When math should take the back seat: Sometimes you pick a wheel simply because it makes you happy

A 15x7-inch alloy cost about $250 each. Even with my employee discount, I wasn’t a customer. 

But then I got the call from a dude at another shop. Steve. Mike. Chip? Whatever the name, long lost to the years, he had something for me: Dude, used alloys that will fit your car–and cheap. 

Didn’t matter what they looked like. Didn’t matter if, by today’s standards, they were pretty ugly: six twisted spokes, three polished, three black. Not Momo, not Panasport. Maybe Prime. Or Ultra. 

But I had some aftermarket wheels. And with them, I did the only proper thing at the time: wrapped them with takeoff race tires–Yokohama A008, the go-to tire back then in the early ’90s–and took my Sentra SE-R autocrossing. 

No idea where those wheels are today. I know they made the move with me down to Florida. I think I remember seeing them behind J.G.’s place, but that was like three houses ago. Maybe they’re still there. 

But kinda like my first BMX bike–an all-steel affair with no pedigree–I have no desire to find those wheels. They were merely the gateway drug. 

Today, I admit, I’m into wheels–bikes, too, but that’s another story. (It’s totally normal to have a stash of Tuff Wheels, right?) Every few years I’ll perform a mini purge–maybe let an extra set go here or there. But not the good stuff, of course. Those are up in the attic. 

I admit to owning more than one set for cars I no longer own. In fact, I might have even purchased a set after selling the car they perfectly pair with. (And no, sorry, those Mugens aren’t for sale.)

The past few weeks have involved much wheel and tire research. A healthy chunk of it was for this issue’s wheel story, but then add in all of the other stuff we deal with, like project cars and tire tests–and I’m talking about GRM as well as our sister title, Classic Motorsports.

And sometimes you have to research a potential story only to realize that no, it’s not going to work. Editorial idea scrubbed before it’s even put on the calendar. 

So, what do you want to discuss? The challenges of fitting wheels and tires on a second-gen Toyota MR2? The new max street tires coming from Michelin and Goodyear? Retro rubber like the Yokohama A008P and Michelin SX MXX3? How I (finally) cleaned the whitewalls on my Catalina Safari? 

Poor Woody at Tire Rack, who answers all my questions with enthusiasm and courtesy–even when it gets to the point where my subject line says “I don’t have any tire or wheel questions today,” only to be followed by “Wait, I do have a tire question.”

The culmination of all this might have taken place the other night: a dream involving tires and wheels. And not just about the subject, but a really deep dive–and a dream with a final answer: Yes, I should put slot mags and those reissued Michelin XWX tires on my FIA-bodied Factory Five Cobra.

Such detail, I know. And I admit, although I grew up lusting for a 427 Cobra, I eventually realized that the narrow-bodied car wearing the tacked-on flares was the true jewel. But no, I don’t have one. 

The beautiful thing about all of this is that it doesn’t have to always be logical. As gearheads, most of us realize that the lightest wheel will be the fastest wheel–assuming that the wheel is up for the rigors of competition, of course. We’ve done the test. We have the data. 

I believe that we also need to follow what makes us smile, even if the math takes a back seat. So yes, I might have to order those custom steelies for my M3, even if I haven’t yet installed the new lightweight alloys currently sitting beside it. 

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