Wheels used in competition events?

[RIF RAF]

I'm in need of a new set of wheels and tire for road course (Time Attack) and auto-X competition purposes. Due to classing restrictions being primarily based on tire and aero I'm having a difficult time finding a set of wheels that will A) fit the car. B) safe at 100+ mph cornering speeds. C) not cost an arm and leg. Getting a competitive tire option requires sizing in a 275 or 285 wide and pretty much stuck at an 18" wheel. There's a few options in a 17 but fewer and not as good.
Those of you who drive the hell out of your car on a race track, what wheels do you use? Pros vs. Cons?

G body Cutlass
Wanting to move up to 18x10 wheels in a square setup. Not wanting to spend 6K on wheels and tires when I'm already looking at nearly that in safety upgrades.
Ideally for me there would be some 18x10 Nascar style steel wheels for a reasonable price out there.
I'll also throw out that I could run adapters to get into some more widely available bolt patterns and offset but I'm very unsure about the safety/reliability of it.
I competed in 5 auto-X and 6 road course events this year.

[968ls1]

Forgestar

[Sbeck09]

Forgestar

This was going to be my vote as well. You can definitely get a forged wheel set that is fairly light in multiple sizes for $2500-3000. This is one of those areas where you generally get what you pay for. Just make absolutely sure that your specs are accurate before you order because once they are done, there is no going back.

[SSLance]

I run 18x9.5 (5.0 backspace) Forgelines square on my G Body. Yes they are pricey but you can not beat the finish quality nor truness of the wheels. It is amazing to me how little weight it takes on these to balance out nicely, and the tires STAY balanced also.



Couple things I found when shopping, (1) you'll most likely have to have a custom set cut, hard to find off the shelf wheels that will fit properly. And (2) those that you might find reasonably priced will most likely be polished aluminum which are a real PITA maintenance wise for those of use that use our cars.

Good luck with your search. Remember, wheels are just as much of a safety item as harnesses, seats, roll bar etc.

[slimjim]

If you want to save money and aren't in need of forged wheels, Enkei RPF1 or even weld wheels are quite commonly used on track. Enkei's are seriously light as well, I had them on a drift car years ago but sold the car shortly after so not any real experience sorry.

[TheJDMan]

Take a look at Weld Wheels RT-S series wheels. They run around $650 +/- per wheel depending on style and size.

https://www.weldwheels.com/street-and-strip-wheels/

That said, I'm currently running Forgelines. They are top of the line but they are also stupid expensive. My plan for the future is to use my Forgelines for street and buy a set of RT-S wheels in a squared off configuration for track days and auto-X.

[RIF RAF]

Good luck with your search. Remember, wheels are just as much of a safety item as harnesses, seats, roll bar etc.

This is exactly where i'm at...Second to last event this year was Road America where I as hitting the "Kink" around 100mph. Kept trying to talk myself into flat footing it (car would have done it with the right timing on turn in) but just got close. I lacked faith that my wheels/tires would hold at that commitment level. BTW this was on a 225 front and 245 rear.
Winter plans are Cage, fire suit (already purchased), the rest of the safety gear, a proper race seat for Hans use, harnesses, fire suppression system (one big enough to save me and hopefully the car), upgrades to the fuel system safety, battery cutoffs and a few other things. Only real performance upgrades planned are the wheels and tires which goes along with that safety but all will make the car much faster.