do I have to use the crappy salad shooters, or can I use another 16x8 wheel? If not, what if I used 16x8's from a 97-up camaro?

 

You can use any 16x8 wheel, but the offset must be +- .25" from stock offset.

 

I would have thought it meant stock wheels offered in that generation, for that model of car. Otherwise this means you could grab a 16x8" wheel that weighs in at say, 15 pounds, which would be both a little costly and be an unfair advantage to the others racing in a "budget stock" series.

 

At autox speeds, there is little to be gained from ultra light wheels, especially considering the $50 SLP takeoffs weigh 17# per wheel. But aftermarket wheels are legal.

 

I think that the lightweight wheels do in fact help in an autocross situation. There are tons of accelerating and deccelerating areas. Any extra rolling inertia (is that what I am looking for?) will slow both.
Now I do agree that the gain will be not much on a 16x8 wheel. However, in ESP you have more tire and wheel and a great posi. The extra acceleration is needed.
The difference between the 17x11 AFS wheels (which I use) and the CCW 17x11's is about 6 lbs each. That is 24 lbs of rotational weight that can be reduced.
My current setup of 17x11 AFS's and Kumho 315's are heavy! Weight is one of the factors leading me to switch to Hoosier for next season. That and the extra grip.

 

there is a HUGE difference in light weight wheels!! don't kid yourself


anyhow, ANY wheel the stock width and diameter, and +-.25 on the offset is legal. hence the reason the "top dawgs" in stock classes run lightweight after market wheels(CCW) in stock sizes.


don't kid yourself. racing has never, and never will be cheap. Some of the "fast" fbodies in FS and ESP have run $5k penske shocks!!!


Although I think they are making remote resvior shocks illigal in stock classes.

 

Actually very few cars are using the Penske shocks. In fact I think in ESP the only cars doing so were Eguina/Berry (disqualified) and the Botkin entry (also DQed. The only top FS driver I know of who was using Penske shocks (No longer runs FS) was Alex T.

Almost if not ALL of the top FS drivers are using SLP takeoffs or something similar. In fact I cant think of any of the FS cars who have a CCW or Fikse.
Pro Solo title won by Sam and 2nd place finish at Nationals (in Sams car) and most of the National tour and pro solo events in the east (Mike Johnson) were won with cars that have SLP takeoffs. Alex T. car that had penskes had Take off wheels also.
And whether or not a Heavy wheel/tire can win at Nationals in ESP is answered. I know of one car that had the AFS wheels who trophied at Nats last year. And it was his first year in ESP and the car was not fully devoloped (obviously)
SS..thats a different story.

 

Light wheels are a help, for sure. Aside from being less weight, they make for less unsprung weight. Aside from that, it's also rotational weight! Do light wheels help, sure do. Do you see any FS F-bodies running them? Nope. We all run some stock wheel.... They are actually fairly light considering, and they are readily available.

Schotz ran Circle wheels on his Cobra this year, and I'm sure he did so because the stock wheels on that car could anchor the USS Enterprise. Should I have nice light wheels? Probably (and we do on the ESP cars), but for some reason I have a mental block on spending $400 a wheel for an FS car when $200 for a set is adequate. Maybe someday I'll get over that.....

 

Is 16x8 the biggest 4th gen wheel that I can legally put on for FS autocross? I'm hoping there is a model with 17's that are legal. Thanks.

 

16x8 is the biggest.
If you had an SS and ran in BS you could use theyre stock 17x9 wheel.

16X8 is the biggest. BTW SLP sells takeoffs for 200 bucks for a set.

 

Not in F-Stock.... Have to use a stock wheel size, and the SS's don't count because they run a different class.

16x8 is all you can run in FS.