15's or 16's

[Nullity]

Ok, I cannot decide between the Rota Subzero 15's or 16's (with the Falken ZE-512's on jaydm). I don't find the 17's to be what I want. I want to look nice, but not flashy or too attention grabbing. I'm planning on painting my (white) '89 LX-i black then putty the silver Rotas on it. Give me the performance pro's con's and then usability/comfort pro's con's. Oh, I'd also like to know if the rim/tire setup is a good choice... they seem like a good deal also... but then again I just started researching.

[Jims 86LXI HB]

I dunno I really think your asking for input that I don't think anyone can give. No one that I know of has had 15's then went to 16's. That would be someone that could give you the specific answer you want. However I had 15's, thought they were great. But I did want to make the jump to 16's, for 2 reason's. I wanted what I feel is a appearance improvement with the slightly larger wheel and I wanted to go with as wide of a tread width as possible. You can't do 215mm width in 15". I wanted to go with 215/40-16 or 215/45-16 on rota's with a 45mm offset.

Again I really liked my 15's and thinking in terms or ride quality, I don't think their would be a noticeable differance in ride quality. Frankly my first thought to your post was to tell you to toss a coin, I just don't think you can go wrong with either 15's or 16's. I'll add that in the whole time I've been a member in this community where I've have read comments on rims and tires combos, I have NEVER, not even once seen someone do a post,................."I hate the ride or my 16's". Their have been lot's of post of guys complaining about 17's, but never 16's.

Here are the tire size's to use
Never run offset's lower than 40mm on a 3g, up to 45mm is fine and possibly required if running 215mm thread widths.
195/55-15
205/50-15
205/45-16
215/40-16 (requires 45mm offset)
215/45-16 (requires 45mm offset)

BTW, I don't run any tire other than summer tires, so I can't really comment much about all season tires.

[meangreenLXi]

Yo, my 17's ride sweet, the car is higher up and i need to get lowering springs, but other than that, I'm riding okay. I've hit potholes and they didn't hit any harder than when I had my stock tires on. Here in NY after the winter months have cleared, we're left with potholes galore, not that i try to hit them, but it's inevitable, your gonna hit some. I haven't had any horrible ride storys to tell and I've only had my rims on for a month, but I have ridden over plenty of potholes and I drive the city streets that have mad potholes. The only reason I take those streets is that I wouldn't have anywhere to drive if I didn't go down a street that has potholes. Only on the highway, have I not encounted potholes in NY state. In short, bigger is better, but the preference is yours.

[Mike89Accordcom]

Get at least 16's or 17's. Your ride will still handle great....

[85FieroGT]

In your case I would probably go with the 16's...The 15's would be nice...but maybe too small. It seems as the tho the 16's are the reasonable choice. Then again...a whole 4 ppl have posted here...

I would research it some more...can't hurt...

And if you are wondering why I am here owning only my Pontiac Fiero...let me explain....

One of my better friends has an 88' Accord Hatchback...and I thought I would look around and read some of the suggestions...we are planning a major project this summer. We are wanting to do some large modifications to both our cars...lets just hope we can aquire the money....

[2Fast_Fiero]

I have an 85 Fiero GT! RAWR!

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by 85FieroGT
Then again...a whole 4 ppl have posted here...

I would research it some more...can't hurt...

His question really isn't the deep thinking kind, theirfore the lack of a huge number of replies. And research really isn't going to dredge up anything, again given how close his choice's are to one another.

If a decision can't be made with the info given in the whole 4 replies thus far, somebodies not paying attention or their thinking way to hard.

[cdscowboy]

I'd go with the 16's, personally. They'll look nice, fill the wheel well appropriately, and still give you a good ride. And also for the reasons Jim has been saying too...wide tires are good...(remember that Pontiac commercial?? E ahoo la oola?? something like that...wider is better )

[NXRacer]

There was just a similar thread here:

https://www.3geez.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19963

that talked about kinda the same things. It pretty much depends on what kind of performance you want (if any).

IMO a bigger wheel looks good, but i dont think i'd go bigger then 17. Just depends on the style of the wheel and how you want your car to look. I have 16's on my car now and it rides/handles great, even with springs that are so bad its pathetic. speaking of which, i'm gonna have to post pictures of them when i can. you have to see them to believe it. i've never seen springs so fucked up.

[Immeraufdemhund]

i've heard anything larger than 17 and you start getting into the modifaction aspect of this. I'd go with 16's too. One of hte guys at a tire store was explaining to me the difference in handleing with wider wheels. WIth your stock ones you get a bunch of throwing and slipping. With the widerones your grabbing that corner and going with it. A bunch more hugging is what it came down too. Just a thought in my messed up head.

[Jims 86LXI HB]

Originally posted by Immeraufdemhund
i've heard anything larger than 17 and you start getting into the modifaction aspect of this. I'd go with 16's too. One of hte guys at a tire store was explaining to me the difference in handleing with wider wheels. WIth your stock ones you get a bunch of throwing and slipping. With the widerones your grabbing that corner and going with it. A bunch more hugging is what it came down too. Just a thought in my messed up head.

Theirs a big catch to that logic. On a stock car, especally a 3g, you have allot of body roll. A tire needs some sidewall flex so it can distort to allow more tire tread to stay on the road or the excess body roll will cause the tire to run on it's side's more rather than stay flat. 17's with next to no sidewall height aren't going to flex and the tire will have a much lower percentage of it's avaliable contact pact actually on the road. It would take a combination of stiff lowering springs and aftermarket sway bars to really make 17's on our cars a positive benefit for ultimate handling. 16" remains a better choice, since you can have 215mm widths and not go over the oem rolling diameter by much. You can't get a 215/35-17 tire. And 215/40-17 is oversized. On a stock accord 17's are a liability, not a asset for g making.

One absolute benefit for 17's is that as you move up in tire diameter's you increase the tires contact patch length wise (not to be confused with contact patch width). The longer contact patch is desirable for maximum braking effecientcy.

[AZmike]

Originally posted by Jims 86LXI HB

One absolute benefit for 17's is that as you move up in tire diameter's you increase the tires contact patch length wise (not to be confused with contact patch width). The longer contact patch is desirable for maximum braking effecientcy.

It seems to me that the extra energy required to stop the heavier (and with a larger moment of inertia) 17" wheel from rotating would keep the small ~5% increase in contact patch length from having much of an effect.

[meangreenLXi]

Dude I'm no expert, but from the time I took off my stock rims, up to now, I've gotten great traxtion from the 17's I hook corners better than ever before. I can take them with no feeling of roll in the body. I think they are better and i haven't lowered mine yet, i'm gonna, but gotta work up the loot first. I'll let you know when I get to that point though.