Gen 7 Alloys

[mattbagg]

Hello everyone, I'm new to TOC and this is my first post.

A couple of weeks ago I got my hands on an '02 Gen 7 Celica (140 - Silver). I absolutely love it - a massive upgrade from my 1.0l '99 Corsa!

Unsurprisingly the Celica is suffering from the ubiquitous "flakey alloy syndrome".

With refurbishment quotes around the £300 mark I have decided to go for an after-market set.

Like with most things, in order to make a good informed decision you have to do the research - I've just started looking and I have a few questions. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

I doubt anyone would disagree that larger rims look better, but are there any handling/performance sacrifices? And if I did opt for of 18s, would they fit nicely within the wheel-arch? Does this also depend on the tyre?

As I'm learning, some brands are better (and consequently more expensive) than others. My main concern is forking out £500 on a set of rims that will buckle the first time I drive over one of the numerous local pot-holes. Does anyone have any recommendations for a brand that's regarded as producing strong, high quality rims?

Also, what do people reckon about going for the cheapest standard (as oposed to performance branded) tyres? Is it worth the extra money?

Like I said, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

[Scarlett Arrow]

You have PM :)

[mattbagg]

You have PM :)

Thanks again Kev. I'll let you know what I decide to go for and maybe post some pictures.

Cheers.

[Scarlett Arrow]

[LEX-celica]

have a look into some trd rims or even the tsw race rims look nice, i personaly am sticking to 17" but i recon you could get some 18" with thin tyres. now then about tyres it depends on how you drive and wether or not you power slide round roundabouts (lol not that i do illegal stuff like dat!) but i personaly would go for a set of branded tyres(have uniroyal rainsport 2's that are amazing!!! better than p-zeros in my opinion) another option could be to have good grippy tyres on the front and more budget ones on the back a few of my more crazy mates have gone for this and they dont mind puttin their back ends out lmao. at the end of the day its up to you but show us some pics on what u got in da end!

[mattbagg]

at the end of the day its up to you but show us some pics on what u got in da end!

Thanks for the advice chaps.

It all came down to £££ in the end...

£300 for rims + £300 for tyres + £30? for fitting/balancing + insurer wanted an extra £50 (and the value of the wheels/costs caused by their failure wouldn't be covered if stolen/in an accident)

All in all I decided to save some money and go for a refurb. The wheels really were in a SHOCKING state, but thewheelspecialists did a cracking job.

Before:

After:

Cheers guys

[mattbagg]

Have posted another question on Celica Club:

http://www.celica-club.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=87706