Even though I strive to keep Project Corolla true to the image of a beater, there are some things that can't be skimped on. Until now, the car looked no different from any other econobox that's been subjected to 23 years of rust, decay and butchery at the hands of under-funded kid tuners. But that's changing, much to my dismay.
In this installment, I'm spending some time away from figuring out how to make the car work better and concentrating on the nitty-gritties essential for a track car. And in the process, I'll throw in some functional racecar bling which will, unfortunately, take away from the stealthy, street-car heap look I've been trying to maintain (um yeah, I think you're still OK there, Jay -AH).
Hand-Me-Down BlingSo far, Project Corolla has been rolling around on a set of heavy, cast-aluminum Celica/Supra wheels pillaged from an ex-LeMons racer (a far better option than the original super-ugly and narrow GT-S wheels I've already tossed). The not-so-new wheels are still on the weighty side, but fit the 14-inch Hankook RS2s that were initially on the project while I scoured the world for a more track-appropriate set.
Just like the car, good performance-oriented wheels that fit the AE86 chassis are almost extinct. I wanted an affordable 15-inch wheel that could take at least a 205-width tire, since most R-compound race tires come in that width. This means a 4x114.3 bolt pattern and an offset that ranges between the stock plus-27mm (like the standard GT-S pizza-cutter wheels) and zero, which drift monkeys prefer-even though it requires stretching the sidewalls to fit a tire onto a wheel three times its width. And because most OEMs dumped this combination of offset, size and pattern in the '80s, many aftermarket wheels that do fit are either custom-made, a high-dollar nostalgia line (from brands like SSR, RS Watanabe or Panasport) or an inexpensive, modern, knock-off design that comes at the cost of weight and strength. So the options for potential Corolla owners are to either pay a lot or settle for a cosmetic wheel.
As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a third option when I found a perfect set of used 15x7 Speed Star wheels (made by the same company as SSR) amid a sea of used JDM wheels, front clips and parts at RB Motorsports' warehouse in the City of Industry, California. For a fraction of the price of a new, big-dollar item, I have the quality of a high-end wheel and none of the broken-part hassles of second-hand internet sales. The three-piece aluminum wheel is a classic look for the old Corolla and has the slight advantages of weight, strength and the plus-15mm offset that provides ideal clearance, improved steering feel and less kickback.
 The used 15x7 +15mm three-piece...  The used 15x7 +15mm three-piece Speed Star wheels picked up at RB Motosports were disassembled, straightened, polished and powder-coated by TWS at a fraction of what a new wheel would cost. Money saved was spend on the more important 205/50/15 Nitto NT-01 R-compound tires, finishing off the look with Buddy Club aluminum lug nuts. |  Although the wheels were useable,...  Although the wheels were useable, the peeling paint and rust that had accumulated around the original steel hardware was a concern. |  |
Toyota originally designed the AE86 Corolla to work with either a 33mm offset (on the SR5) or a 27mm offset (for the GT-S). The previous Celica/Supra wheels came with an 8mm offset, which pushed the wheel out and increased the scrub radius by almost an inch past what Toyota intended. Ideally, having a zero scrub radius (i.e. having the Dave, or wheel pivot, point at the same spot as the center of the contact patch) is best, since the tire will steer about the same point as where the kingpin axis intersects the ground. More scrub radius means a larger torque moment, which increases both resistance to steering inputs and the force kicked back through the wheel when a bump tries to change a wheel's direction.
Increasing scrub radius in a modern car with power steering is tolerable, since the hydraulics soak up much of the kickback while the gains in track width might be worth the trade-off in steering feel and effort. In the case of Project Corolla (which has unassisted steering), minimizing scrub radius, steering effort and kickback matters more. Less scrub radius with the new wheels now makes Project Corolla a little easier to steer though freeway interchanges, as the wheel doesn't jerk up to 10 degrees every time it hits an expansion joint.