bigger = better? (wheels)

Overlag

Overlag

Overlag

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Romford/Hornchurch, Essex
just having a heated discussion with a friend about wheel sizes.

lately i been looking at a Fiesta ST and one of the changes i was *thinking* of doing would be to move from the standard 17s down to the 16s like on the zetec-s.

his arguement was basically bigger is better...
...my arguement is its a small hatch on oversized wheels = bad




your thoughts?
 
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I can understand 15" wheels being better on a Vauxhall Nova than 17" wheels, but a Fiesta ST was designed around 17" wheels, I wouldn't go smaller.

With my car, 15" wheels make the car drive a lot better than 16"s but this is mainly due to the higher profile tyres.
 
They say that the 17in wheels compromise the handling on the ST and that it is more precise on the Zetec-S (which has the 16in alloys).

Still, that said, i'd still rather have the 17in as they make it look more STish and it handles pretty damn well with them anyway.
 
Dogbreath said:
In what respect though? Was he talking about looks, grip, handling etc?
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My guess would be in a "CHECK MY RIMZ" way.

I've head what Tim said somewhere else.

At the end of the day, it's your car and not your mate's, so it's up to you.
 
There is definatly too big for wheels, many many a reason, mainly for handling, cars susension is designed around the fact that the tyres sidewalls will deflect somewhat, larger wheels means smaller sidewals, which hence means less deflection and the handling will be compromised.

As for looks, too big and they look totally out of place.
 
Ben M said:
My guess would be in a "CHECK MY RIMZ" way.

I've head what Tim said somewhere else.
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we both talking driving feel and a bit of track work. we aint chavs :)

Ben M said:
At the end of the day, it's your car and not your mate's, so it's up to you.
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yeah i know and it would be cheaper to keep standard wheels really but the subject got me thinking surely theres a sweet spot on different cars. and personaly i think 16s is fiestas sweet spot.
 
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Moving from 15" steelies to 16" Alloys made a big difference in the handling of my otherwise standard car. That however is more likely due to the width and quality of the tyres that were on them.

I know for a fact that 13" wheels don't do wonders for the handling of classic minis - Huzeee stuck with 12" for that exact purpose, even though 13's would look better.
 
Mattius said:
There is definatly too big for wheels, many many a reason, mainly for handling, cars susension is designed around the fact that the tyres sidewalls will deflect somewhat, larger wheels means smaller sidewals, which hence means less deflection and the handling will be compromised.
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I pretty sure i read that when the Fiesta ST was designed, the suspension was tweaked to use the 17in alloys.
 
i remember reading in CAR when the new fiesta came out, they recommended downsizing to the 16" from the 17"s...
 
Well yeah there is the problem that you can't actually tweak the susspension to take into consideration larger wheels, as you cannot get the range of movements you get in a sidewall of a tyre in suspension where you only have one linear movement.
 
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