Tire and wheel question

Ok so because of the picture below, I need new tires.

I have three wheels like the ones below.

Ok so my first question is with regards to the painting. Should I completely strip the paint off, leave them black or strip the black off the edge and leave the center black (kinda like in the first bottlecap picture)? Ok second I have some questions about tires. I know the stock tire size is 185/60-14 on a 14x6. The Bottlecaps are 14x6.5. Should I stay with the stock size? Ok next which of these tires should I get; Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec, Yokohama AVS ES100 or Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position? This is a daily driver that might see a couple autocrosses during this year. I am thinking the Yokohamas don't make much sense just because they probably aren't going to be good as the Dunlops and they aren't going to be any better if it snows. My only worry is that I might have to deal with more snow for which the summer tires are not ideal and the Dunlops are $100 more. Are there any tires I missed?

1. As far as wheel finish, the most durable is going to have them stripped and powdercoated. In my personal expereince Auto paint just doesn't stand up.

2. If you don't care about being competitive, but something like the Kumho ASX and go on.

I can tell you my Speed 3 with Dunlop 2050s on it was absolutely worthless when we've had our weather the last 2 weeks. Saturday was the first time my car had moved in almost 2 weeks.

I'm already searching out AS/Winter tires for next year.

i'd go 195/55/14 for tires on the bottlecaps. i'm sure theres a falken azenis version still available for that size too if you want a summer that's totally useless w/snow tire. there's probably a lot more all seasons too.

how flaky is the black paint? if its on there pretty good you could just scuff up the surfaces you want to repaint, clean, and paint over that. its a lot less work than wirewheeling it all off. if youre taking the tires off between repainting a chemical stripper would probably blow that paint right off. nasty stuff, and youve got to clean it really well after as well as all the sanding/polishing for the look or paint adherence needed, but it'll get down to aluminum.

theyre not the same but we painted our challenge e30 basketweaves gunmetal center with silver lip and i really like the look.

Not even the wheel paint? I am in Alabama so snow not usually a big problem.

The paint is on there butt good.

93EXCivic wrote: Not even the wheel paint? I am in Alabama so snow not usually a big problem.

i think we used duplicolor wheel paint and its held up very well for 4 years but it isnt a DD. of course if it gets nasty again and its a simple paint job you can just respray.

Silver lips with the black center looks decent enough.

Star Specs. Avoid the ES100 like the plague. Horrible tire.

Don't drive when it snows. Hell, Star Specs don't like temps near 40... (BTDT)

I looked for 195/55-14 and all I could find are Kumho Ecsta V710 and Victoracer V700. What about 195/60-14?

i think thats the size i was thinking of. its about 1/2" bigger in diameter, so it could sit about a 1/4" higher, though not all tires actually measure what their measurements are so it'd probably fit fine.

Due to the lack of a 195/55 14 street tire, I'd just stick to the stock size. A half-inch increase in width is not a big difference.

The star specs are an awesome tire, but if you need something to work year-round in near-freezing temps, let alone snow, I'd look elsewhere. Also, they're not going to last a terribly long time. Personally, I'd save this choice for when you have a second set of wheels.

If it has to be a year-round tire (in an area that snows), I'd stick to all-seasons. The bridgestones look decent, if not cheap. I've never used them, but they seem to get good reviews. Another signifcantly cheaper option would be the Falken Ziex 512 or 912. I've been running the 912's as a daily driver tire and they do everything I need a daily to do - enough dry grip for anything I should be doing on the street, excellent water evacuation, decent grip in low temps, etc. They kinda fell flat on their face at autocross though. It was a exercise in grip management. However, I'm not sure what all-season would perform good at autox (and still perform like a true all-season).

never cared for all black rims.. I would definatly do the lip in silver. It needs contrast between the body of the rim and the tyre.

I never had a problem with automotive paint. I did the M3 rims on my Ti with gunmetal centres.. aside from where some tyre jockey laid it down on it's face, the paint has held up well over the past 5 years

So has anyone had experience with the Bridgestone?