UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I would love to have a set of Audi 17" Competition alloys. Nice and polished!

Wish I had a black car now

yeah they look cool but i think 18s will look mental on 9n.
putting 18s on a Polo is a dream come true. (currently have 15s on mk4)

Coming Tuesday my car will be fitted with H&R -35mm and Audi S3-rims with Goodyear Eagle F1 (205-40-ZR17). I hope it improves grip alot. Current tires (165-70-R14) are hopeless.

post sum pictures pls joy!
lets c 17s with lowered suspension....

Joy wrote: I hope it improves grip alot. Current tires (165-70-R14) are hopeless.

hmm very thin..

This wheels are too big in my opinion. Reasons:

- The cost of the tyres;
- The cost of the wheels;
- Totally absence of comfort (attention to the conditions of the road);
- Problems with the law? (in Portugal the larger size admitted in this car it´s 17");
- Bigger risk of aquaplanning;
- Non suspension weight (18" wheels weight a lot). OZ Superllegera it´s a better choice, for example;
- Higher Consumption of fuel;
- Less overall performance;
...

Go for (OZ Superleggera ) 17 inches wheels!

POLO9NTDI wrote:This wheels are too big in my opinion. Reasons:

- The cost of the tyres;
- The cost of the wheels;
- Totally absence of comfort (attention to the conditions of the road);
- Problems with the law? (in Portugal the larger size admitted in this car it´s 17");
- Bigger risk of aquaplanning;
- Non suspension weight (18" wheels weight a lot). OZ Superllegera it´s a better choice, for example;
- Higher Consumption of fuel;
- Less overall performance;
...

Go for (OZ Superleggera ) 17 inches wheels!

thankyou for your input.

the cost of my wheels and tyres i have been quoted £1040.
is there a law in th UK for too big wheels?
mines a 1.2 3cyl so its not really for speed
i prefer 5 spokes as theyre easier to clean than multispokes
im going for looks for this car
as for fuel consumption, does it really make a great impact?

Cheers
Aaron

Hi carmadaaron,

The impact of fuel consumption it´s expressive from 14"/15" to 18", but from 17" to 18" it will be also noticeable.

The decrease of "overall performance" it will be noticeable in reprises (for me it´s more important than top speed).

In my opinion you only have two advantages:

- aesthetics;
- More grip in curves.

But if you go ahead with this two options choose the RS4 Replicas (it´s my personal opinion)

Cheers and sorry for my poor english

Nah...

fuel-consumption won't increase when a wheel gets higher. When a wheel gets wider, that's when fuel-consumption will rise. The aerodynamics will be a little worse. But roll-resistance of a tire will be the biggie. A sport-tire is made for grip and does increase roll-resistance quite a lot (compared to a normal Eco-tire). Also there is more rubber in contact with the road because you want bad-ass wide wheels .

Bigger tires do have some pro's and against's. Grip is a big improvement. Not only for cornering, don't forget the big difference in braking-distance when an emergency-stop is required. The difference can be as much as 8 meters from 100 km/h (66 mph) to zero between a good tire and a bad tire.

Hi Joy,

Don´t forget one thing, usually higher wheels requires wider tires if you want to keep the same total diameter of the wheel (it prevents errors in the speed meter).

For example:

- 195/50R15
- 205/45R16
- 215/40R17
- 225/35R18

So the fuel consumption will increase...

You can also get good tires in 16"/17" (Good Year F1 GS-D3, Bridgestone S-03...) and we are talk about 1.2 3 cylinder car...

Cheers

POLO9NTDI wrote:
In my opinion you only have two advantages:

- aesthetics;
- More grip in curves.

it looks wicked too

@POLO9NTDI,

not true. A tire doesn't have to get wider each inch a wheel gets higher.

For example, a car is delivered on stock wheels 155/65R14. Now the buyer doesn't like the wheel and wants 15 inch wheels with the same tire-width (155). So he has to fit 155/60R15.

The number 155 stands for the width of the tire in mm's.

The number 65 or 60 stands for the height of the tire. 65 means the side of the tire is 65 % of the width of the tire. So 65% of 155 mm.

As long as you keep the roll-distance of the wheels within 2% of the original setup ABS and your speedo won't get upset.

Greetz Joy

Joy I respect your opinion.

But for me the story it´s different... if you want to improve the setup of the car - concept "plus one" or "plus two" - you have to get wider and lower when a wheel gets higher.

On the other hand if you have 185/55R14 and you go up to 15", in this case you have to use 195/50R15 because the wheel is wider (usually 7 against 6).

Usually the wheels are:

5,5x13''
6x14''
7x15''
7,5x16''
8x17''

Cheers and always friends

the twist has 185/60/14
options list have 205/45/16.
the difference is 2.3%
factory fitted as well

and 17" Exor with 205/40/17 as a dealer fit option!