I wanted to get your opinion on 18"s.

Here's my situation:

Getting an MCS. I love the car & going to canyon blast, go on road trips and have a blast with the car.

I dont really want to get coilovers, since I did that with my Audi and was never happy with the quality of the ride after- seemed very different despite the "closest to stock" setting I was on.

But I hate big wheel gap.

If I get 18"s, will that get rid of sufficient wheel gap? And, can I blast through canyons with 18"s? Ive always been told 18"s are more for looks and performance is suffered with the low thread 18 tire.

Or should I stick with 17"s and happily blast through turns and be done with it?

Just wanting some info from experienced 18"ers.

Thanks in advance.

Real reason I bring this up:

Obviously this car is lowered pretty extreme, but with 18"s and sport suspension, will these wheels look good, or will people point in horror "look at that wheel gap!!!!"

 

i have 18s and they are easily damaged

i say go for 17s and lower the car a little- youll be happier.

 

I have 18's and I kinda liked it better when I had 17's, I think it looked better too

 

Larger wheels will make the wheel gap look worse, it's a bit of an optical illusion. Remember, the rolling diameter of the tire will stay the same, so the actual wheel gap won't change just by changing wheels. To get rid of the gap, you will have to lower the car.

 

Going from 205/45ZR17 to 215/45ZR17 tire size reduces gap a bit and has the grip benefits of a wider tire. Lowering CAN have a negative impact on handling if you go too far without corresponding changes to steering and suspension setup... can screw up steering geometry, roll centers, etc. All over my head... but smart guys have told me this and I believe them. At some point it's important to decide what's more important to you... appearance or performance... can't always have both.

 

Go with 17's. the 18's look like Conestoga Wagon Wheels and the factory suspension was designed for the 17's...

 

Personally, based purely on appearance alone I'd take any stock cooper S with 17's over the picture attached to the first post. Really don't think I'd want a lowered S with 18's that can barely clear a really low street curb.

 

As stated wheel gap is the same no matter what size wheel. 18" runflats will ride very hard, use a mouthguard on rough roads. If you just lower the car with springs you may experience some bumping noises and/or rubbing of the tires in turns depending on how much you lower. It can affect the handling too. Buyer beware!

 

I love my 17"s.

 

I did not know that about 18"s and wheel gap..

Thank you everyone for your replies. I really appreciate it!

 

True, if the overall circumference and diameter of the tire does not change it will not make a difference what size wheel you put on the tire, just means the side wall is shorter on the tire. But if you put a bigger wheel on and keep the same sidewall size then the difference between an 18 and a 17 is 1/2" less wheel gap. But if the diameter is bigger then you will also have to get you speedometer calibrated for the larger rolling circumference.

Hope this makes sense. Does to me.

 

I think that's the big downside to 18's is that most people aren't willing to do the extreme lowering required to pull off 18s.

I've only seen a few 18's pulled off well without wheel gap (for example, UKSUV, Alphamotoring, Kal, Dopamine, Coen, etc).

I think 18's require lots of lowering to look good on our cars....if you don't want to slam the car but you're worried about people pointing out your wheel gap, I'd stick with 17's which generally look better at higher ride heights.

 

Regarding larger outer diameters:

You may have 1/2" less wheel gap, but your car will ALSO be 1/2" higher off the ground that stock. You may have no wheel gap, but your car may look MORE 4x4 than before.

 

215/35-18 tires on 18" wheels will have a 1/4 inch more wheel gap than 205/40-18 tires. The latter tires size will have a 1/10 inch less wheel gap than 205/45-17 tires on 17" wheels.

 

So there you are. Now if you want to reduce your unsprung weight, good after-market 17's may be the way to go!

 

dont forget about the brakes when u get larger sized wheels especially if u are doin heavy or very spirited driving. even with 17's, the stock brakes prob wont hold up too well. so id look into some better pads if u do plan on gettin wheels bigger than stock.

and yea i agree with everyone saying goin 17's since i think 18's will make the car look like it has monster wheels.

 

Don't mean to hi jack this thread but what pros or cons can you list going from stock 15's on just a cooper to OEM JCW 17's, no run flats? Got a chance to pick some up on the cheap but worried about ride, etc.

 

im worried about damage... if you get the right length sidewalls, it should be similar in diameter with the rubber (i understand that)... why are 18s more susceptible to damage. it sucks cuz they generally cost more than their 17 alternatives and they break more?