Toyspeed.org.nz Message Board

What wheel size do people feel gives the best all round performance?

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Wheel size doesnt really effect perforamce o.o, the quality of tyres however do.

Larger tyres may offset you speedo, donno if it maxes out top speed tho.

I found though personally that I was happiest driving around on a set of 17's

There is always going to be variables Suspension and Tires both come into it, I am just curious to what people with differing road/track experiences find have worked best for them.

Do bigger wheels help with performace or are they just for looks. The current set of 18's on the levin i own look good and handle really well but i seem to have compromissed ride with being bounced here and there and am considering down grading to 17's (wheels came with the car when i brought it)

The 'best performing' mags are going to be the smallest. Lighter, and better acceleration (assuming smaller total diameter including tyres). Of course, in most applications, it's not gonna make a hell of a lot of difference, so I'd just go for 17's for looks. Tyre wall flexing etc can come into play and advantage larger wheels/smaller profle tyres on the track. On some cars, 18's look better, but you gotta be careful not to look too bling. Eg, 18's on a Levin, IMHO, just look too big and silly. I would consider 18's on my car, I think it may look alright, but my 17's already look pretty sweet.

Wheel size does not really affect your performance. In racing applications smaller wheels are normally used as they are lighter than bigger wheels and then of course huge slicks on them for better tracktion.

Some cars just suit bigger or smaller wheels better. As Dr-X has just said 18" on a Levin is 2 big in my opinion and looks weird. I say this because I have owned a levin before and know what they look like with bigger/smaller wheels.

But again on my soarer some 18" looks to small and they don't fill up the guards wich ends up looking weird aswell. I've tried MrOizo's Drift-R's on it and they didn't fill the guards at all. I think they were 8.5" wide at the rear but not 100% sure.

Maybe if they were 10-12" wide at the rear they would have looked better.....

15" lightweight racing wheels .

I always thought that smaller mags help accelerate better.
Though 15s or 16s would fill the FX guards nicely (i think).
Been on the look out for some good 15/16s but they are so hard to find in 4x100

Dr-X wrote:Eg, 18's on a Levin, IMHO, just look too big and silly.

Awwww.... I thought you loved me?

Smaller lightweight wheels will give you that better accelleration, but if you're only gonna be driving on the street then 17s look alright and wont really kill things too much. If you're trying to get an extra couple of tenths on the strip or seconds around the track then you'll want smaller.

oooo 15" wheels, 16"s are too hard 2 find for tyres/mags it seems (talking bowt 2nd hand here) 17's good for street anything bigger has 2 b on a bigger car

yeah 15s are 4 me. You can have low profiles and it doesnt jack ur car right up off the ground

13" superlites

Well if I was gona go for looks, i'd choose some 17s or 18s, to try fill the guards,
But if I wanted racing wheels, i'd probably go for 15 or 16s,

If you stick to the two step rule you should be ok EG if 14 inch is standard go up two and you have 16 inch .So 16 would give a 50/50 compromise
of handling and weight go back one to 15 for weight or go up one for traction

Smaller for racing - lower final drive ratio and lighter
Bigger for looks - the difference in acceleration in my mates skyline is quite noticeable if he has his shiny 17"s on it or stock 16"s
Although my Rays 15"s are lighter than my 13" steelies but heavier than my 14" Toms
So I say 15" forgies all the way

right now i love my 16"s ....... mk4 supra wheels,
16x8 and 16x9

Ive always had 17`s, cause theyre pretty good all round... but ... my current 18x9`s are pretty phat (well , i think so anyway, lol - see my profile for new pic )
kev.

I run 18's on my Starlet and find that it does effect the acceleration
but in saying that it still goes bloody hard.. I have got a set of 15in Enkei RP02's which mite change over for the weekend as it seem's to go heap's better with smaller wheel's.. Depend's if you want look's or performance then you have to come to middle ground if you want both..

17s, mainly for looks because there is no performance from a carbed NA 2.25 ton Hiace

It depends on the car. I'm getting 18" 5 spoke deepdish's for the Soarer simply because they were the only style of mag that doesnt look like distilled crap on the car

18x12 + 18x10 and stretched tires on a supra or other 5 stud RWD looks the best