I am looking at changing wheels and tyres on my 2002 Arizona NB from the stock 15" with 195/50 up to 17" at 205/40.
My main motivation on this is (IMO) improve appearance of the car, and as a secondary aspect to put a bit more rubber into contact with the road.
My question is: from someone using this type of 17" tyre, are there any issues I need to be aware of altogether in making this change?
Thanks for looking.
A specific question I already have is where in the West Midlands can I find a reputable wheel alignment technician to set up my new wheels accurately?
Thanks for looking, Dave.
The main problem with 17" wheels on a Mk1 or Mk2 is weight. They can spoil the car ride and cause other problems that I cannot remember now.
You need to google to get the weight of your 15" standard wheels and find a 17" wheel of that weight not the heavy wheels that are available in the 17" size.
When I bought my NB 3 years ago, it came with aftermarket 17’’ alloys and to be honest, the ride wasn’t that great to be honest. A year later, I bought some 15’’ alloys with the tyre spec as it came out of the factory from new and it was so much better handling wise.
Just my opinion on the subject
I agree with comments above, the Mk2 will handle well on 15 or 16, with the 16’s enhancing the look slightly in my opinion. I have had 16 inch wheels on mine since I bought it 7 years ago and more than happy with it.
17,s are just too big for NA/NB and you also end up with very low profile tyre.Use 15in or even 16in max
^^^ I agree, infact 15" alloys are just about perfect.
My NBFL came with 16" alloys and it tended to wander around a bit, also had a couple of sideways moments on greasy roads where the tyres (Bridgestone’s) just let go without warning. Also on some trackdays cornering was - I felt, a bit ‘iffy’ as wasn’t sure if the tyres would let go or not.
Then I read a post from a former member who also was an accident investigator, who said low profile tyres were the cause of many accidents in his opinion, as they just ‘let go’ without any warning at all. I also considered the NA was conceived with 14" wheels and after asking advice from a couple of former members who knew what they were doing, I decided to downsize to 15" wheels, adjusting the tyre sidewall accordingly.
Also, the criteria for good handling rests on unsprung weight - the wheels, tyres and brake mechanism - which latter you can’t adjust, but you can improve by using lighter wheels and tyres. The two members I had asked recommended Toyos - which are a lighter tyre, but I opted for Goodyear Eagles, which were ‘flavour of the year’ at that time (around 2003/2004)and cheaper. After three years I discovered the treads were splitting at the root of each tread, so reverted to the 16" wheels while I sorted out the problem. ( I drove more carefully on these!) I was told, by a tyre expert, that these were apparently not cured correctly, so finally went for the Toyos on the 15’s and have been happy with them ever since.
Other points you realise, tyre prices increase by wheel size, so 15’s are cheaper than 16’s and even cheaper than 17’s, which are in sensible terms just a gimmick - bought for looks and not for performance, they are also a safety issue. Footprint may seem important, but getting the unsprung weight down is the essential criteria, and maintaining the rolling diameter or the tyre, if you increase wheel size, you vary the actual road speed relative to what the speedo says. Beware speed traps! I only know of one former? member who also had a an NBFL sport who upsized to 17’s, and said they were better than the 16’s, but my own experience tells me a different story, The 15’s now give me warning when I’m pushing the grip on sharp turns, where the 16’s never did.
At the end of the day, any wheel - correctly fitted with the right tyre, looks just as good as any other size, if they fill the wheel well, but when it comes to driving, the right size and weight are more important. As Kojak used to say - “Whatever turns you on” if you just want to show off.
To be honest when I was getting my original 15" wheels refurbished as the Mk2 is a 1.8is. I was using a set of 14" wheels, the car tended to let go slightly at the back when throwing it about.
The ride and general feeling of the car was much nicer.
Back on 15" wheels better when throwing it about but not as sweet a car.
Just my thoughts and it would be boring if we were all the same. The 14" tyres were to wards the end of their life and I was tempted to buy new 14" tyres!
I read an article by some boffin (yep im a nerd too) explaining how car manufacturers come up with tire sizes for there cars and part of the article was an experiment showing what happens when you put larger wheels and lower profile tires on the same car and amazingly as they got bigger and wider they actually had a smaller contact patch with the ground it was down to weights and pressures one example was changing a 185/65/14 to a 225/40/18 had a 25% less footprint and as mentioned above the unsprung weight seriously affected the handling if I can find it again I’ll post it
Just going to 17" wheels will not increase the contact patch on the road anyway, as the tyre circumferance should be the same.
If you want to increase the contact patch and looks of the vehicle I would suggest going no higher than a 16" wheel, although echo others suggestions of a 15. Something like a 15x8 with a lower offset will give the car a more agressive look, allow more rubber to stay in contact with the road while keeping the wheel weight down. 15x7 will leave you with a lower cost on tyres and you can always either get a lower offset or push the wheels out with spacers.
I guess it depends if you want to sacrifice your ride & handling for looks though.