alloy wheel advice

[philyau]

ok dont know much bout tyres
got a clio dynimique 2002 1.2 with the standard 15" alloys. was wondering:

will 16" fit with no probs on me car?

and also was thinking of getting some fox5 alloys but its got 5 bolts and i think me car has only 4 i think, but whats the chances of getting these alloys to fit?

and also what size tyres and which make model to get?


cheers for he advice

phil

 

[GR7]

I suggest that you tell your wheel supplier that the wheels are for a Clio then you will get some with FOUR nuts! As far as I am aware, the 16" ones will fit OK, as I recently put 17" wheels on my 172 to replace my 16s with no problems.

 

[GR7]

PS: As for the tyres, depends on how much you want to spend. I have Toyo Proxes T1-S on mine and they are very grippy with a nice pattern too!

 

[BenR]

Rs right, you will be able to fit 16s, even lower it. you canget fox5s in the right pcd and offset as they make about everysize.

but i personally wouldnt go for fox wheels....greanted great VFM, but a bit common.

 

[GR7]

Ben, talking about lowering, I am wondering whether or not to lower mine, but I dont want any rubbing and I am not messing about with the arches.

The last time I spoke to my pal John at DT he said that he had a set of Eibach lowering springs waiting for me!!

Your advice is welcome please Ben! Thanks.

 

[BenR]

all up to you. I drove all summer without lowering the 172. But when back i caught teh bug big time, now my clio is slammed 55mm frontand 65mm rear.
and the xr2 is a whopping 2 1/2"!!

made both handle so sweet. But the bumps nd creaks do get annoying,and the motorway becomes a long undulating mess.

i will lower it when i get back.

but its really up to you, you could go for mild lowering spring 25mm or something, but look how much space you got in the arches now, and then ad and extra 1/2" -1" for going round corners. i would do it....and sorting outthe arches is only a matter of pulling out the black liners....a 10 min job.

but if you find it hard already...dont!
saying that, the eibachs are progressive and are meant to really be good springs..not having used eibach cuase i dont like progressive as i dont care about comforttoo much.....being young and all.....
my dad cant stand being in the car!! but is dead impressed with it.

sorry for the rant.

 

[BenR]

ok, maybe exaggerating on the 10 min job....10 mins with the wheels off.

 

[GR7]

Ben, I think the springs John has will lower the car 25 & 30 or 35 & 40, cant remember which! Why would the front have to be lowered differently to the back?

I gave a lift to one of the mechanics at my local garage today, and he couldnt believe how high the seats are in my car! Can anything be done to lower the seats Ben? Could the CD thing be put into the boot?

 

[Ad]

Phil, you can go upto at least 17"(Dont know about 18"). There is a noticeable difference between 16s & 17s. Ive got 17" OZ supertourismos and lowered 40mm. The handlings much better now but not too harsh. No rubbing at all even with 5 adult passengers!!! Fred has got his lowered 60mm. Def go 17 as the extra money is well spent. Adam

 

[philyau]

so i just tell em its for a clio with 4 bolts. what about all this PCD number and offset?

 

[Ad]

Just tell them its for a clio. Where you looking at getting them form?? Any alloy wheel specialist will know the correct offset. Where abouts are you based?? I know a few decent places in the NW.

 

[philyau]

i live in the North West in lancashire, so any decent dealers u know eill be appreciated.

 

[telford_mike]

GR - I lowered mine with Eibachs - it doesnt make the ride hard - nothing like a CTR anyway, and it will improve the handling. Mines still on the original 16"s but I wouldnt have thought it would be a problem with 17"s as the car sits so high on the standard springs. The Eibachs will lower your car between 30 and 35mm depending on who you ask (Eibach dont say incidentally, so everyone else is just guessing and I forgot to measure mine before I had the springs fitted). Have a look at the pics of mine in the gallery - theres plenty of room - Id be amazed if you had any problems.

Slam it GR - you know you want to!!

 

[TimO172]

When choosing new wheels it is important to take into consideration rolling radius. IF you go from a 15" to 17" and depending on aspect ratio you can seriously dent your cars acceleration.

Tim

 

[philyau]

not opting for 17 going for 16 coz cant be arsewd with the lowering and that .

 

[BenR]

GR, the 25-30mm sound good, as i dont think your really into slamming it..or are you?

i had to lower my rear on teh Rt more than the front cause it was just so high up!!!
you could stick your whole head inbetween the gap in the rear arches!!

 

[GR7]

Thanks for your advice Telford_Mike. What about the warranty, does lowering/new springs affect it?
Thanks

 

[GR7]

Hi Ben. I have just washed and leathered off my car and took particular notice of the space between the tyres and the arches, and I noticed that there is a bigger gap at the front. I dont want my tyres rubbing so it could do with just a slight drop, but what about the warranty, if I should have any problems?

 

[BenR]

i doubt very much that i will rub.
as far as the warrenty goes, i dunno. in hk we dont really worry about mods too much, just if its something silly like running water instead of oil, then we void the warrenty.

 

[Fred@BTM]

GR lower it!!!! Dont worry about the warranty cos the Eibach springs are black (same as factory) and the muppets at renault wont notice!!! Mines 60mm drop no rubbing (its been into renault a couple of times and theyve never said anything) Adtmits, how are the springs doiing?????

 

[Fred@BTM]

Philyau, you need PCD 4x100

 

[geoff_clio182]

GR - Lowering has no problems with rubbing as the Eibachs only do it, as Mike says, between 30 and 35mm and I have 17" alloys with 205/40 tyres.

Ive had the following configurations with no rubbing:

1) Me in car and 4 alloy wheels in boot - no rubbing.

2) Me, my g/f and two passengers in car - no rubbing.

3) Me, my g/f, a boot load of booze and bags etc... coming back from France - no rubbing.

I think you should just do it. If you dont like it you can always put the old springs on and sell the Eibach to some one on here.

Just bloody do it and stop moaning!

 

[Ad]

Phil, were abouts in Lancashire, I live in Wigan.
Wheelbase 0161 628 0000. (Oldham).(Advert is in Max Power.)
Autosport.(Bolton.)-Will find No For you.
Demon Tweeks 0845 330 6253. Give them your best price and they will try to match it.
Pemberton Tyres(Wigan) 01942 222413.

What design are you thinking about?? On the subject of 16s or 17s it was only about £50 difference. The 16s with the lower profile tyres will only be a farction bigger the th standard wheels. If you do go for 17s you dont have to lower your car!!!

GR just get it done. I know what you mean i was a bit cautious but have no regrets what so ever!!!!

 

[Ad]

Fred, springs fine, best mod Ive done cost me £90 inc fitting. Am well pleased, car handles much better and looks real got. Am surprised the car looks higher at front!!! Must be my eyes!!! Dont think Im brave enough to go for the 60mm drop yet!!. Have just got the double spoiler, am getting that painted next week.
Same here, been to renault twice with it lowered no-one has said anything other than one of the guys from parts who asked what Id done.

 

[GR7]

Geoff_Clio172: I am not moaning! I have never been a moaner!

 

[GR7]

Phil, I think that you will find that the rolling radius is negligible between these different sizes of wheels. When I changed from 16" - 17" the tyre profile changed too, and I went from 195/45/16 to 205/40/17 and the guy who fits wheels all day every day, said that the difference in the rolling radius is not more than 5mm. So if you change from say 195/50or55/15 to a low profile tyre, there will be barely any difference. BenR will see this and let you know exactly!

 

[Ad]

What I was saying though is that the whole wheel and tyre size from 195/55/15 to 19/45/16 will hardly change as you have said GR. If you want the wheel to fill the arch then 205/45/17 looks miles better. The difference form 16s to 17s seems quite noticeable.

 

[GR7]

Why not go down to 205/40/17? This will keep the rolling radius more or less the same.

 

[BenR]

you raelly dont need to worry about roling radius, its such a small differnce that it wont matter until your doin 200mph, and then itll only make a few mph diff...and at that speed who cares if the speedos out.

and you wont travel any faster with bigger wheels before anybody starts that again! a car can only go so fast as its engine/gearbox permits.

 

[JonC]

But with 17" will it affact acceleration ie, take longer to get to a certain speed? The rolling radius difference is about 7mm increase for 17" therefore will it not require more power to turn the wheel and therefore reduce acceleration?

Has anyone compared performance differences between 17" and 16" wheels?

 

[geoff_clio182]

GR - Oh right youve never beena moaner then

 

[Fred@BTM]

your talking about tenths of seconds difference (not minutes) The weight of the wheel also makes a difference. I.E. Heavy 15s VS lightweight 17s = sod all difference

 

[BenR]

OMD, were not goin into this again are we!!

 

[BenR]

I hope these will clear it up:

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliosport.net/bbs/ShowThread.asp?ThreadID=82196773&TopicID=30Answer 1


<a target="_blank" href="http://www.cliosport.net/bbs/ShowThread.asp?ThreadID=56229800&TopicID=30Answer 2

 

[NICKKERSH]

Does anybody out there own a CLIO 172,mark 2, with 18 inch rims, if so do you have to modify the arches, ive been told you do!
cheers...

 

[Ad]

GR: Sorry typing error. I meant 205/40/17.

 

[GR7]

OK apology accepted!

 

[Nick Read]

Well having lowered my Clio 35mm and just gone from 195/50/15 to 215/35/18 I can say that a bigger rolling radius will blunt your acceleration off the line quite noticeably. And it also will put the speedo out by a fixed percentage which will be most apparent at speed. EG when my clock says 130mph I could really be doing between 135 and 140mph. Which anyone whos travelled at that kind of speed will realise is a big difference. OK what were proposing on here isnt such a big jump in size but the principle is the same.

Secondly, LOWER YOUR CLIO!!! Dont even think of putting big wheels on and leaving it at standard ride height! That looks like a half done job and is worse than leaving the standard wheels on IMHO of course...