After having to ditch the run flats on our '03 MCS because of the brutal ride quality, we were afraid to order the sport suspension on our new CMSA4, especially since we wanted the 18" wheels. Now that the CM has arrived, we think the way we ordered it is a good compromise between ride comfort and handling. But we love the look of the NM Engineering wheels on Flyer53's car, and are probably close to ordering them along with Pilot Super Sport tires (we plan to use the OEM 18" Turbofans for winter tires). For the new wheels I'm thinking I will order 235/40-19 tires (as Flyer53 did) rather than 225/40-19 in order to add a little more sidewall to protect the wheels (and tires) from the generally crappy road conditions we suffer from here in Jersey. What difference in ride quality and handling should we expect versus our current 18" OEM setup? Are we asking for trouble with the 19" wheels and tires given the road conditions around here? Many thanks in advance for your input.

 

Bumping this up hoping for some responses, thanks.

 

I switched from Pirelli run flats on 18" turbofan wheels in 225/45/18 to 19" wheels with 245/40/19. The ride is definitely better than with the 18" runflats. It is not as jarring and not as loud. I'm sure sticking with non-runflat 18" tires would have been leaps and bounds better, but suffice it to say that things got better, not worse, when moving to the 19" wheels in non-runflat tires.

Almost forgot: I have the standard suspension.

 

Thanks for responding. Any significant change in handling? When we went to non-run flats on the R53 we lost some of the go kart handling feel, but then again we went to Conti DWS's, which have relatively soft sidewalls, even for a non run flat tire. I'm anticipating doing what you did, and I'm assuming the 19" wheels (versus the 18's) will somewhat offset the change to the softer sidewalls on the non run flats.