Alloy Wheels

[zacob]

I'm buyiing alloy wheels at the moment put can't decide which would suit more 17" or 18", any thoughjts? Also can the type of tyre you choose reduce the road noise (presumably the softer the tyre the less noise).

Cheers for now

[CJ]

Zacob, firstly, check out these threads:

http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/phpBB2 ... php?t=1942
http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/phpBB2 ... php?t=1629
http://www.fto-ireland.com/forum/phpBB2 ... php?t=1681

My personal choice would be 17's with a 45 profile tyre, som 18ers can look a bit much on the FTO if you don't choose the right rim.

CJ

[CByrne]

I went for 17"s and am very happy with them.
Went for 215/45 profiles, not harsh at all and really fill the wheel arches.
You could always get it dropped a bit further tho if reqd.

18"s are stretching from what is standard for the car, so I'd expect handling and performance to be a little bit affected. You're also stretching your wallet that much further too

There is a thread (which I cant find) with an excellent pic of some of the guys cars in Galway. There is a description of each car (alloys, whether it has been lowered etc) so you can see what sort of look you get with each setup....I think Dave's car has 18"s and they do look really well tho.

[Dave]

i like 18's but there are some 17's out there that look more or less the same size.
you have to take into consideration changing the tyre and it always costs more to get 18's.
i have 225/18/45's, lowered but with it being a GS the lowering wouldn't be as severe as the 2litre lump!

[soc]

i like 18's but there are some 17's out there that look more or less the same size.
you have to take into consideration changing the tyre and it always costs more to get 18's.
i have 225/18/45's, lowered but with it being a GS the lowering wouldn't be as severe as the 2litre lump!

You should also try to keep the rolling radius of the new wheel/tyre combo as close to the stock wheel/tyre combo otherwise you're speedo readings will be wrong.

For example: The stock setup is 205/50x16 and the rolling radius would be 305.56mm. If you changed to 215/45x17 the radius becomes 312.42mm - this means that when you're speedo reads 60mph you're acutally doing 58.6mph. Obviously you need to be careful that you don't go the other way and have your speedo under read

You can get more info from http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp - you'll be able to see that 205/45x17's or 225/40x17's will give the closest match.

From an asthetic point of view (while I do like 18's, I have them myself on the Golf) I agree with CJ - with the FTO I think you need some serious lowering (coilovers) or serious body kit (i.e. skirts) if you fit 18's or else the car just looks too high off the ground - no point in having the arches filled if the floorpan looks too high...

[Daz]

I have 18's but i wouldn't do it again the tyres are just too dam expensive, yes ya can get cheep 18 tyres out there and not shell out for toyo proxes or p6000 and any other good tyre ya can think of but at over a grand to shoe the car it gets expensive. so i would recomend 17's thats what will be going on my red one if i ever modify it.

Daz...