Sorry about ANOTHER wheel thread

[cliobritt]

Right the score is...
Ive had the 172 6 odd months now and I think the 17's that came on the car are spoiling the handling (not grip!)

Am i right to assume that? would me putting the std 172 wheels on would work better with the chassis and improve the HANDLING andcharector(sp) of the car?

I am going to put on some coilovers in the future too If that affects things.:star:

 

[cliobritt]

bump

 

[John185k]

you are correct

 

[dangerous dave]

its not just the handling as in grip, cornering, but also feedback is lost with the smaller tyre walls... i've got some 16inch 182 rims on my gtt which should have 13's and the handling although ok, feels alien.. no feedback at all..

 

[GordonD]

Change the wheel diameter 3 inches and change the width by an inch or two and change the offset by 10 millimetres and change to a totally difference size and profile tyre from a different manufacturer and all those together are going to produce noticeable difference in feel and handling. Probably bad. Hardly surprisingly.

But if you're only going to change the wheel diameter one inch and its going to cost just as much - replacement wheels and tyres - and the difference in handling and feel is going to be much smaller. So small its mostly going to be imagined, like the extra power people think they get from replacing the air cleaner with a sports (ie, noisy) system. What difference you do get won't be so much from the wheel diameter change and tyre wall height reduction as the change in wheel offset and change in brand/model of tyre.

Bigger diameter wheels with lower profile tyres don't reduce grip, as you've seen, they increase it, because a lower profile tyre puts more rubber on the road even if its only the same width. Bigger diameter wheels are heavier, and that hurts ride. Lower profile tyres don't stuff up feel, they improve it because the tyre wall is shorter and usually stiffer and you get less distortion. But with more grip and a less compliant sidewall you can get quicker breakaway. You get less notice that bad things are going to happen. Changing the offset to push the wheels out improves grip by widening the track, but that stuffs up feel.

 

[cliobritt]

gonna go for turinis or std wheels...
just need to find a swap with someone....

 

[dick]

Change the wheel diameter 3 inches and change the width by an inch or two and change the offset by 10 millimetres and change to a totally difference size and profile tyre from a different manufacturer and all those together are going to produce noticeable difference in feel and handling. Probably bad. Hardly surprisingly.

B

^^ i did that lol, 14s - 17s, car dont go anywhere near as fast! first day i had the car, 123 (indicated... hmm.) but now stugles to get over 105 indicated on a flat road but im not bothered, it actually holds the road. and looks a hell of a lot better.

 

[kiza1986]

They look like very nice wheels imho!! At the end of the day its what you want from your car... do you want power, speed and handling or do you want looks???

Kiza

 

[S22 JGS]

with the 16's and coilys u should notice a big difference compared to 17's with stock shocks

 

[George k]

There is a reasonable chance that the 17's have a smaller offset than standard and that will change the steering geometry and hence the feel. On some cars a reduction of more than 5-7 mm is enough to be a problem.

If you have a friendly local machine shop one solution is to machine up to 5mm of the inside face of the wheel hub - which will increase the ET (this has been enough to make the difference on some mcares), and will cost a lot less tham buying new wheels. Before doing so get them to check that there will still be enough material at the base of the bolt seat.

The other even cheaper soution is to compensate by running less toe-out, you can go down to parallel or even a tad of toe-in.

 

[cliobritt]

They look like very nice wheels imho!! At the end of the day its what you want from your car... do you want power, speed and handling or do you want looks???

Kiza

Handling is what i want!
172's look just as good with std wheels and lowered than with 17's on IMHO
anyone got any?