Wheel Sizes

[hongkongfooi]

Peeps
Any one know a reasonable wheel upgrade which provides better handling (width) but does not upset the ride quality (or lack of), as a matter of interest what is the maximum wheel size you can go, 18's? and no I do not read max power!!!

[chimhunter]

There's been a bunch of info on this before. Basically 17"s are the maximum. People have gone to 18" but ended up with all sorts of problems. If you go to 17", change to Toyo Proxys. They have a much softer side wal and will not give a harsh a ride as trying to stick with Bridgestones. If you really don't want to compromise the ride, get the suspension sorted at the same time. You can tailor that to the new wheel diameters to give the best possible ride. Joolz is probably the man to advise on that though.

Rob

[monaco]

Well thats not exactly true !!!!!
I have 18's allround on mine and the ride is fine and the handling is also great. and I'm using Toyo's !!

The car is not for posing it's for driving and it gets some real hammer.

I do have Nitron shocks fitted, so it would be a little difficult to comment on a standard set-up but if things are done correctly I seen no reason to limit an upgrade to 17's.

[19560]

Looks very good too. What's wet weather grip like?

[monaco]

Glad you like it.

Wet grip is great, the overall width of the tyres haven't changed so pretty much as standard with toyos.
But I must admit it hardly ever sees rain as it's only used for trackdays and country lane blasts.

[tvrbob]

IMHO 18"s do present a problem to all but the most competent driver. In standard form cornering is progressive which provides important feed-back to the driver about the likelihood of oversteer. This progressiveness is provided by side wall deformation under lateral load. As you reduce the sidewall height you also reduce the feed-back. This means when the car goes into oversteer you don't have as much time to correct it. You should also consider the contribution tyres give to suspension. Reduce sidewall height and the drive becomes harder. Many minds have worked on the answer to this question. It's a compromise between track use and road use. If you want the best of both then don't change too much. 17" are as far as you need to go, any further and you really are making your car too hard for the road. Yes you can rework the suspension, with 18"s you will have to. TVR engineering do not put 18"s on, there's probably a good reason, they are know for their ability to get the most out of a package. Change it and you will change you car. Change it a lot and you may spoil your car.

[RichB]

I have 18" on the rear of my Griff and love them, in fact wouldn't swap them for the world (well maybe I would but you get the picture!) Perfect on the road and fine on the track. Oh and TVR do (obviously) fit 18" rims to the T cars but I assume you mean the Chimaera/Griffith in which case I suspect availablity and price had as much to do with the choice of wheels for those cars as engineering excellence. Rich...

[hongkongfooi]

monaco said:

Glad you like it. Wet grip is great, the overall width of the tyres haven't changed so pretty much as standard with toyos. But I must admit it hardly ever sees rain as it's only used for trackdays and country lane blasts.

Thanks for the info, matter of interest what make are your wheels they look cool!!

[19560]

Remember that he has poly bushes and Nitrons so his springs and dampers will be set up for 18" wheels and maybe for the Toyos as well.