General Alloy wheels: What If...

[pritch]

I have a 55SX without power steering. I'm wondering who can offer some fact from fiction...

I currently have the 13" steel wheels. What differences will 14" fiat alloys (from sporting, GT) make to performance, handling, low-speed steering etc.

How tricky is it to have the speedo re-calibrated as I know that'll be off.

 

[thefishdude]

speedo won be off that much you wony need to recalibrate.

 

[dave]

have a low profile tyre on the 14s and you wont notice the difference http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

[faster4_tec]

the fiat 14" sporting etc alloys with 185/55 profile rubber on are exactly the same rolling diameter as 13" steels with 165/65 rubber on.
If you want to argue about size I can show you a pic, but you'd have to wait till my mate wakes up! (he has the only camera).
I just got some of the fiat alloys last night, v happy with them, except a flat spot about 2" long on the inside of one wheel, looking to get it 'ironed' out before I fit em, just to be sure.

 

[pritch]

Cheers all, What about the other things, performance, steering etc.?

 

[The Trooper]

Did the same with my old Punto, was pretty much the same, apart from a very slight improvement in cornering.

 

[thefishdude]

to work out tyre sizes and effect on speed use this site

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
just stick in wheel size you have now and ones you getng and it will tell you the effect on the speedo

steering will get harder if the tyres have a larger width the bigger the width increase teh harder it will be. how hard i could not say. performance will also be effected the bigger the alloy more you will notice alltough going from 13 to 14 i dont think you will notice much. 13-15 you will more.

 

[dave]

to work out tyre sizes and effect on speed use this site

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
just stick in wheel size you have now and ones you getng and it will tell you the effect on the speedo

didnt someone post that 20 hours ago in post 2

 

[pritch]

It's going to be even slower to accelerate isn't it? Bloke who's selling them reckons they're 15" ... yet they look like the original sporting wheels and they have 185-55 14s on so they must be 14" right?

Also, no one knows of any pics showing what a mk1 five door looks like with these wheels on do they? Long shot, but I can't find any on google. Ta

 

[The Trooper]

to work out tyre sizes and effect on speed use this site

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
just stick in wheel size you have now and ones you getng and it will tell you the effect on the speedo

steering will get harder if the tyres have a larger width the bigger the width increase teh harder it will be. how hard i could not say. performance will also be effected the bigger the alloy more you will notice alltough going from 13 to 14 i dont think you will notice much. 13-15 you will more.

When I did it on mine, I really didn't notice the steering being harder, I expected it to be, but it felt exactly the same. Performance certainly wasn't affected noticably either.

 

[faster4_tec]

I would, I fitted some today, but haven't got a digi cam here.

It looks good!!! Better than the three door, I really think it needs to be lower though, as I can stick my head between wheelarch and rubber!!

Also one of my rear springs is cracked, the other going, and the bush is ripped thru, so a rear sus overhaul is in desperate order!!

Just driving about today (ignoring the fact the rear left wheel can flop about 1" in left hand corners!) and it tramlines like a bitch, never had this trouble in the punto before, only had it in the parents audis which actually scare the crp out of me when it does it (15"x205, and 17"x225) but on roundabouts and nice smooth flowing corners there is more grip, more bodyroll (grip causes it, rather than front wheels just skidding sideways) and feels more responsive.

the biggest thing I noticed is say you are doing 60mph on a straight good a road, and you wiggle the steering wheel say 20degrees, on std wheels the punto will lurch, and if you are incompetant end up backwards into a ditch or worse flip it. With these wheels you wigge the steering wheel, it doesn't lurch it just firmly does it and returns pretty happy!!

Have fun, but don't crash, and remember to declare on your insurance, I forgot today, so will have to do tommorrow, they better not try and charge m extra £££age for it, as they are OEM equipment.

 

[pritch]

Heh ta, well looks like the set I was looking at I may let pass, I'm kinda busy to travel 40 miles each way to see them right now.

Out of curiousity what do you think four good wheels like this with four decent nick tyres should be going for?

 

[custard]

depends on the wheels,doesnt it?

 

[JonnyBoy]

Replacing 165/65/13's with 185/55/14's makes no noticeable difference to accelaration or speedo readings. As above though, they make a big improvement to grip

If the tyres are usable and the wheels are in good nick, then you should be looking at around £100-£120 for silver (GT1/2) wheels and closer to £150 for the black GT3's.

 

[pritch]

Heh, I never really drive it in such a way it loses grip anyway, the body roll is usually enough to put me off that before they let go. There's one hill near me though which is a sharp left turn up a steep hill and in the Punto at 30 if it's wet it always goes straight on for a few yards, good fun though

 

[helpimonfire]

Well, I've just put 15's on my 55SX, it feels much more stable, body roll doesn't seem so bad, i mean, it's still there, but doesn't seem so severe. The speedo is now accurate (did 32mph past a flashy sign and it went off, went past again at 30 and it was fine)...

and besides, it'll look damn nice on 15's, 14's will look good, but 15's are better

 

[toms white punto]

i had 185/55/15 on my punto and the steering was jittery and with the tyres been low profile you could here or feel every bump in the road so i got rid of them and put dum 14 fiat alloys on and its much better

 

[faster4_tec]

the 14" gt type alloys are what is just 'right' on a punto, I have had the misfourtune of being in a mk1 (a gt1) with 17" wheels onit, it was foul, and he couldn't ever have anyrear seat passenger as the car wouldn't move as rear wheels dug into wings and archs. Also handled like it was on stilts!!