MSport techs work along side the teams. They did that with Block.

 

[mykrrrr]

a 15" wheel with a lightweight and stiff side-wall tire would be better in autocrossing than a larger wheel due to the reduction in mass. Going smaller in tire diameter would also help. The trouble is going smaller on the wheel is the sidewall gets taller. A taller sidewall takes more time to react to the turning of the wheel. The more time is indicated by a "sluggish" or non precise turn-in. I had run a 15" wheel with BFG race tire on my Focus. The sidewall was crazy stiff and it was terrible on the street during the one time I left an autocross to grab lunch down the street. Most people I see running a 15" wheel for autocrossing have them with very short sidewall, low profile tires. If you look at production rally cars running on tarmac, they have smaller diameter wheels with low profile tires. WRC type rally cars run huge wheels on tarmac because they run much larger brakes on tarmac than gravel. Gravel cars have smaller wheels with tall sidewalls to protect the wheels from impact. Tarmac cars have larger wheels for brakes or smaller wheels with low profile tires if they are not increasing brake size. As I mentioned earlier, decide what rally look you are going for. Living in Michigan, I get to run a tarmac look in the summer and gravel look in the winter.

2015 Fiesta ST Spring Cleaning by Bryan Redeker, on Flickr

Where'd you get the Martini inspired striping? I want to do something similar next season for autocross.

 

[BRGT350]

Where'd you get the Martini inspired striping? I want to do something similar next season for autocross.

They are my own design, cut and supplied by ReKleiner Vinyl Graphics. You can find Rekliener Vinyl Graphics on Instagram. John has the design that I made for my ST and can change colors depending on what you need. The shape of the stripes is matched perfectly to the body character lines on the car.

 

[mykrrrr]

They are my own design, cut and supplied by ReKleiner Vinyl Graphics. You can find Rekliener Vinyl Graphics on Instagram. John has the design that I made for my ST and can change colors depending on what you need. The shape of the stripes is matched perfectly to the body character lines on the car.

AWESOME!!! thanks!

 

[BiigMe]

They are my own design, cut and supplied by ReKleiner Vinyl Graphics. You can find Rekliener Vinyl Graphics on Instagram. John has the design that I made for my ST and can change colors depending on what you need. The shape of the stripes is matched perfectly to the body character lines on the car.

Well then, I'm going to look into that as well. Do you mind telling us how much you payed? And did you have someone put it on or did you do it yourself?

 

[BRGT350]

I don't remember what I paid for them to be cut. My dad, brother, and I did the installation ourselves. The three of us have done a lot of cars over the years, so this was pretty easy. If you take your time and have some help, it is not bad to install.

 

[mykrrrr]

I don't remember what I paid for them to be cut. My dad, brother, and I did the installation ourselves. The three of us have done a lot of cars over the years, so this was pretty easy. If you take your time and have some help, it is not bad to install.

Next spring, I'm gonna take the wife out to Grand Haven for a mini vacation and you can install it for it me.

 

[BRGT350]

Next spring, I'm gonna take the wife out to Grand Haven for a mini vacation and you can install it for it me.

might be able to work something out

You should come over to this side of the state, it has less traffic and nicer beaches.

 

[Phoenix104]

Hooray! A fellow rally build. =D

So, not sure if you plan on running actual rally tires, if so 16" tires are going to be hard to find. Almost all teams run a 14-15" gravel set up or a 17-18" tarmac setup. I have seen 16" rally wheels and tires, just hardly any. Rocky Mountain Autosports sells Black Rocket rally tires that come in 16" ( http://www.rm-autosports.com/black-rocket/ ) but they are pretty wide, 205/60/16 and 215/65/16. I'm 80% sure they will rub at that size. If you're just going to run more street style tires, you'll be OK with 16".

If you do plan on doing some off-roading I recommend to go with 15". Cheaper, lighter, more choices of tire and... "More cushin' for the pushin'. " per say. Plus used rally tires (aka, take-offs) will be easier to find and buy off rally teams that don't need them anymore. Or new ones too.

Currently, I'm running 15"x6 steelies with DMACK DMG2 (175/65/15 [G42-medium]) and they are great in the dirt. On the road they can be pretty wobbly when changing directions. I'm sure anyone that has run snow tires on 15"s knows that feeling. I thought since the DMACK's have such a thick ass side wall it would eliminate that wobble... but no. I assume that's why all tarmac rally car use 17-18" rims, to eliminate that wobble. If you plan to do more autocross type stuff, just stick with a larger rim and smaller profile tire. I use the stock rims and tires for autocross... they do good enough for me and I keep up with cars in classes above my own. xD

Also, as far as rims go, here's my 2 cents...
Steelies are a great cheap place to start... plus you only need to buy three. Heavy though... (edit: Just weighed mine with the DMACK's on them, 44lbs each. Stock wheels were 39.4 lbs)
Team Dynamic and Briad are top notch, but a bit pricey and (for me) hard to justify since I'm not in any competitions.
Oz/Sparco are good choices, especially if you want that signature look. (Try Emailing Team O'neil and see if they have any old OZ wheels to sell. They are really cool guys.)
Method Rally Wheels are my personal favorite and what I plan to buy. A good mix of strong and cheap (compared to TD and Briad) Subaru has been using them on all their rally cars for a while now, which sold me. Right now they only have the MR501's in 4x108, But I've been told they are working on the MR502's as well.

So, it really depends on what type of driving you plan to do majority of the time. Hoped that helped at least a little bit! =D


Some other good rally type sites to look at...
http://www.specialstage.com/
https://www.teamoneil.com/

 

[M-Sport fan]

^^^Obviously, one of the other important reasons 18s are used by the teams for tarmac events is because of the MUCH larger brakes fitted for the paved events, which would NOT work with the 15s/16s.

You compete in SCCA Rallycross events??

 

[Phoenix104]

^^^Obviously, one of the other important reasons 18s are used by the teams for tarmac events is because of the MUCH larger brakes fitted for the paved events, which would NOT work with the 15s/16s.

Haha well yes... that too I guess could help.

You compete in SCCA Rallycross events??

No. I'd love too and plan too, but they are pretty sparse here on the west coast. AZ and CA have some, but I just never remember to take time off and head over to them. I pretty much just slid around in desert and carve my own rallycross courses right now. Being in Nevada, there is plenty of space.