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Budget isn't actually all that high, it'll just be done over time. In my "ideal" world I'd just buy an Impreza WRC from Prodrive and call it a day cavete terrae.

Bigger diameter wheels won't change the acceleration in terms of the final drive unless you don't put on lower aspect ratio tyres. If you keep the overall diameter the same, there won't be an effect beyond the weight reduction. The suspension geometry on the car I'm getting isn't going to change much. 20mm at the most. I'm buying as good of a car to start with as I can afford, and that's a damned sight better than most of the cars out there. Boxer powerplant (naturally balanced, low centre of gravity), turbocharged, all wheel drive with rear wheel bias under nominal traction conditions, manual transmission. What's not to like? As for working on the engine, I'm not touching the power until I can push the car to the absolute limit of what it can do with stock power. THEN I'll add power. The bare shell rubbish is out of the question for a daily-driven car, and that's what this will be. cavete terrae.

Unsprung weight has nothing to do with it. A lighter tire and wheel assembly will reduce the rotational mass, and it will be easier to make it accelerate, but it has nothing to do with it being unsprung weight. Caught me, I used the wrong term there. I'll edit it. EDIT: Guess not, forgot about the stupid editing time limit. cavete terrae.

I can't decide $50 a year for USPA, over $200/yr for Australia, and something like $300/yr for the UK. What's the deal? cavete terrae.

Ok, I figured why you're not making any sense to me. When I say "a wider tyre", I mean the measurement from outer edge to inner edge, e.g. the 225 in a 225/45-17 tyre. That will not in any way affect your speedometer or odometer. Yes, when you go +1 or +2, you need a lower aspect ratio (the 45 in the above measurement) to keep your speedo and odo correct. Anyone who changes their wheel for a larger one and doesn't put on a lower aspect tyre deserves whatever is coming to them Wet vs dry is always a compromise. I used to run Michelin Pilot Sports on my last car, which were great as long as there was no rain, but then I moved to Pirelli P-Zero Neros, then Bridgestone S-03 Pole Positions, which do better in the rain than the Pirellis. As for the handling of the car vs the performance with new rubber and/or wheels, most cars come from the factory specced for the lowest common denominator: the idiot behind the wheel. This is why almost any car will understeer from the factory, because that's safer for the people who never did anything more than driver's ed. For me? I'm a nazi about such things, I don't let other people drive my car, so I don't care if Joe Average is going to be able to handle it. So I modify, but keep it balanced. For example, on the car I'm planning on picking up reasonably soon, my first modification (besides changing the turbocharger uppipe to a model with a catalytic converter), will be new rubber because they put crappy all seasons on from the factory. Second modification will be additional bracing in the form of front and rear antiroll bars, to fix the factory understeer. Then come +1 wheels that are lighter than the factory 16s, with wider rubber. Then bigger brakes with higher performance pads and braided steel lines. Then I'll redo the struts and springs, haven't decided if I want to go with a matched set, or go with fully adjustable coilovers. In theory coils are going to be the better choice, but then I know I'm going to have to worry about corner balancing and all that happy crap, and I'll end up making it such a perfect car for tarmac that it'll be a pain in the ass to deal with on gravel And all that before I even start to dick with the powerplant performance, which is a whole different pile of hilarity cavete terrae.

I'm told that a legitimate driver's ed class can help cavete terrae.

Holy fucking shit That's the sort of reason I asked cavete terrae.

Lame. Modern design for the win, I guess

Ya think maybe your calming manner may have contributed You may want to have someonelse explain target fixation to her too yep ill second that Pfft. She should get used to pressure. cavete terrae.

How the hell do you taxi the fucking things? It's gotta be a pain in the ass to see. cavete terrae.

Uh, you're either not being clear abotu what you're saying, or you're wrong. When putting on a wider (but not larger diameter) wheel, the length of the contact patch is the same. The width is larger. Thus, the overall area of the tyre in contact with the ground is larger. As for wet traction vs dry traction, yes, but that's alleviated by not using shitty "no season" tyres like most people seem to love for some Xenu unknown reason. With my car in the US, I had three sets of wheels and tyres: Lightweight alloys with high performance summer rubber for, well, summer. Factory alloys with high performance all seasons for spring and autumn, because of the temperature fluctuations. Narrow steel wheels with Nokian snow tyres for winter. I ran studded for a couple winters, but the extra noise got on my nerves, so I went back to studless. Anything else is just a compromise! Sure, it was mildly annoying to have to swap the wheels back and forth, but if you have a halfway functional Y chromosome it should take no more than 3 minutes to change a wheel, so if you spend more than about 15 minutes total to change all four wheels, including marking previous corner location, you need to turn in your man card cavete terrae.

Xenu forbid someone doesn't want their possessions fucked up. Incidentally, by protecting the car, he's also protecting the person driving it. It amazes me how uptight people get when someone tries to take care of their stuff. "OH YOU LOVE IT MORE THAN ME!!!" cavete terrae.

That's because the Mustang isn't a sports car Sporty in some senses, but not a true sports car. Beyond that, to each their own. I love jumping, but I love cars too. I can't bring myself to do the soulless front wheel drive commuter box thing. cavete terrae.

Well, it depends on a number of things. First off, people buy wheels, not "rims", contrary to what the rappers want you to think. But beyond the cosmetic side of things, a larger diameter wheel can clear bigger brakes. A wider wheel means a wider tyre, which means a bigger contact patch and more traction. A lighter alloy means less unsprung weight, which means faster acceleration. cavete terrae.

Rule #1 about cars: If you like it enough to care about cosmetic damage, never let anyone else drive it. cavete terrae.

I actually organized the water training at my DZ back in the US. I was head lifeguard at a city pool and I'd have people who needed water training come down before we opened and we'd do it there. Even added a bit of a mix to it by having the people jump off the diving board to get a bit more "landing speed" Between an old-school instructor and a lifeguard both in attendance, I'd say it was fairly good training. cavete terrae.

Tough shit, because what we think about the content is irrelevant. The moron teacher said "do not censor", so he didn't. cavete terrae.

Have you done a night jump from 14K yet Steve? I cnat see myself paying more than about $100 for ANY kind of jump Yeah, I've got a night jump. I just can't log it for a variety of reasons cavete terrae.

The 30k might be about visuals, but the idea of doing it at night is just so intense Maybe I can get a discount on doing two of 'em, one during day, one at night cavete terrae.

Oh, that doesn't bother me. I just can't fathom $400 for a 6,000' jump. cavete terrae.

$400 to jump from a B-17's bomb bay at less than normal altitude. $380 to do a 30,000' night jump on oxygen $100 to do a jet jump from just above normal altitude $80 to do a balloon jump at significantly less than normal altitude. Are these, or other jumps like them, worth it for you? For me personally, I wanna do the 30,000' night jump, and in theory I'd like to do a balloon jump. Jet jump, probably worth it. The B-17 jump is the only one I just can't wrap my head around. cavete terrae.

I'll take any turbine, but I've got a lot of love for the Skyvan. Haven't jumped a CASA yet though. Love tail exits cavete terrae.

staplers make me want to punch babies! cavete terrae.

Funny you mention that, I did something similar. Must be something in the air in the southern hemisphere. cavete terrae.

I think we missed a memo or something Did you forget to put a cover sheet on your TPS report? cavete terrae.