[amanda11270]

Im still toying with the idea of putting a set of 5 spoke S4 wheels on my 88 if I can find a set reasonably.

I know I will need wheel spacers to do the rears.

But has anyone done this, and how did the car feel after? I mean did it feel "correct" or did it feel like it was not a good idea and made the car track and handle sorta odd?

Someone was selling a mid mount wing on here recently, and it reminded me of the two things I loved about the Esprit before I owned one, the mid mount wing (I have one), and the S4 wheels (dont have yet).

I am however not at all disappointed in the factory 88 wheels, the deep dish appearance fits the car well.

 

[91MR2]

Not sure how you could go wrong...the wheels were certainly designed for the Esprit...plus I have spacers on my wheels too for my S4 (I just can't deal with how far inside the wheel wells they sit from the factory...), the only thing I did prior to installing them was replace both rear wheel bearings with new OEM to be sure I wasn't stressing old bearings too much (one had a tiny amount of noise anyways, made it an easy decision)...never had a problem...

And fyi, I love the older Esprit wheels too, just wish they were bigger in diameter...but design-wise, I think the 88 wheels, and the SE wheels were great lookers...

 

[sleekgt]

I have S4s (?) wheels on my 88 - I maintained the same offset (ET -20) by using a 50mm adapter with the ET30 17x8.5 rear wheel.

The OZ wheels you are interested are supposedly considerably heavier than my OZ Futuras - that may make the biggest difference on an 88.

Somewhere I posted the hard core details of BEFORE and AFTER but could not find.

Here's the difference:

OLD 15x7 and 15x8 front/rear OZ Ruote wheels ET 23 and ET -20 front/rear
NEW 17x7 and 17x8.5 front/rear OZ Futura wheels ET 23 and ET 30 front/rear

tires:
OLD 195/60-15 and 235/60-15 BFG TAs
NEW 205/45-17 and 245/45-17 (only 10mm wider front/rear) Dunlop Direzza DZ101

Front wheel assembly about 5 lbs heavier; rear wheel assembly estimated at 8-12 lbs heavier (including the 50mm aluminum adapter).

The grip is noticeably higher with the Dunlops - the handling seems definitely grippier and I hardly notice the weight. The ride is just a bit harsher; the 'porpoising' I noticed on parts of HWY 280 seem slightly worse.

Nothing excessive, but note I went out of my way to maintain the offset. If you change your offset, I imagine the handling may be more adversely affected.

 

[maxvelocity]

If you like the looks of the original wheels and not want to go through getting spacers and such just get a set of Goodyear Eagle GT tires. I think they might fit 215/60/15 and 255/60/15