I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: alloy wheels and tyres.
Hello,
Yesterday I drove a ND 1.5 se+, in an attempt to narrow down the options for my potential next car.
Worry not, I do not think I will get rid of my best friend Nugget anytime soon.
I just want to be sure of what I need to look out for on the used market over the coming 24 months.
My question is: can you fit 17" allot wheels (and 205 tyres) to a ND 1.5 without too much adverse effect on ride and speedometer accuracy?
I have not seen one equipped with anything other than 16" wheels, so I am curious (and not very technical).
Any info would be welcome.
Unless you’re fitting bigger brakes, the ride and handling with the 16s should be better than the OEM 17s. They’re a lot lighter and have more sidewall.
My 1.5 sport venture OEM 16" have been replaced by refurbished 17" and all is good. I found the 16" and supplied tyres just a little too ‘soft’ for my liking. Here they are fitted.
Ok. I already wasn’t impressed by the ride of this ND 1.5l se+ on 16" wheels. It’s more fidgety than the ride of my NC on 17" wheels.
A couple of reviewers on youtube have said that higher spec ND’s on 17" wheels and bilstein set up are not worse than the ND’s on 16"wheels, so maybe I should forget the 1.5 and go for the 2.0l with that set up instead of trying to upgrade just the wheels on a 1.5l.
The 1.5s have the most ‘compliance’ as they do not have the ‘sports suspension’. They are the most ‘comfortable’ along with the 2.0l cars without the ‘sports suspension’. They are softer and allow more body lean.
The 2.0 cars with ‘sports suspension’ are much firmer, they still lean a little but the damping is stronger.
You need to confirm that the 1.5 car you tried had not been modified and I would recommend that you try the ‘sports suspension’ in a 2.0 prior to making a decision.
It was definitely not modified.
I could live with the slightly jittery ride, but I will try the 2.0l on sport suspension indeed.
What surprised me the most was that the ND did not show my car off as a 12 years old car, far from it.
Apart from the 6th speed of the gearbox and the resulting fuel consumption, the cabin is a slight improvement, but that’s it.
The cabin will be better on a higher spec model mind.
How many miles had it done? I certainly wouldn’t describe the ride on my 1.5 SE-L as ‘jittery’, but feedback to suspension setup/compliance is a very personal thing. But I’m just wondering if that might be pointing to worn dampers.
Personally I’m keeping with a 16" wheel setup on mine. for me it’s a great lightweight setup.
It had done 28k miles.
Fidgety might be a better word than jittery, sorry, English is my third language.
I don’t mean to offend anyone.
But my mk3.75 is more planted, probably because it’s heavier, and it doesn’t transmit all the road ripples.
I do get it thought: the ND went back to being light and more communicative than the NC.
I might have to get used to that, but I will try the other set up in the range.
I recently had a very generous test ride in a standard 1.5ND. My overall conclusion was it a really well-rounded car and I especially liked its lively nature. I put this down to the skinnier tyres; righty or wrongly.
Despite being charmed, when I got back in the NC1 I appreciated the lack of improvements in the intervening nine years.
I average 100 minutes in the car each day: a bit of unsophisticated rattle and grind is part of the charm😀
So, my advise is try something, like big wheels to rough it up a bit…
