(S) More alloy questions

i've just bought 17" claws for a song off of ebay (a dealership in bedford, very good service btw) and had a set of yokohamas fitted 215/45 (the type that overlap the rim a bit) and must admit they look "mighty fine", but it doesn't feel right. I realise that it will feel different to the 195/65/15's that came as standard with my 1.4 active but was not prepared for "how different" e.g. it feels every camber & track in the road and wants to follow it, is this normal? (i've never had a car with 215 width nor 17" before) also in the lineaccesorie catalogue it lists the claws as "camber 41" and the 15's as "camber 43" does this make a substantial difference?

You used that artprov guy in Bedford - a lot of guys on here have used him before.

Have the tyres been properly balanced, and the car tracked/laser-aligned accordingly?

hello steve l. i got mine from artprov as well. i went from 16" to 17" on my abarth and noticed the car appeared to be tramlining. it is a hard thing to describe, it just felt different. now i dont notice it. you will get used to it.

If there's a piece of road that has a dip in it, then my car just follows the dip and i have to correct the stearing quite often, this is probably the main reason why i'm still unsure about getting 18's as they will be even worse. The tyres could also be a factor in how much the car tramlines, Goodyear eagle F1's like i have are very good grippy tyres but prone to tramlining, im not sure if yours have the same type of tread.

thats interesting koarang, i also have goodyear eagle F1`s. i wonder how much of it is down to the tyres as opposed to the bigger wheels.

I find mine will follow bumps and lines in the road, i think its more to do with there being a bigger area on the road, i've never really let it bother me, but then id had experience of cars with big wide wheels on before the stilo.

Well i went into a wheel specialists to look at some new alloys the other week, and i was asking him about what tyres to put on if i had 18s, and out of intersest i asked him if he knew why my car followed dips in the road.
He said that the Eagle F1 tyres had a tendancy to do this because of the tread pattern, very good at getting water out and away from the car and very grippy in the dry too BUT they do tend to get sucked into holes. Im used to it now, but the first time it happened i thought WTF ! There's a piece of road near where i live and it sucks the car in every time as im pulling up to the lights, but i am ready for it, if it happened somewhere else and took me by suprise it could be a bit dodgy.

Cheers everyone for the replies, i'm sure i'll get used to the 'different' feel

This is normal to have a odd feel when you first change your wheel size - The larger wheels have more weight to them so makes the balace of the car feel different to what your used too.

My 215 17 45 F1's like to follow the camber of the road too - But they stick like hell when its dry - Dont worry, a little time and you will be used to it

I've got Pirelli P7000 215/45 on 17" wheels and no major problems with tramlining. Have noticed though, as I've an Abarth, it does tend to want to plough on in corners (but nowhere near as bad as my Vectra V6 which was downright dangerous and had the road holding of a hover mower )

I got dunlop Sp sports on mine which are 215 / 45's and they suffer from that now and again, the first time it happened i thought "what the hells up with these? have i fitted them wrong" but eventually you do get used to it.

Theres a road near me like koarang said that my wheels to it all the time on, slowing down for the lights on it is the worst! As i had steel wheels before as well my mates said you gotta get used to aloys being a lot more sensitive as well.

Check that the wheels arent slighty buckled as this can lead to the car feeling as if the tracking is off.....get em checked