It seems 15" wheels are all about performance and 17" wheels are all about looks, in my limited and unprofessional experience.

I'm currently running my winter 15" wheels (Sport Evolution SE2 with Blizzaks) and am loving it. The car is quick off the line, nimble, handles well and rides smooth ...with Blizzaks! But, the wheels look dinky.

In comparison, my 17" wheels (ASA AR1 with Falken ZE912, 215/45/17) sure look a heck of a lot better, but the car is slower off the line, rides like a buck-board and I have to be very careful about potholes.

Its time for new tires and I am truly conflicted between getting 15" or 17" tires for the summer. Money is tight right now, so I had thought about getting 15" tires and selling off my 17 wheels and tires, that way I would have no out of pocket expense.

But the 17s look so damn nice. This decision is making me nuts.

Thoughts?

Dean.

 

Bulletin: There's this magical size now available. It's called SIXTEEN INCH. Try it, you might just like it. Best of both worlds imo. But that's MO.
Just tryin to help.

 

Yup....get 16's for summer....I run them in the summer...and 15's in the winter!!
To matain the off the line performance, look for light 16' rims...the differance a lighter set can make is amazing...IMO if you want performance 17's, you only real choice is a 2 or 3 piece rim...like you said...most of the 17+ are for looks IMO unless you spend some real $$$.

 

Yep ...that's what was on the car when it was delivered. What was I thinking ?

I can't spring for a set of wheels this year and have to deal with what I have. I'm leaning toward the 17s just so that I'll still have dedicated wheels for summer and winter.

 

But, when you have larger wheels you have less sidewall. The car then is feels tighter in turns, etc.

 

Cheapest thing to do would be to get new 17' tires...then maybe you can trade for 16's later...you might get some $$ too in the deal!!
I think as long as the sidewall height is reasonable...the ride and handling is fine...heck, ever see NASCAR/indy racers driving around on a 35 series tire? Nope...more than just sidewall height effects performance...heck some tires have varying sidewall compostion....different plies, etc...IMO tire choice effects handling nearly as much as tire size!!

 

Nascar and Indy cars run bias ply tires, not radials. Apples and Oranges. A real comparison would be Touring Cars, and they do run a thinner sidewall. Granted, it's not a 35 series tire.

 

Those NASCAR Taxi cabs do run on radial tires. I think that The Indy cars also run on them, but I'm not positive about that.

Back on topic....

I agree with you dean, those 15" snow tires sure do ride nice. My summer tires are 16", but they are Goodyear GSD3 F1 & they sure are stiff. I'm also thinking of going to 15" wheels maybe Konig Rewinds. I'm also wonder if going with an all season tire will make for a smoother ride. Any thoughts on that?

 

My Falkens (all season) are a HUGE improvement over the stock runcraps in smoothness ...but smooth as a 15" they are not. I am thinking of getting the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110, which is a "Max Performance" Summer tire. I like what I've read about them, some of the the folks here use them and like them and they are $90 at TireRack. They seem very high-value, which is important right now.

Dean.

 

I love the Goodyear's man do they handle, but they ride as stiff as a runflat. After this season they will be toast, then I'll try & find some old fart friendly soft riding tires.

FWIW keep those silver ASAs on there. They look great on your DS MINI.

 

I had a set of 16x7's with 38 et. They had a decent stance, lowered the car about another 1/2 inch, had a nice ride ( as long as the load rating for the tire is the same as OEM ) and no pot hole issues. They also provided some excellent handling.

Back in the market for another set this summer. Probably in flat black.

 

i had 16in OZs. they were the best compromise for both looks and lightweight. id recommend 16s if you want decent street performance and a relatively lightweight wheel (sub 17lbs).

 

Here is my 2 cents...
In the past I had a couple of Miata's. I find the cars to be similar in size and mass and even handling and transient response. Similar means comparing to other currently available "small for today" sporty cars, so yeah, I am well versed in the front drive versus rear drive apples and oranges talk. Moving on, Miata's for the longest time ran 14's, have limited travel, use their bump stops as an active part of the suspension travel and on 14's have great turn in. I am on the side that believes the 17's (mine are S-heavies) are more for looks than performance. I am going to try a set of the Konig Rewinds with 205/50's or 55's as soon as my RFT's are finished off! If they don't work out then I'll sell them off to a Miata guy. Goodwin racing has great prices on the Rewinds. For me, I believe that 15's are actually big on a car the size of a mini. Anything larger is more a function of market demands and manufacturer's needs to differentiate between option packages.

I thought about 16's too. But I think if I went 16's, I would always wonder if I missed the mark by not going to the 15's. Yes, the look is different. I think I can adapt to it and I will enjoy worrying less about the horrible roads in my county.

 

The only problem with the 16" option is that tire selection is quite limited.. it's an odd size nowadays. 17's are fine as long as you don't go with one of many wheels that are ultra-heavy. As long as you lose the runflats in the proposition, you get your 15" ride comfort back, while benefiting from the shorter sidewall of the 17's in the handling department.

To the OP: if your car actually feels slower off the line with the larger wheels, I gotta believe your butt-dyno is lying to you. Any stoplight performance difference has got to be ultra-negligible, unless you have some real boat anchors in the larger size.

I once ran BBS RGF's on a Scirocco that I dearly miss. 15-inchers were only 10.8 lbs. VERY noticeable in ride quality and handling. The RGF is available in 16" for the Mini, and is only about 12 lbs, but is very expensive.. but a great option if you can find a tire you like and can handle the cost.

 

Back to the topic. I think if you get the right kind of tire, the 17's will be just fine for comfort anyway. I have 17x7's and 18x8's and honestly, my 18's ride smoother than the 17's, and it's all in the tire and tire size. I'm running 205/45 Yoko Parada's on the 17's and 205/40 Nitto Neogen's on the 18's with a wee bit of stretch and they feel soooo much better than the Yoko's. The grip isn't quite as good as the Yoko's, but on the street I can't tell much of a difference in performance.

 

Smaller wheels are great for performance, there is no secret there. Larger wheels add style, but are often heavy. What do the guys with bigger brakes do some of the kits require 17" or bigger? Ive compared wheel weights and found 17x7.5 ENKEI RPF-1 wheels to weigh 15lbs each, but cost $300+ per wheel So I found a compromse the Konig Feather 17X7 = 16lbs each at only $130 per wheel Not to mention the ultra grippy Falken RT615s and the Wilwoods are lighter than stock. Does this not make up for doing 17"ers instead of tiny 15"s?

 

that sounds like a very effective righ right there...

i gotta tell ya folks, i am so back-asswards that i run 16 in the winter and 15 in the summer...

reason being the darn car is so low that in the winter i have to "raise the plow" a little, and get that chin spoiler up from the summer setting of 1.5" -- in addition i run some somewhat sensible tires on the stock rims as a winter setup

in the summer however, the kosei 15x7 go on with the [tire of the year] 225s and that marks the start of the racing season.

how's my arithmetic? there's an > 7% power gain at the contact patch between the two setups, so the butt dyno does not lie.

Bridgestone RE-11 225/45-17 --> 833 revs/mile
Hankook RS-3 225/45-15 --> 903 revs/mile

the proportion of the smaller to the larger, by circumferance is 92.25%

the proportion of the radius to the circumferance is identical, because the expression [circumference = 2 times Pi times radius] doesn't mess with it

that radius is of course the length of the torque arm joining the axle (where wheel torque occurs) and the contact patch (where thrust occurs)

since thrust is what makes us go, a 7+ percent reduction in the length of the torque arm (distance from axle center to contact patch) gives the drive train seven percent more leverage to make thrust...

make any sense?

cheers,

Charlie

 

That sounds about right buddy When I had my original R50 I thought of this (Knowledge From going to bigger tires for 4X4) I wanted a smaller but wider tire on the stock 16" rim so I went from a 195/55/R16 down to a 205/40/R16, I noticed a little more pick-up off the line and about half an inch more fender gap. If you could find either a 195/40/R16 or a 205/35/R16 your tire would be even smaller making your total drivetrain gearing just a little lower. I wouldnt recomend runing a 35 sidewall on a 17" or smaller though, even though many would disagree with me.

 

LOL !

You might very well be right. I was doing a lot of zipping around yesterday and the car just felt unusually light on its feet. My 17" ASAs weigh 20.7 pounds. I can't find the weight of the 15" wheels, but the 16" version weighs 20.5 pounds. So, I assume my 15s are heavy and there is probably not a huge difference in weight.

I know both of these wheels are low-end, especially the Sport Editions, but its all I can afford. I can't pop for performance wheels and have to deal with what I have. I love the way the ASA AR1s look ...I just hate cleaning them. I need to find the right brush to get into the nooks and crannies.

So, any opinions on the Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 in 215/45/17?

Thanks for all the help, everyone. It is sincerely appreciated.

Dean.

 

Try Tire Rack or Discount tire direct they have a lot of selection, you could also run a 215/40/17 or 225/40/17 and still have great road maners / performance

 

Don't quit your day job.

There's no "power gain" from different sized wheels, tires, or contact patches. Think about it - unless you've modified the engine somehow, nothing you do at the wheels affects power one iota.

Now, you CAN affect traction (tire quality, size of the contact patch, more/less sidewall flex, etc). Also, less unsprung weight (tires, wheels, suspension components) can provide several benefits, including better ride, handling, and even acceleration - but not because of more power, but because of less mass to move.

 

It is not so much a power gain (NO aditional power at the crank) but runing a smaller diamiter tire or tire wheel combo does provide a small gear reduction, giving you a little more speed off the line(think of swaping rear ends in a muscle car). This is the 7% that he was refering to. If you dont belive it go to 4-WHEELPARTS.com and you can probably enter our tire height in inches and final drive gear ratio into their gear ratio calculator. It is the same method used when you are swaping lower gears to compensate for larger tires on a truck.
And you where spot on about the other stuff you mentioned about chainging tires. Who would have ever thought that tire selection could affect so many things and be so complicated.

 

Oh and I love my day job, All 3 of them

 

The Hankooks I am looking into are not readily available in 215/40/17 or 225/40/17, but are available in 225/45/17. What will be the advantage of 225 over 215? Wider=bigger contact patch=better handling?

Will these fit without rubbing issues? I read in another thread that 225s won't work on 1st Gen Cars.

Thanks !

 

The following is copied from Tire Rack's "Tire Size Guide" Tech page There is a lot more INFO on this there and everything you could possibly want to know about a tire in the tech section.

"Section Width

Following the letter(s) that identify the type of vehicle and/or type of service for which the tire was designed, the three-digit numeric portion identifies the tire's "Section Width" (cross section) in millimeters.Sidewall Aspect Ratio

Typically following the three digits identifying the tire's Section Width in millimeters is a two-digit number that identifies the tire's profile or aspect ratio.