On April 19th, 2006 I purchased a set of ASA AR1 wheels from Tunerworks Performance Inc in Calgary AB. The wheels were 18” diameter, and 8” wide in the front and 8.5” in the rear. They came with BF Goodrich K/A TDW tires in size 225/40ZR18 in the front and 245/35/ZR18 in the rear. The wheels were black with a polished aluminium lip on them. I can’t stand chrome wheels so I thought these were the perfect addition to the look of the car. In addition to the M3 bumpers I acquired a set of front lip splitters. The picture below shows both the wheels, and the splitters after being installed.
At the time the I got the wheels, I was still on the stock suspension. That is why their is still a decent gap even though these are 18" rims. This picture was taken outside of Continental Auto Body.
This picture to the right better shows the wheels. In it you can also see the headlight eye brows and the splitters, both fleshly painted and newly installed. Here you can also clearly see the wheel gap. Ironically enough even though these are 18" wheels, the overall diameter is quite close to the same size as the stock wheels and tires, although slightly bigger.
I quite like the BF Goodrich KA TDW tires. They are found stock on the Dodge SRT-4. I found they had quite a good grip in the dry, as well as wet traction. I have never had any real issues or concerns with loss of traction in any environment. I didn't autocross the car with these tires so I cant comment on their track performance, but for street use, they are more then you need. These tires are very clearly summer only tires. When the temperature falls below 0 Degrees Celsius (32 degrees Fahrenheit) the grip of the tires drops to almost zero. The soft compound rubber becomes quite hard at cold temperatures resulting in a loss of grip. Please note this if you plan on purchasing these tires. For me, because we have a very distinct fall and winter climate this wasn't really an issue.
However the wheels are quite heavy. The fronts weigh in a staggering 42lbs each. The rears, an even heavier 45 lbs each. While this would be horrifying to Autocrossers I don't plan to to use these wheels for this purpose. To me, 18" wheels are more for show then performance. If I plan to track the car I plan to pick up some lightweight 17" rims instead. One factor that is important to consider is the possible increase in mileage due to the heavier weight. I factor my mileage by how many KM's I can get per whole tank of gas, and not by Litres per 100km's. My mileage also varies depending on how hard I drive the car. More spirited driving lowered my mileage so it was hard to tell how much my mileage changed just from the wheels.
