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Whats the benefits 16" to 15"
- Thread starter Jack 172
- Start date
Stefan.
ClioSport Club Member
cheap tyres.
182
Stefan.
ClioSport Club Member
Surely you could google that?
Would a stiffer 16" profile be better than a 15" profile.
Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
The car feels better to drive on 15" over 16" IMO.
Hi mark
this is what i have been hearing but im just thinking that a ph1 is originally set up for 15" wheels, my ph2 has been set up for 16"
by going from 195/45/16 to 195/50/15 then surely i will be throwing out the speedo or something along them lines just cant put my finger on it.
aucky do you run 15s on your ph2 then if so what size tyres?
Jekyll
ClioSport Club Member
I ran 15s on my 182 from cup wheels and noticed the difference. It felt different when I went back to 16s again before I sold it. Just do it Jack 
http://www.willtheyfit.com difference in rolling radius is less than 1%. The abs pump uses the same cali value for both tyre sizes
ive just seen a thread, my 16s are 8.9k a corner and o.z f1s are 9k a corner i thought they would have been lighter?
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Improved gearing and acceleration??? Educate me...
182
?? Please explain
Also to those who say the cars loads better on 15's etc etc.
If that is the case then why did renault not fit that size to the mk2 ph2 then? Surely the cars was setup suspension wise and so on for 16's. And if the benefit was that good on 15's they would have fitted them as standard?
this is what I have been thinking, but it seems so many people are going to 15s there must be some hidden secret !
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
people go to 15's when tracking the car imo. My inferno had the standard 16's with cooksports and it looked spot on. If i had planned on doing more trackdays in the car i would have opted for 15's.
Clio 172 & Lancia
A smaller diameter wheel will have the same effect as a slightly lower ratio gearbox as the car will move forward slightly less for each revolution of the wheels due to their smaller circumference. Smaller wheel also means less unsprung weight which will improve handling.
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Right ok. Maybe I was wrong with my assumption of cheaper tyres being the reason people swap. You would never notice the difference on the road, ever.
MarkCup
ClioSport Club Member
I noticed zero difference if moving from 16s to 15s on my 172 Cup...well, there may have been a slight change, but certainly no different than switching from say a set of Continentals to Michelins.
Main reason for me...price and variety of rubber.
Track tyres are available in the 16 rim size, but, last time I looked, drop to 15 and there's much more choice out there.
Main reason for me...price and variety of rubber.
Track tyres are available in the 16 rim size, but, last time I looked, drop to 15 and there's much more choice out there.
imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
Forgot to edit my post. Just for clarity i was being a tad sarcastic with my opening line 
sidey
ClioSport Club Member
cup'd arctic 182
Yes IF you were using the same section tyre on each wheel size... 45/16 and 50/15 differ by less than 1% on the speedo, as stated above, so surely the acceleration/ gearing argument is moot.
The weight difference between my 182 cup wheels and my 15" TD pro race 1.2s is, however, ubdeniable. The car feels MUCH more agile on the pro race for losing about 4kg per corner. The standards feel like they're tramlining, especially when you overtake, used to occasionally feel only half in control.
Cheap tyres is a great reason for 15s. Massive handling improvement is another.
Don't pay much attention to anyone saying it'll look like a tractor without lowz, i'm perfectly happy with the way mine sits on Sportlines and 15's
172 Cup
This. Barely a difference between the two options. So comes down to looks and the cost of tyres i would say.
182
But renault spent loads of time and effort on suspension so it worked with a specific wheel from standard.
Yes i can understand that a lighter wheel (which i have fitted) does redhuce unsprung mass. But is the car not setup to carry that extra mass??
So it looks like unless you track your car its pointless
Surely then if going from 16-45's to 15- 50's it will work the same as going up to 17- 40's?? Wheel has to turn far less iirc.
Yes i can understand that a lighter wheel (which i have fitted) does redhuce unsprung mass. But is the car not setup to carry that extra mass??
So it looks like unless you track your car its pointless
Surely then if going from 16-45's to 15- 50's it will work the same as going up to 17- 40's?? Wheel has to turn far less iirc.
sidey
ClioSport Club Member
cup'd arctic 182
Good point Martin... Better directed at those faffing with all their suspension/ steering geometry by lowering heaps?
I'm certainly no motorsport engineer so i'm not going to argue here. We both speak from experience that reducing unsprung weight improves handling... I'd be very interested to try back-to-back some similar weight 15" and 16" wheels (with appropriate tyres as described above). Maybe even 17"s :/
However the smaller version of any given wheel is necessarily lighter... i'm going to assume that the 15 would feel better every time. (assumption being the mother of all f*ck ups, i know!)
All's i know for sure is my car is far better to drive on the 15s
I'm certainly no motorsport engineer so i'm not going to argue here. We both speak from experience that reducing unsprung weight improves handling... I'd be very interested to try back-to-back some similar weight 15" and 16" wheels (with appropriate tyres as described above). Maybe even 17"s :/
However the smaller version of any given wheel is necessarily lighter... i'm going to assume that the 15 would feel better every time. (assumption being the mother of all f*ck ups, i know!)
All's i know for sure is my car is far better to drive on the 15s
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imprezaworks
ClioSport Club Member
Mk5 Golf GTI :)
They were mapped safely and tbh im yet to have one (owned four) where i would describe them as 'a bag of bolts' when cold. Yes they are improved with a decent map but i could probably say that about every car made would be improved by someone who doesnt have parameters to adjust the map etc.
There is no one line generic answer to this.
The key issues are wheel weight (apparently every kilo saved on a wheel can be multiplied by 4 as it's both unsprung weight and rotated mass) and cheaper/greater variety of tyres.
If you go for one of the superlight type wheels (OZ Superleggera (5.2kg), OZ Ultraleggera (5.6kg), TD Pro Race (6.2kg)) the "real" weight saving can be around 50 kilos.
Bear in mind that those wheels are spinning on the end of the hubs, you are going to notice that weight saving under braking, turn in etc.
I still maintain it's the single most effective change you can make to a car with heavy wheels. The standard 182 wheels are over 10kgs each!
The key issues are wheel weight (apparently every kilo saved on a wheel can be multiplied by 4 as it's both unsprung weight and rotated mass) and cheaper/greater variety of tyres.
If you go for one of the superlight type wheels (OZ Superleggera (5.2kg), OZ Ultraleggera (5.6kg), TD Pro Race (6.2kg)) the "real" weight saving can be around 50 kilos.
Bear in mind that those wheels are spinning on the end of the hubs, you are going to notice that weight saving under braking, turn in etc.
I still maintain it's the single most effective change you can make to a car with heavy wheels. The standard 182 wheels are over 10kgs each!
Remember Renault have to map the car to pass emissions, so if that wasn't an issue then they'd run differently. Plus it's not an expensive car in the first place so they won't be having sleepless nights trying to perfect inlets and whatnot.
It's not a supercar so people need to stop expecting supercar performance. If they wanted it to have 200+ bhp it would have left the factory like that, just be happy with what you have, which is a brilliant car IMO.
It's not a supercar so people need to stop expecting supercar performance. If they wanted it to have 200+ bhp it would have left the factory like that, just be happy with what you have, which is a brilliant car IMO.
