17 Wheels On 172...Any Problems

[canfordcliffs]

The bog standard wheels on the 172 look a bit yucky...will 17" wheels be detrimental to the cars handling in any way?



I note the K-Tech Brembo 305x28 brake upgrade will only fit with 17" wheels so this in part is also my reason to upgrade.

 

[Sandro]

They will. Even when other people in this forum say they wont.
Whether you will notice the difference is another question; this is depending on your "feel" for your car, your driving style etc.

But: they will look brilliant.

 

[Turkish]

i fitted coilovers then 17s and must admit the handling was slightly better on the 16s but this is probably only because i havnt pushed it as hard due to the arch liners at the front getting rubbed by the wheels and making me worry about the bracket which is just behind the liner

 

[chris172]

as long as you get the correct offset....or near, mine are 40....then you should get no rubbing.

as for handling...then they do tramline a bit more and the turning circle is slightly less, but then you have to do a 7 point turn anyway.

the acceleration is very slightly slower...not really noticable. another point is that when you are doing 60mph you are actually doing 63ish so be careful.

Oh......and..... they look cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[GR7]

I have 17" wheels on my 172 and my car has never felt any different to when the 16" ones were on. They look better and with a lower profile tyre, the wheel fills the arch a bit better.

 

[Rich-D]

My mate has 17s for his mk1 172 and when we do trackdays he swaps them about, so Ive driven the car on both 15s & 17s on the track and there IS a difference.

But, its not as bad as some people may think and the car does still handle well even with the bigger wheels/tyres on there, unlike on some other small cars Ive driven with large wheels fitted.

They dont quite give you the same sharpness and feel of the 15s and it aint quite as nimble, but I was still getting some very fast laps in with the 17s once I got used to the difference.


On the road youd never notice...

 

[rt172]

I quite fancy changing my MK1 172s 15" F1 Cups for some 16" F1 Cups and 45 profile tyres instead of 50s. Thatll mean the speedo is only put 1% out, which is fine.

 

[geordiepaul]

I had 205/40R17 tyres and on 17s when I first got them and they really slowed me down was not impressed in the slightest.

Fortunatley the place where I bought them from were really good and they changed the tyres for me. I now have 195/40R17 they are a little more expensive but well worth it. They are much closer to the original in diameter and as a result the car performs and handles much better!!!