alloys 16" vs 18"

R

ramlal

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Hi All

I am in process of buying a car and I hope somebody can help me out here. Car has 16" alloys as std.

Car dealer has offered me 18" alloys for only €250 extra. I was talking to one of my work mate and he told me that if I go for 18" alloys then car will be much more stiff and it won't have the same level of comfort level as 16" alloys.

I am wondering if that is true. As I drive on country roads and I would prefer comfort over how it looks to other people.

Thanks a million
 
Unfortunately, this is true. The larger wheels necessitate a smaller sidewall on the tyre, which will absorb less shocks and bumps.

What car are you talking about ? 16" wheels look very small on modern cars so maybe ask him to split the difference and get 17" wheels instead.
 
You know what they say: The bigger the better!

Speaking in very general terms I suppose the 16 inch alloys may provide better protection as the sidewall is bigger etc... However, the wheels aren't going to make a huge difference on any standard car.

Go for the 18's!
 
If it's a small car I'd say it would make quite a big difference to ride quality.
 
going from 16 to 18 is a big jump and will definitely affect your comfort level. If you drive on poor roads, badly cambered, tramlined, potholed, poor patchy repairs, then avoid 18" alloys.

Trust me.
 
Hi All

Car is passat 2.0 TDI. I might ask him to put 17" alloys. Will it make a difference for this size car

I must say when I looked at car with 16" and 18" side by side. 18" was much better.
 
I agree that 17" would be a happy medium.

What roads to you travel on ? Are they really bad ?
 
ramlal said:
...I must say when I looked at car with 16" and 18" side by side. 18" was much better.
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If what you want to do is stand and admire it go for the 18's, if you want to drive it, keep the originals or examine the option of 17's.

BTW, are the 18's Audi / VW originals or just some 3rd-party tat the dealer wants to off-load? The reason I ask is that the difference in price between a 16 and 18 inch wheel and tyre package is far greater than €250, depending on the quality.
 
Petermack said:
The cost of replacing 18" tyres will be a bit more too when the time comes around to changing them. . A friend of mine put 18" wheels on his car and had to remove them when it turned out that his wife couldn't change the wheel one night she got a puncture. The spare wheel was a full size alloy too and it does weigh a fair bit.
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18'' will last longer!
 
17"s will be much more comfortable, yet with 90% of the sporty feel. They 18" will generate a LOT of road noise too.
 
Hi All

actually VW original alloys. I rang dealer i am dealing with and he told me that he is offering me 18" alloys for only €250 because they had a company order which was canceled and they have 8 passats coming with 18" alloys (rest of specification match to what I want) so they just want to sell them.

If I prefer to 17" then I will have to pay €1200 extra. So it is either 16" free or 18" with €250 extra.

I think I will test drive over the weekend again and then make a decision. I think comfort is more important to me so I will go with 16"
 
RS2K said:
Please explain why? :confused:
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Because OP won't enjoy driving the car and it will be left parked up?

Sorry they won't last longer. In order to maintain the accuracy of the speedometer, trip computer etc, clear the wheel arches, suspension and brakes, the rolling radius of after-market wheel and tyre packeges must match what was factory fitted +/- about 2%, so the 18 inch tyres will not last longer.
 
It's a Passat not a frecking DB9! The wheel aren't really going to make that much of a difference at all! Anyway the suspension on the Passat is very good, you go with the 18''s, plus when you go to sell the car it's going to shift quicker with the 18's on it.
 
Do they have examples of both you could try? Basically, the 18s look better, but will give a harder ride and tyres will cost more to replace. Only real way to see the difference in ride quality is to try it out, not forgetting that what may be acceptable on a short test drive might soon become very tiresome (or should that be "tyre-some"? - sorry!) over time.
 
Well now Ramial, if we were talking about a DB9 we'd be trying to decide whether to go for 22 inch or 23 inch alloys!!

Just take the 18s!
 
I switched 17" alloys for 18" on my A4. Discussed the pros and cons of doing this with a few people first, and got some good tips on the thread I posted earlier. Anyway I went ahead and did it for aesthetic reasons, as the larger the wheel, then the more it fills the wheel arches. I haven't had any problems since I changed, but then again about 70% of my driving is on the motorway. The point made earlier about the extra expense when changing larger tyres is also extremely valid.
 
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