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Enkei Raijin + Michelin Pilot Super Sports

Aries Pope

Aries Pope

Ready to race!
I installed my new Enkei Raijins in Hyper Silver this morning! I got them wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sports, 225/40ZR18.







First off, thanks to Tire Rack --- ordered the wheel & tire package through the sponsor link (Thanks, Sonny!) and was very happy with the packaging, mounting job, and instructions.

Second, thanks to the forum members for great advice. Picked up a tire hanger, Gorilla wrench, and the Harbor Freight low profile racing jack, all of which made the install job smooth.

The Enkei Raijins look even better in person than the photos. They are about 4 or 5 pounds lighter than the Serron + Pirellis each. They also have more internal clearance than the Serrons --- I got tons of room in there for a BBK now. :) Immediately I felt the difference in losing a few pounds --- the steering felt more nimble and responsive. Of course, I also felt a little more of the bumps on the shitty highway... I guess the extra weight made the tires absorb more shock on the Serrons due to inertia, now more of it gets up into the suspension. Pretty mild and totally worth the increased feel, though.

The Michelin PSS's are incredible! They started a little squirrely as the instructions mentioned was from the curing process, so I drove them carefully for a bit until they started to feel more grippy. After 50 miles they felt much better than the stock Pirelli's already, and I suspect they'll get even better as I put a few more miles on them. The first thing I noticed was how quiet they were compared to the Pirelli's. I knew the stockers were getting loud, but damn, the silence was welcome!

Now: a few nitpicks & questions... I have this feeling that I have gained wheel gap. Not sure how, but it really looks like I have more gap with the new wheels and tires. I'm trying to figure that one out. I put the old wheels next to it, and they definitely look like a quarter inch or so bigger. Maybe it's an illusion because they're more flush. I don't know.

I also liked the wheel bolt caps on the Serrons... It's just raw bolts now, not sure how I feel about that. I'm thinking of getting the wheel lock set from Tire Rack, not sure they'll look better or not. Anyone chime in on this? I'm fine with the Enkei caps.

It's going to be a fun week! I should have my K04 installed by next weekend and can really try out those Michelins!
 
J

jeffreyj

Ready to race!
Man, I love those wheels...and those tires are supposed to be bad a$$ too! I've got the Serrons with stock tires now and was wondering what type of driving change this exact wheel/tire set up would have vs. the Serrons. Noticed you said more nimble, responsive and the tires are quieter, but wonder if the outlay would be worth it for my 2,500 mile tires or just wait until the tires are toast, sell the Serrons, then make the move?

Your wheel gap looks good to me. I sometimes don't like my stock wheel gap, but from other angles, it doesn't bother me. Pic 3 & 4 look really good to me as far as gap is concerned. Much lower than your DG springs and I think I'd be stressing over every little pot hole/speed bump/construction zone/road debris.
 
veedoubleme

veedoubleme

Go Kart Champion
Looks great! I was thinking of getting a set of black wheel bolts for my Raijins. These would be the correct ones: Black Lug Bolt 14mmx1.50 Conical Seat 28mm Shank

As for wheel gap, the spec on the tire height for your Michelins is 25.1 unches and the Pirellis are 25.0 inches, so it's not that. Could be due to the wider wheel, or an optical illusion, or a combination. :iono:

Also, a big tip for you, SAVE 5 OEM WHEEL BOLTS AND PUT THEM WITH YOUR SPARE. Your spare tire needs the OEM bolts, which are different.
 
cwGTIautobahn

cwGTIautobahn

Ready to race!
Nice set up. Looks great!
 
RacingManiac

RacingManiac

Drag Race Newbie
Its just optical illusion I think...the Detroit looks bigger just because the amount of wheel you are seeing with its big flat face...
 
Aries Pope

Aries Pope

Ready to race!
veedoubleme said:
Looks great! I was thinking of getting a set of black wheel bolts for my Raijins. These would be the correct ones: Black Lug Bolt 14mmx1.50 Conical Seat 28mm Shank

As for wheel gap, the spec on the tire height for your Michelins is 25.1 unches and the Pirellis are 25.0 inches, so it's not that. Could be due to the wider wheel, or an optical illusion, or a combination. :iono:

Also, a big tip for you, SAVE 5 OEM WHEEL BOLTS AND PUT THEM WITH YOUR SPARE. Your spare tire needs the OEM bolts, which are different.
Click to expand...

Maybe they just needed to settle again after being jacked up, or one of those ground angle things (the DG are very sensitive to any tilt).

That is great advice... The Tire Rack install guide mentions this too (yeah I actually RTFM) so I ziplocked 5 of them up and threw them in with the spare. Thanks for mentioning it though! I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't seen that.
 
Aries Pope

Aries Pope

Ready to race!
jeffreyj said:
Man, I love those wheels...and those tires are supposed to be bad a$$ too! I've got the Serrons with stock tires now and was wondering what type of driving change this exact wheel/tire set up would have vs. the Serrons. Noticed you said more nimble, responsive and the tires are quieter, but wonder if the outlay would be worth it for my 2,500 mile tires or just wait until the tires are toast, sell the Serrons, then make the move?
Click to expand...

They're still breaking in (and my wife was with me), so I didn't go nuts with them yet. That said, there's definitely MORE going on with these tires across the board. For example, I did try some hard stops (same place I did my brake bedding) and the ABS weren't coming on where the Pirelli's used to kick in. I didn't measure distances, but just the lack of ABS at a reasonable "hard" stop made it clear I would be able to stop faster. It also *felt* much more stable and planted during the deceleration.

I didn't do any launches yet either, but a few rolling onramp WOTs starting in 2nd and I got one little chirp where my Pirelli's would have squealed like stuck pigs. And again, that was with these having only like twenty miles on them and still being slippery. Hoping to beat on them some more today, see how they fare with some launches.

They just make the car feel a lot more planted. Heard so many good things from forum members on summer tires, glad I finally bit the bullet. I had been planning to use the Pirelli's as "K04 Testing" and burn them down, but decided to be wise and put the Serrons in storage since I roadtrip to cold places sometimes and I might want to swap them out.

If you're gonna sell the old wheels with the stock rubber to offset the cost, I've seen pretty new Serron sets sell for like $1200-$1300. That's like 2/3 the cost of this setup. For $500-$700 cash outlay on top, I think the performance increase would be WELL worth that money!

I think I'd be stressing over every little pot hole/speed bump/construction zone/road debris.
Click to expand...

I have been doing that since I got the DG Springs. Price you pay. Those crappy holey country roads are the only place where I might have to use a turnout and let some soccermom SUV with giant wheel gap and massive walls of rubber go by me. Then I blow by them again when the road clears up.
 
J

jeffreyj

Ready to race!
Thanks for the good feedback. Selling mine with the tires is an option I didn't even think about. Hmmm...wheels are turning now. Damn this forum for 'helping' me spend my hard earned money!

Will stay tuned here to see how things progress as you get used to them. I'd really only consider this if there's no real trade off in ride, but upgrade in performance is enough to offset the process (kinda why I haven't done the DG springs yet).
 
Tk_mkv1

Tk_mkv1

Go Kart Champion
i just saw your avatar with your enkei rims, i also drive an autobahn with serrons and planning on getting either raijins or neuspeed RSe12. i just wanted to know that does the ride for enkei w/ mics feel the same versus the serrons with dunlops?
 
Aries Pope

Aries Pope

Ready to race!
Tkulhanc134 said:
i just saw your avatar with your enkei rims, i also drive an autobahn with serrons and planning on getting either raijins or neuspeed RSe12. i just wanted to know that does the ride for enkei w/ mics feel the same versus the serrons with dunlops?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you're asking. The new tires over the stock pirellis were like night and day. No more spinning off the line with gentle gas, no more squealing on moderate hairpins. These are by far the best tires I have ever had. Still no chance to drive them in the wet but I have read good things. The car feels way more planted and sure on every corner, and much more sure footed coming off the line fast with the k04 power. Totally worth it in my book.

The wheels add a little, sure. I can feel more of the road and the car feels merge nimble immediately, though that feeling goes away quickly as you get used to it. The tires keep on giving. It's only like 5 pounds a corner, so not immense, but noticeable. I think any quality light wheel would be fine, it's based on taste. I still like the Serrons, I kept them with the all seasons for now in case I get bored with the raijins.
 
jolebole

jolebole

Ready to race!
Aries Pope said:
I installed my new Enkei Raijins in Hyper Silver this morning! I got them wrapped in Michelin Pilot Super Sports, 225/40ZR18.







First off, thanks to Tire Rack --- ordered the wheel & tire package through the sponsor link (Thanks, Sonny!) and was very happy with the packaging, mounting job, and instructions.

Second, thanks to the forum members for great advice. Picked up a tire hanger, Gorilla wrench, and the Harbor Freight low profile racing jack, all of which made the install job smooth.

The Enkei Raijins look even better in person than the photos. They are about 4 or 5 pounds lighter than the Serron + Pirellis each. They also have more internal clearance than the Serrons --- I got tons of room in there for a BBK now. :) Immediately I felt the difference in losing a few pounds --- the steering felt more nimble and responsive. Of course, I also felt a little more of the bumps on the shitty highway... I guess the extra weight made the tires absorb more shock on the Serrons due to inertia, now more of it gets up into the suspension. Pretty mild and totally worth the increased feel, though.

The Michelin PSS's are incredible! They started a little squirrely as the instructions mentioned was from the curing process, so I drove them carefully for a bit until they started to feel more grippy. After 50 miles they felt much better than the stock Pirelli's already, and I suspect they'll get even better as I put a few more miles on them. The first thing I noticed was how quiet they were compared to the Pirelli's. I knew the stockers were getting loud, but damn, the silence was welcome!

Now: a few nitpicks & questions... I have this feeling that I have gained wheel gap. Not sure how, but it really looks like I have more gap with the new wheels and tires. I'm trying to figure that one out. I put the old wheels next to it, and they definitely look like a quarter inch or so bigger. Maybe it's an illusion because they're more flush. I don't know.

I also liked the wheel bolt caps on the Serrons... It's just raw bolts now, not sure how I feel about that. I'm thinking of getting the wheel lock set from Tire Rack, not sure they'll look better or not. Anyone chime in on this? I'm fine with the Enkei caps.

It's going to be a fun week! I should have my K04 installed by next weekend and can really try out those Michelins!
Click to expand...


This package here is what I am leaning towards too. I wanna upgrade the wheels and at the moment Im torn in between these Enkei's and VMR v710s. Tires reviews say that the Michelin SS are the best tire out there right now. Two questions for you:

Why you had to change bolts? Does the factory ones didn't fit, or they are short?
Do the Enkei's have the same centerbore spacing as the stock or they have an adapter that comes with?

Thanks.

PS: Those Enkei's look SICK!!!
 
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