Aftermarket Wheels

Hello,

I'm about to pick up a 2012 iMiev in 2 days. Financial issues have led to me trading in my Evo X. I found the iMiev at a local dealer and for the price and cost to drive it was a great option for us but it will be a huge change for me coming from a long history of performance cars. I will say that I smiled the entire test drive. It's definitely not a fast car but it is quick and fun to drive.

That said, I have always been big in appearance so one of the things I was hoping to change was the wheels. I've done a couple searches on a couple of the big sites and they say no wheels available. Does anyone know if there are aftermarket wheels available? if so where is a good place to look?

Also, can anyone tell me what the secret is to using the search on this forum? lol

When I typed in "wheel", "charging", "charging options" or "evse" it gives me this error message -The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words

p.s. I did not use the " marks in the search field.

I found wheel in this size - 15x4.5 4x100 43mm
Would they work for the front or would width and offset be an issue?

Also would there be a problem with running 15x4 in the rear?

Welcome to the forum!

Doing a Google search for 'imiev forum wheels' will probably work better than the poor search engine within the forum - Nobody has ever had much luck using that

The car's computer functions monitor the revolution rate of each wheel and will not tolerate it if the difference between the current front and rear tire sizes is not maintained - That ratio needs to stay the same, which makes picking tire sizes for aftermarket wheels pretty hard. That said, you will find Euro cars that work correctly with 16" wheels installed, so upgrading is possible. There are wheels manufactured in Europe which will fit both the front and the rear correctly . . . . but they'll be a bit spendy to buy over here

The 15x4.5 4x100 43mm you found will work OK for the front - That's about the only size that will mount the OEM tire size and clear the brake caliper and strut tower. You would NOT want that size on the rear. You'll want at least a 5.5 or 6 inch rim to fit the appropriate sized tire

There are a couple threads here on the forum which discuss changing the wheels and you can learn from some others who have tried both things that worked and things that didn't. I have a brand new set of OEM BMW Mini wheels in my garage which will work *if* you cut the rim on a lathe so as to narrow the width and reweld the rim so you have a pair of 5" rims for the front - Just never have gotten around to finishing that project. If you bought an ES with steel wheels with hubcaps and you wany alloys, the simple solution would be to buy a set of OEM alloys off a wrecked car

Don

Thanks Don for the reply.

I guess I was a little to eager just getting on the site today to post that question. I just finished the 35 page wheel threat on here. There was a lot of good info, especially from you.

So you think these two would work?

http://www.dsgperformance.com/SSR-GTV01-Wheel-15-x-4-5-4-x-100-43mm-Offset-Pre-Order

http://www.dsgperformance.com/SSR-GTV01-Wheel-15-x-6-4-x-100-45mm-Offset-Pre-Order

Thanks again

Yes, those should fit fine - You'll need to dismount your OEM wheels/tires to get the TPS sensors out of them and reinstall them with your new wheels/tires. Post some pictures when you get them installed - Those should look sharp on the car!

Don

I'll definitely post pics. I might start a build thread. However not sure how quick I'll be able to get the wheels. They'll have to get approved by the wifey lol.

I'm all ready starting a list

- Car is silver
- Wrap the roof and hood in black or maybe carbon fiber weave.... it will need to look very real, nothing cheesy (inspired by the Rinspeed cars)
- Window visors
- Tint windows
- Summer wheel/tire combo
- Stock wheel/winter tire combo
_ Suspension to lower it..... haven't researched it yet so not sure if they exist or to make sure it won't cause any drivability issues.

That's all I can think of for now.

Getting the car tomorrow!!

Here's another option. 15x5.5 mini cooper wheels 165/60R15 fronts with 175/65R15 Rears:

Welcome to the forum. I also used to have fast Hondas mainly (and Toyotas) and went to the I-miev. Only reason being the fantastic value, and my Celica (although still fine), was approaching 15 years old.

Cant say I don't miss the speed, but as a sign of the times, an Electric car makes so much more sense these days as a second car - and yes; definitely not slow, high torque makes it a fun little car to drive.
I kept my motorbike for when I fancy a blast.

Suffice to say, I have become accustomed to the range and charging routine very quickly. It has not limited me yet.

The only thing I miss on the I-MIEV is a good sat-nav/ stereo - but that can be fitted later.

melloyello said:

Here's another option. 15x5.5 mini cooper wheels 165/60R15 fronts with 175/65R15 Rears

Click to expand...

You did have to put a spacer behind the front wheels to make them clear the shock tower . . . . didn't you? What thickness? Need longer studs? No issues with the cars Regen system running those size tires?

I have a brand new set of those same exact wheels complete with "MINI" center caps in the BMW boxes that need to be mounted on something . . . .

Don

I think jray3 found out that lowering the rear causes issues with the CV joints, but you should be able to drop the front a bit.

Don said:

You did have to put a spacer behind the front wheels to make them clear the shock tower . . . . didn't you? What thickness? Need longer studs? No issues with the cars Regen system running those size tires?

I have a brand new set of those same exact wheels complete with "MINI" center caps in the BMW boxes that need to be mounted on something . . . .

Don

Click to expand...

Yes, 10mm spacers all around to restore original offset and clear front struts, longer studs (cut to custom length), and also I'd recommend open-ended lug nuts so you can still swap back to stock wheels. A few months ago I clipped a really nasty pothole in a bad way and damaged the 2 wheels and tires on the right side. Thankfully, i could easily swap back to stock wheels and found another set of 4 identical mini cooper wheels with tires on craigslist for $200 total. If I only had my stock wheels, I would have had to pay like $400 for each wheel. And I'd have to wait for them to come. Also that day, I would have needed a flatbed tow home. So while it took some work to get these wheels to fit, it has really paid off for me.

Edit: Forgot to mention, regen has been working fine with my tire sizes.

Picking up my 2012 ES with steel wheels next week. Will these rims work with the stock tires? Planning to install winter tires on the steelies come fall

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-tires-rims/st-catharines/mini-cooper-wheels-silver-factory-oem-rims-15-x-5-1-2-4-x-10/1159681100

pluto said:

Picking up my 2012 ES with steel wheels next week. Will these rims work with the stock tires?

Click to expand...

The 145 OE front tires shouldn't be stretched on to 5.5 inch rims - They might physically fit and air up, but I doubt the tire manufacturer would recommend doing so

Edit: The manufacturer says the 145/65R15 tires are designed for 4 to 5 inch wide rims

The whole point of going with a wider rim is to get rid of the 145's which are very narrow, even for a small car

Don

Gotcha. So is there another size front tire I could use with those rims to maintain the original tire circumference and not mess anything up?

melloyello recommended 165/60R15 fronts with 175/65R15 on the rears and says those work well for him. I think I'll give that a try on one of my cars since I already have the wheels

Don

Hmm tiresize.com says the closest match is 155/60R15 (Diameter of 22.3" which is -0.4% smaller than stock). I did find a (small) selection of tires available in that size. Would they work with the 5.5" rim? Edit: 1010tires.com says 5.5" rim will fit that size

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nle8xnlvy6xvddl/Screenshot%202016-06-03%2011.43.15.png?dl=0

165/60R15 is noted as a 'rare size' and is 22.8" in diameter (+1.8% bigger), however it seems there are tires available in that size too. Edit: 175/55R15 is a better match (22.6" + 0.9%)

Any issues with clearance on the fronts with using a wider tire?

To be honest, our stock tires are a rare size. I've only been able to get OEM Dunlops through a Mitsubishi dealer (everyone else has said they are on nationwide backorder...for 3 years now :evil: ).

You have to go smaller up front for 175/55R15 to work on the back (NA i-MiEVs only. "World" i-MiEVs use 55Rs on the back with a different gearbox ratio). They are too wide to fit up front without sticking out of the fenders.

I haven't tried 175/55R15 up front myself, but I suspect it would fit. But you also need to find a matching rear tire size that keeps a similar size ratio between front and rear. The sizes I used were the only pair I could find that maintains the right ratio and is available in the same tire model front and rear.

Brought the car home yesterday. Definitely noticed those narrow front wheels going 60-65mph for the 60 mile trip back from the border Happy that I made it with range to spare; might have helped that I drafted (at a safe distance) an 18 wheeler for a good chunk of that!

Just picked up the rims from the guy on Kijiji (Canadian Craigslist ). He recommended a shop that could install spacers and longer studs as he doesn't deal with those. Might as well get tires there so they can mount them up and make sure everything is good. Will go with the sizes you got melloyello, thanks for the tip. They are going to check with their supplier in the morning but he mentioned Continentals were available, as well as something called 'Minerva' which is half the price.

Bit concerned about the Continental Contiprocontact tires after reading the reviews on TireRack.com

Most of the reviewers seemed to get them as OEM tires, not sure if that has any bearing.

Have you had any issues with these tires melloyello? How many miles do you have on them to date?