Wheel advice needed (17's or 18's)

[frank c]

I have a brand new set of 17" ST2 alloys (never fitted) but am still thinking about whether to get 18's..

I quite like the look of the WRC 's(P1 style) and pf7's (sp?) in 18"..

What do you guys think ?

Keep the 17's , sell them for 18's or see if someone would swap.?

Frank

[Johnny50]

Sell me the ST2's []

Nah, would stick with them if i were you Franko.

Becoming a rare wheel now, and is nice to see a set on a nice motor. []

[RS Grant]

You've wanted the ST2's for aaaaaaaaages mate... dont punt them!! []

Cheers,

Grant

[frank c]

Hello stranger,

That was a rapid response..

Hope you and the misses are well..

I like the wheels Johnny but i like both the other wheels (anthracite) too..

I know Grant ..it took me ages to source them..

[RS Grant]

Well stick them on for a wee while then... dont be shy, there'll always be OZ P1/Rota Rep wheels kicking around. [][]

Cheers,

Grant

[higgy]

If it's bling you want it's bling you get , but remember that the bigger the wheels the more drag you will have , making the carslower on takeoff and slower to brake. On the plus sid it will handle beter and Look beter.

 

Eather way Have fun

 

Higgy

[frank c]

Thanks for the advice guys..

so its down to handling/style against take off and braking.

I've seen a few pics lately with 18's fitted and i do like the look but dont want to really compromise to much..

I blame the guy with the P1 with 18" Pf7's fitted myself. lol they looked the nuts.

choices choices.........

[Johnny50]

Doin grand Frank thanks.

Was hoping you'd be at Dastek today to catch up with ya.

Stick with the ST2's boyo...you know it'll look sweet..

Unless you really want to go bling ?

[~ ~ Cal ~~]

If it's bling you want it's bling you get , but remember that the bigger the wheels the more drag you will have , making the carslower on takeoff and slower to brake. On the plus sid it will handle beter and Look beter.

Higgy

Si-pie,

This is an interesting quote relative to your comment :-

There are various reasons for recommending 18" wheels and tyres to go with the performance package.

Lets start with the WRX. The std 17" tyres are OK when you've got the std levels of torque to cope with but with the increased torque available with the PPP, traction at the front in the wet becomes a limiting factor in the lower gears. A better (& wider) tyre on an 18" wheel helps.

On the std tyre the grip in the wet or dry isn't that great so a better (& wider) tyre on an 18" wheel helps.

The ride on the std tyres could be better so fitting the tyres we recommend (PZero Rosso or Nero depending on the wheel chosen) helps with this. This is not a wheel diameter issue it's much more about the actual tyre fitted so fitting a larger but lower profile tyre can actually help if the OE fit doesn't have such a good ride.

On the STi there are no real traction issues due to the front LSD but this can give worse problems in the form of tramlining and torque steer. Adding the extra torque that the PPP gives obviously would make this worse on the std tyres so we recommend that you fit larger wheels and more importantly different tyres. If you've ever driven the same STi on std Bridgestones and then our 18" wheels you will immediately notice the the car is much calmer and tolerant of uneven surfaces for just this reason.

The std Bridgestones also give a very firm and unforgiving ride as they have very stiff sidewalls. Fitting our 18" wheels and tyres improves this.

Any concerns about increased diameter etc are unfounded as the overall diameter of the tyre is the same as std.

One important gain however is that our 18" wheel and tyre assemblies are between 1.5 & 3kg LIGHTER than the std 17" STi wheels and tyres so improving unsprung mass and reducing the rotational inertia of the assembly.

There seems to still be the misapplied rule that fitting the lower profile tyres that a larger rim needs, will degrade the ride quality, but this is simply not the case if either the original tyre gives a firm ride or you can choose a replacement tyre that gives a better ride. Both apply in this case with the 18" wheel and tyre packages we supply......

If your dealer hasn't recommended you change wheels and tyres it probably most likely that he hasn't driven a car so equipped. His comment that the ride is worse is probably down to experience based on other cars that simply don't work on bigger wheels and tyres, normally small fwd ones.......

Hope this helps

Mike

Personally I am biased on this issues so but it's handling versus bling me finks in this instance

CGS