Topic: Wheels size, is it going crazy?

[safristi]

Get the  skinny, smallest sized wheels and  largest amount of rubber between your tyres and the road for your particular vehicle fer Winter........we are in KANADU NOT Palm BEACH (some of US that is... ).............a MASSAGE from YOUR ROAD MAINTENANCE CREW!!!!!.....I approved of this DAMAGE and I'm a POT_HOLE

[ktm525]

Not to mention ride comfort on our increasingly rough roads.

A larger diameter wheel will have a better ride providing you're not going very low profile.

Maybe true maybe not.   A taller tire sidewall will usually have a better softer ride than a low profile tire regardless of wheel size.  A long contact patch ( = large wheel/tire diameter) will indeed smooth out road imperfections better than a short contact patch. 

trouble is that most of these vehicles with very large wheels also have very low profile tires with short stiff sidewalls.

Yup.  I just had to change the winter rims/tires off my Mazda3 as one of the rims is bent and there's a nice bulge in the sidewall. (Picture below)  My wife (could've easily been me, too!) put the wheel in a franken-pothole in Ottawa last week.  Thankfully the road hazard warranty on the tire will cover most of its replacement cost but I don't know if the rim is salvageable.  I guess that's the risk you take when you run 205/50/17 winter tires.  Low sidewall = high probability of damage.

/Eric

Sidewall profiles have definitely decreased. Barrie-mobiles used to come with 75's while performance cars had 60's.My 1985 Supra had 14" wheels and a 225/60-14 tire. Now the my Volvo is running 235/45-17 which I think is the bare minimum sidewall for practical applications. With the road hazards today I would be running to the tire/wheel shop monthly. Good for Morty I guess.

[Marc_]

Like this:   

[morty]

Bigger does seem crazy, but it seems that is what the people want. If you dont want the bigger wheels don't go for the upgrade package. It seems everyone loves the look until they have to replace the tires...ouch!

[airbalancer]

Bigger does seem crazy, but it seems that is what the people want. If you dont want the bigger wheels don't go for the upgrade package. It seems everyone loves the look until they have to replace the tires...ouch!

But that is part of the problem is they way they package thing, want memory seats, get 19" wheels

[sailor723]

Bigger does seem crazy, but it seems that is what the people want. If you dont want the bigger wheels don't go for the upgrade package. It seems everyone loves the look until they have to replace the tires...ouch!

But that is part of the problem is they way they package thing, want memory seats, get 19" wheels

 

I wanted Xenon headlights on my SRX but wasn't prepared to go with 20" wheels that came with having to get the "sport" package. I hate the way packages have evolved....remember the old days when you could order options one at a time off of a list about 3 pages long?

[ktm525]

Bigger does seem crazy, but it seems that is what the people want. If you dont want the bigger wheels don't go for the upgrade package. It seems everyone loves the look until they have to replace the tires...ouch!

But that is part of the problem is they way they package thing, want memory seats, get 19" wheels

 

I wanted Xenon headlights on my SRX but wasn't prepared to go with 20" wheels that came with having to get the "sport" package. I hate the way packages have evolved....remember the old days when you could order options one at a time off of a list about 3 pages long?

With the SRX isn't the nifty magnaride system not available with the 20" wheels? That has to be the ultimate goof. Go for 20" wheels for "handling" and delete the magnaride.