Low profile tyres
Discussion
So today I did something I never do.
Took a right hand turn on a small mini roundabout, on exit I hit a kerb pretty dang hard, enough to jolt my body and the wheel. I was hot and bothered and rushing.
Anyway I thought for sure I would either get a flat tyre or a nice gash on my otherwise unmarked alloys. When I finished the drive I got out and checked, not a mark on the alloy or tyre anywhere. I'm dailying a Volvo S40 with (IIRC) 17 inch alloys and big balloon tyres. Tracking was also unaffected. It made me wonder though, how the car would've faired if it had low profile tyres.
They might look more stylish but how practical are they? I'm in Cambridgeshire currently and there are some disgusting potholes dotted around, some I've fallen victim to on unfamiliar roads, but nothing seems to be bothering the Volvo in terms of suspension/tyre/alloy/steering damage
Took a right hand turn on a small mini roundabout, on exit I hit a kerb pretty dang hard, enough to jolt my body and the wheel. I was hot and bothered and rushing.
Anyway I thought for sure I would either get a flat tyre or a nice gash on my otherwise unmarked alloys. When I finished the drive I got out and checked, not a mark on the alloy or tyre anywhere. I'm dailying a Volvo S40 with (IIRC) 17 inch alloys and big balloon tyres. Tracking was also unaffected. It made me wonder though, how the car would've faired if it had low profile tyres.
They might look more stylish but how practical are they? I'm in Cambridgeshire currently and there are some disgusting potholes dotted around, some I've fallen victim to on unfamiliar roads, but nothing seems to be bothering the Volvo in terms of suspension/tyre/alloy/steering damage
The roads where I live in Surrey are some of the worst - I always look for high profile tyres now.
I had 17's on my V40, that's as high as I'd want to go around here.
Currently I'm running 16's on a Golf, I had a loan Polo on 15's recently an that was good.
While you lose a bit in ultimate cornering, there are u repaired potholes on the apex of many corners so you wouldn't notice.
I had 17's on my V40, that's as high as I'd want to go around here.
Currently I'm running 16's on a Golf, I had a loan Polo on 15's recently an that was good.
While you lose a bit in ultimate cornering, there are u repaired potholes on the apex of many corners so you wouldn't notice.
I sold my Shogun Sport last year and that had 17" wheels and massive tyres on it, not a kerb mark on them and they didn't appear to have been refurbished in their 19 year life. You'd have to be pretty special to mangle them I must admit.
The trend for years has been big wheels even on smaller cars and that's where the ride quality suffers.
Big cars and big wheels don't seem so bad. My CL has 20" wheels but even with a 35 profile, because of the width they're quite forgiving on ride quality. Much narrower wheels with a similar profile though, not so good.
The trend for years has been big wheels even on smaller cars and that's where the ride quality suffers.
Big cars and big wheels don't seem so bad. My CL has 20" wheels but even with a 35 profile, because of the width they're quite forgiving on ride quality. Much narrower wheels with a similar profile though, not so good.
I think it's as much down to the ratio of tyre width to wheel width as the profile. There's not a huge difference in profile between my Elise and my wife's Octavia VRS but the Skoda's wheels seem to pick up scuffs as soon as you look at them whereas the Elise's are still untouched at nearly 20 years old; that's probably partly because the Elise is a narrower car and is easier to place on the road, but I think it's also partly because the Elise's tyres balloon out significantly from the wheels whereas the Skoda's are almost slightly stretched; you'd have to really wallop the Elise on a kerb to actually make contact with the wheel.
The Skoda's wheels a diamond cut too so if you do touch them on anything, they're ruined. Absolutely hateful things!
The Skoda's wheels a diamond cut too so if you do touch them on anything, they're ruined. Absolutely hateful things!
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 13th June 09:18
Wife has a 2010 3 series with the 19inch factory alloys, for some reason BMW shod them in 35 profile front and 30 rears!
I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
Easternlight said:
Low tyre's and diamond cut alloy's
What a perfect money maker!
And the car buying masses lap it up.
Big, flat alloys painted black with the surface of each spoke skimmed off to leave a shiny alloy surface. That's "Diamond cut", I guess? As someone that parks in the street, they make me wince. What a perfect money maker!
And the car buying masses lap it up.
In honesty considering it is not designed primarily for ride comfort, I find the Vantage's ride very good on 35 and 40 profile tyres (yes the 40 does surprise me a tad). Let us not mention diamond cut wheels, mine does have them, but they are standing up okay to the worst of the UK weather.
jonwm said:
Wife has a 2010 3 series with the 19inch factory alloys, for some reason BMW shod them in 35 profile front and 30 rears!
I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
That's less to do with the profile of the tyre but the width. I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
jonwm said:
Wife has a 2010 3 series with the 19inch factory alloys, for some reason BMW shod them in 35 profile front and 30 rears!
I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
This particular combo is one of the worst offenders. Another that I've experience of are the 20" Überturbine wheels on the Tesla Model 3 Performance... absolutely no room for error as, like the BMW ones, they have a really low profile along with tyres that are narrow on the wheels. I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
jonwm said:
Wife has a 2010 3 series with the 19inch factory alloys, for some reason BMW shod them in 35 profile front and 30 rears!
I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
The 18s are just as vulnerable, as I discovered when navigating the traffic from hell in Manchester on Saturday evening. I turned into our drive the other night and touched the side of the block paving, its gashed the alloy, literally every touch will hit the wheel as the tyres come no where near the edge, and yes they are factory sizes, they look like a stretched VW "scene" tyre.
Wife will have these finished off in not time
Fair to say I misjudged a gap after running out of patience after taking 90 minutes to do a mile and a half. It was the last bit of traffic before I got onto the M60 and the way home too.
FFS.
kambites said:
I think it's as much down to the ratio of tyre width to wheel width as the profile. There's not a huge difference in profile between my Elise and my wife's Octavia VRS but the Skoda's wheels seem to pick up scuffs as soon as you look at them whereas the Elise's are still untouched at nearly 20 years old; that's probably partly because the Elise is a narrower car and is easier to place on the road, but I think it's also partly because the Elise's tyres balloon out significantly from the wheels whereas the Skoda's are almost slightly stretched; you'd have to really wallop the Elise on a kerb to actually make contact with the wheel.
The Skoda's wheels a diamond cut too so if you do touch them on anything, they're ruined. Absolutely hateful things!
Yes the Skoda VRS Xtrem wheels are terrible for it. Next time you are getting tyres, I found the Goodyear F1 Assy 6 rim protector band thing works pretty well. The Skoda's wheels a diamond cut too so if you do touch them on anything, they're ruined. Absolutely hateful things!
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 13th June 09:18
Acuity30 said:
So today I did something I never do.
Took a right hand turn on a small mini roundabout, on exit I hit a kerb pretty dang hard, enough to jolt my body and the wheel. I was hot and bothered and rushing.
Anyway I thought for sure I would either get a flat tyre or a nice gash on my otherwise unmarked alloys. When I finished the drive I got out and checked, not a mark on the alloy or tyre anywhere. I'm dailying a Volvo S40 with (IIRC) 17 inch alloys and big balloon tyres. Tracking was also unaffected. It made me wonder though, how the car would've faired if it had low profile tyres.
They might look more stylish but how practical are they? I'm in Cambridgeshire currently and there are some disgusting potholes dotted around, some I've fallen victim to on unfamiliar roads, but nothing seems to be bothering the Volvo in terms of suspension/tyre/alloy/steering damage
It could be argued that more performance orientated wheel and tyre combo wouldn't have allowed the car to understeer into the kerb in the first place. Took a right hand turn on a small mini roundabout, on exit I hit a kerb pretty dang hard, enough to jolt my body and the wheel. I was hot and bothered and rushing.
Anyway I thought for sure I would either get a flat tyre or a nice gash on my otherwise unmarked alloys. When I finished the drive I got out and checked, not a mark on the alloy or tyre anywhere. I'm dailying a Volvo S40 with (IIRC) 17 inch alloys and big balloon tyres. Tracking was also unaffected. It made me wonder though, how the car would've faired if it had low profile tyres.
They might look more stylish but how practical are they? I'm in Cambridgeshire currently and there are some disgusting potholes dotted around, some I've fallen victim to on unfamiliar roads, but nothing seems to be bothering the Volvo in terms of suspension/tyre/alloy/steering damage
budgie smuggler said:
Yes the Skoda VRS Xtrem wheels are terrible for it. Next time you are getting tyres, I found the Goodyear F1 Assy 6 rim protector band thing works pretty well.
The wheel rims are more scratch than lacquer now so it really doesn't matter. 
If I thought the car was going to last more than another year or two I'd probably replace the wheels with something smaller and lighter anyway. The OEM wheels are complete garbage in more ways than just their kerbability. The car would drive far better on 16s or 17s.
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