Toyspeed.org.nz Message Board

which would be a best allrounder ,

17's for good tyre pricing and better response

will they look rather small though on that car , ?

what about 19's or 20' . !7 inch wheels are way to small on a caldina and 18 inch tyres are cheap as now days

definately 17's.
being a wagon it should really run a higher tyre profile for better ride comfort and resistance to potholes etc. standard profile tyres are 205/65/15 i think , note the 65, its a very tall tyre, means you can drive up over curbs without worrying about bending your rims etc. makes it much nicer to drive over bumps on the highway too.

flygt4 wrote:definately 17's.
being a wagon it should really run a higher tyre profile for better ride comfort and resistance to potholes etc. standard profile tyres are 205/65/15 i think , note the 65, its a very tall tyre, means you can drive up over curbs without worrying about bending your rims etc. makes it much nicer to drive over bumps on the highway too.

yeah thats right for tyre stats, just got new ones, tho i have non standard 15" mags for some reason, hey it came like that.

personally 17s or 18s wouldnt be a lot different. probably prefer 17s for the sports wagon look, but depends what your after. def go 5 or 6 spoke imo and definately some work or rays, but upto you, leave the chrome for sacked honda us wagons.

had 16's on mine when imported, then 17's momo arrows and now 19's they really fill the gaurds up nicely... but the increase in cost of tyres is silly!

my personal opinion is 17's look too small on a caldina, but they are probably a better choice as they should have a lower mass, cheaper tires, and more bounce protection

ive got 18" Lenso RS5's on mine, i like the look of them, my tires are 215/40/18
i had 215/35/18's on it when i brought it and they were so rough/bouncy - mind you coupled with the corolla king springs this wouldnt have helped!
with Tein Low springs and 40 profile tires its still a pretty firm ride, and you do feel the bumps in the road - it all depends on the roads you drive, how you drive and what comfort level you want

I got 18" on mine, but I regret getting 215/35/18 tyres. Definately gona get something with more side wall next time. A bit too much feedback and roughness through the 35's for my liking. Quite a bit of road noise too actually. But they're mint tyres in the wet.

If you care only about looks, and don't care about performance or safety do not read this post.

do you want good grip?
do you want comfortable ride?
do you want higher tolerance to potholes?
do you want less stress on suspension and wheel bearings?
Get 16" wheels with 205-225/55-45 tyres.
do you want wank factor?
get 18" with stupidly low profile, less grip, less suspension life, less bearing life, higher chance of bending the wheels.
We are talking about NZ roads here, if you are sticking only to motorway that is fine, but once you get on rural or less looked after road combined with lowering springs (which alone do not help at all with handling) you will be having a really bad ride.
I used to have 205/40/16 for about 1 year, I had oval wheels, badly cracked side wall, dead shocks, dead wheel bearings at the end of it. All I did was travel around NZ.
Remember higher sidewall is not equal to less grip, low vehicle is not equal to better handling (suspension travel is very important on un-even surfaces, mismatch sprigs to shocks can lead to really bad handling). If you put lowering spring on 10 year old car with original shocks it will handle a lot worse (although you might think it will handle better, it is the same as feeling "extra" power from fart cannon). You cannot just mess with stuff like this, you change the wheels, you change the total spring rate of the suspension, then you lower which will worsen the situation. If you pay attention how race cars are lowered you will understand why putting softer springs can lead to worse handling (proper lowered vehicle is lowered without altering spring rates). The suspension is very complicated thing and you cannot just mess with it and hope for better.
Of course you could compromise, say just get 17" and something like 45+ side wall on 205+ tyre and be done with it. 18" are stupidly big for Caldina and can lead to clearance issue with wider tyres.

agree with the russian, except 16" tyres are farken $$$ , at least they used to be, they may have improved over the last couple years, but they used to cost more than 17" tyres.

tall profile 15's ftw, then you can run better rubber for the same cost and improve straight line grip , lateral grip, handling,braking, and wet weather performance , all meaning a safer car all at next to no increase in cost.

lowered cars, on oversized rims with poor quality tyres, are a death trap. especially when people put very different rubber on the back and front

yeah i see exactly where your coming from sergi, that why im looking for an alrounder, somthing that will look nice and give a reasnobly nice ride , , perhaps the poll should have been in four options 17's with 215/40 or 45 , or 18" with 40 or 45 profile

best all rounder for what?

I'm used to having my fillings bounce around my mouth so would go with 18s with a decent "ish" sidewall.

but then thats not exactly sensible idea due to our roads, but oh well

oh should have said that , just normal day to day driving, within city , and backroads, ,

if there is a choice between 17 or 18 go for 17 with slightly higher sidewall.
16" BTW are very similar priced that is higher grade tyres (like GS-D3). The 225/50/16 GS-D3 costed me exactly the same as 215/45/17 on my mum's car (it is MarkII so plenty of clearance)... Actually come to think of it I would probably used 17" on my Celica (due to heaps of clearance) with 45 profile and 225 width, if I was going to change the rims (16" is standard on GT4). Caldinas have slightly less clearance than Celica (well as far as I know).

Just so you know I've had my 18's with 215/35/18 for about 12 months now and no signs of cracked side walls, wheels aren't bent what so ever.
Sure, like I mentioned in my previous post I get a bit of feedback though the smaller profile tyres and louder road noise but that's about it.
(mind you I've only taken it out on rual roads about 3 times)
Clearance is'nt an issue at all either. Theres tons of room. the car is'nt "slammed" either. Hardly scapes at all (only in extreme cases) No guard rub at all.

You can see it's not that low (although the grass can be deciving) and wheel/tyre clearance is fine

mine doesnt bottom out or rub at all
(215/40/18 or 215/35/18)
ive done ~70,000kms since ive had the car
but mind you i put new genuine shocks when i put the teins in
havent noticed any ovaling on my wheels
cant remember what offset the mags are

215/35/18 + kings:



new shocks + springs:


rear spring comparison:


front springs:



and after new springs/shocks:

cant remember if this is 35 or 40 profile

ignore how filthy it is

Santa'sBoostinSleigh wrote:ignore how filthy it is

About half as filthy as it's owner??