16 inch front wheels - pros and cons?

[sawman]

currently have the standard 15 /16 imolas on my 400 (has power steering) . In terms of wider choice for tyres, I am wondering about picking up some 16s for the front, obviously this also opens up the possibility of a brake upgrade. Are there any particular downsides? optimum tyre width / profile?

Cheers in advance

[Unweder]

Yes if you dont have steering rack lock limiter bushes full lock may mean the wheels rub on the suspension lower wishbone they are 1/2" wider than 15's however please note May

[sixor8]

As well as being 1/2" wider the 16" wheels from the rears have a higher offset (ET33) whilst the original 15" fronts are ET25. The inside edge of the wheel therefore sits further into the wheelarch and you'd likely need spacers to avoid said catching. Presumably TVR did this for the last few models?

Many people have done this and therefore, there are plenty of second hand 15" front wheels about, but very few 16". You'd probably be better off getting hold of a set of 4 x 16" (or even 17") Ford wheels (or other 4 x 108 donor wheels) for the price of 2 x 16" Imolas.

[Belle427]

They do pop up for sale now and again.
No major cons really, my car didn't foul with them luckily.
The car was designed to have a nose down stance from the factory so this may be the only minor con, although this is probably nothing.
I think they do look better with 16s all round.

[indigochim]

sawman said:

also opens up the possibility of a brake upgrade.

You can get brake upgrades to fit under 15" rims I fitted 4 pot callipers to the front and they'll still allow for 15's it depends on how large a disc you want to fit.

sawman said:

Are there any particular downsides? optimum tyre width / profile?

As others have stated they may rub and you'll probably need to run a spacer. I don't think 8mm are available but I found 5mm to be sufficient if you do fit spacers apparently you want hub centric ones rather than the flat plates.

Belle427 said:

The car was designed to have a nose down stance from the factory so this may be the only minor con, although this is probably nothing.
I think they do look better with 16s all round.

You can avoid any noticeable change in stance by ensuring the diameter of your wheel/tyre combo is close to the original I used this site to check.

These are the sizes I went from - to.




As you can see they only raise the car 2.45mm which is less than the difference between a new and worn tyre.

edit to add the above image is without spacers. You can see the 16" rim sits further towards the suspension. Below is with a 5mm spacer which would effectively change the offset of a rear from 33mm to 28mm the fronts are 25mm

Edited by indigochim on Monday 12th December 17:13