Okay, it goes like this...
Wheel size is increased in order to run taller tires and keep the same sidewall height. Taller tires are run to gain contact patch size without having to have aburdly wide rims. The problem is, if you take any given wheel style, the 16" size is always heavier than the 15", etc, so you don't want to 'over wheel' your vehicle and increase unsprung weight (and reduce your ride quality as well as your handling, which is what you're paying your good money for to upgrade your running stock). Honestly, on a +/-2000lb car, good, lightweight wheels are probably near optimum, maybe some 16's if you're running a lot of power. Anything above that is probably overkill. One of the best-handling cars in the world that's accessable by mere mortals is the Mazda Miata MX5, and that originally had about 90 or so hp at the rear wheels, a roughly 2100 lb curb weight, and ran 14's on ultra lite (for cast, factory feasible equipment) wheels with not a lot of width, so take that into consideration. Similiar power-weight, vehicle size, etc. but with a much better suspension, and one of the best handling cars you can buy. We all agree that the bigger wheels look cooler (I myself want 16x7's front and 17x8.5 rear, and I will eventually be running a lot of power (and power adders
)so I can pass it off as 'necessary'
), but how much performance are you willing to lose to run the big, bling wheels?
My thoughts,
M13