Styling 18" Alloys on 1.2 Active

[StiloBoy]

Where do you get this information? lol

Less "give" on a tyre will just mean the suspension goes up and down a bit more frequently! i.e. the tyres give less suspension effect, if this puts a strain on your driveshafts there there is something wrong with other parts of the suspension as the driveshafts shouldn't be under that kind of strain. They're designed to go up and down with the suspension, if they didn't they'd snap as soon as your hit a road imperfection lol. Yeah its might be a bit more strain but its the rotational forces that make the difference here I think.

As for cheap 17" tyres gripping better than 15" good tyres, wrong! I had 4 Runway 17's on my car and they didn't grip as well as the 15" Goodyears I has previously!

Plus wider tyres only offer more grip in certain situations, in others they offer less grip! Think snow and rain, where your car has a larger foot print in which to exert the same force hence less grip! Look at rally cars on their tall skinny tyres to put more pressure down through the contact patch.

As for the my mate and me comment, maybe he just drove differently to you?

And for the mine was quicker comment? Well it might well have a higher top speed yes, as you had less drag through mechanical contact to the road!

Anyways.... i'm not meaning to be argumentative, I just think your not correct. I'll reserve judgement until some other experts come on line... they'll back one of us and the other will be proven wrong, at which point that person can change their view. Its all about learning!

 

[StevenkSengwayo]

I don't know much about this stuff but my 15" steelis gave me no confidence at all but my 17" claws oh yes they gave me a sudden rush of bravery only because the car seemed to drive better on them IMO it is a big car to have lickle 15" wheels they just don't look right

ps there is no technical reasoning behind this so please don't be telling me about technical wrong/right stuff besides the man simply wants a yes/no answer

 

[Yazza54]

It probably a mixture of both, I'm not saying you're totally wrong. I just thought it was incorrect to single out the weight of the bigger wheels as being the car breaker as there are many factors.

And my 'mate' (he isnt anymore lol!) hammered it, but not as much as i did. yet his broke, twice! mine didnt on the right wheels.

Proof that fiat knew more about wheel combinations than him, a spotty dopey teenager who wanted the biggest that could fit under there. Plus it was acceleration wise mine was quicker


And the bigger wheels feeling better is just because you dont have all that movement in the tyre wall, the car responds more to your input instead of wallowing around as the car moves on the tyre wall, when that happens it just lacks feel and kills confidence.

To be honest I'd rather slightly softer set up on a typical road car like a stilo or a punto etc, much more comfortable and if youre on say 50-55's its still relatively aesthetically pleasing and gives decent feel. I cant understand why people go mad spending thousands on 'race' suspension and such for a road car thats never going to be very quick or see a track in its life,just for the sake of getting it as low as possible so its a pain to get clearance and you sacrifice all comfort in the process.

I understand the odd remap and induction kits, exhausts, not that they give much power, cos its a bit of fun and not too expensive, but people do tend to go a bit far. Anyway thats for a different discussion, im rambling !!


My new car is on coilover adjustable dampers and 215/40's. Set up quite stiffly, think my pelvis is going to turn to dust!


Will the 18's clear OK on lock etc too? I'm guessing they should being stilo wheels none the less..

 

[scottie2065]

lock to lock no problems whatsoever as long as you get the right offset ET35-ET45 is the correct offset range for the stilo mine are ET 42 and needed a 2mm spacer on the front to clear the 1.2 calipers as there was a bit of binding between the wheel spokes and the caliper. no need for a spacer now though as i "re-profiled" calipers. lol
if you visit http://www.alloywheels.com they supply 19's that you can fit on the stilo. if your feeling brave, lol

 

[paulweller84]

Thanks for all the advice, I've now decided against getting them my car has been brilliant for the 18 months I've had it I don't want to risk breaking it now! Saving for an Abarth instead!

 

[Yazza54]

Thanks for all the advice, I've now decided against getting them my car has been brilliant for the 18 months I've had it I don't want to risk breaking it now! Saving for an Abarth instead!

Definitely makes more sense, you could spend fortunes on your car but it's never going to match up to a standard abarth. The 1.6 and 1.8 dynamics are good cars too as they look pretty much the same as an abarth apart from the odd few differences, and have plenty of kit on them, my dynamic had a cd changer, AC, skirts etc.

They go quite well, loaded with kit and can be gotten relatively cheap, long as you can insure it (I've no idea how old you are!) then go for broke and get an abarth.... I'd try to get a manual if I were you though. The sillyspeed isn't great from what I've heard.

 

[Argonought]

Wisdom indeed

It's not always appreciated that fitting wider tyres (especially if also significantly heavier) can degrade the performance of the car.

It's all based on simple physics. The wider tyres (due to elongated footprint) will increase steering resistance and almost everyone increases tyre pressure as a consequence. This now means that although you might have wider tyres you've actually got less rubber in contact with the road

Combine this with degraded damping (due to higher unsprung weight) and you'll likely find the car will tend to skit along the surface of any imperfect roads.

Far better to keep the car standard and fit some very good rubber