How Did You Decide On A New Tire/wheel Setup?, The amount of choices out there is dizzying! Options

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I have an '07 Accent 2-door hatchback with the stock 14" steel wheel configuration. Looking ahead, I know that I will want to swap them out for something a bit more sporty. My question is how do I go about deciding which tire and wheel combination works best? I'm sure there are lots of combos that will fit. Heck, I could even fit 12" wheels on the car if I really wanted to. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) I can't imagine that "because it looks cool" is the number one deciding factor. What are the technical deciding factors? I am looking for something that is lighter than stock and helps with cornering. I understand that I will need a stiffer suspension setup too but I'm focusing on the tires and wheels.

From a quick glance (and I will look more here shortly), it seems that 205/40/R17 is the largest and widest tire and wheel combo that can fit on the Accent without rubbing or bottoming out the car. My budget will be $1000 and not a penny over. I know it's possible to get some combo packages for less but I want to allocate some extra in order to get something that can survive wet and snowy weather, not crack after 10k miles, and not wear out too soon. My Accent is Sapphire Blue.

Any recommendations?

-- Boris

(BTW, the sticky post in the tires section of the forum has a link to a Popular Mechanics article. The link doesn't work.)

[Naky]

If you want looks, don't worry too much about extreme lightness and just choose something you personally like. 17" I believe has the widest range of tire selection, though there are those on here who have 18".

If you want performance over looks, 15" rims are probably your best bet for having the best tire selection available as well as lightness.

As far as the rubber itself goes, if you're going to put out cash for new rims, I would suggest not going with all seasons. Roll with two sets of rubber - some sort of performance summer rubber on your nice new rims, and all-seasons/winter tires rockin' the ol' steelies. You won't be happy with all-seasons in either season so why compromise?

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Does the 15" setup have a technical advantage over the 17" setup? Or does the 15" win out simply because of the wider selection of tires?

-- Boris

[Naky]

What do you mean by technical? 15s are going to be lighter than 17s no matter how you slice it, so if you're going for maximum performance, go with 15s. If you don't care about the (IMO) minor difference, but still want the tire selection then go with 17s. Or go with 16/18s if you happen to find a set you like (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) Really, when it comes to looks, I say shop for what you like/want. 15s will be cheaper too, so you can spend more on rubber so if you want to stick to your budget easily then that's another thing to consider.

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I'm not worried about any weight difference between 15" and 17" aftermarket wheels. Both will probably be significantly lighter than the stock steel setup coming out of the factory.

This may be a misunderstanding on my part here but I always thought that narrow profile 17" tires would corner better and offer better grip due to the sidewalls being stiffer than a 15" tire with the same outer diameter and width.

I also read that the wheels have to have an offset of 40mm to 47mm but it seems that almost every aftermarket wheel has this feature.

As far as looks go... well, I don't want something ugly or mismatching but I'm pretty flexible with style.

-- Boris

[0.o slow 1.6]

You will get better response and prolly better cornering speed with the small side walls. BUT you will notice a big decrease in acceleration and braking. Anyways, sport tires for 15's can go up to 225 wide. A 225 tire on 17 will make the setup to big for you and your car will be going no where. Since our cars are on the weak side, you have to find a tire setup that gives the car the most balance.

This post has been edited by 0.o slow 1.6: Oct 30 2009, 11:37 PM

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Assuming that the effective diameter of the tires will be about the same, is the weight between a 15" and 17" setup big enough to make a noticeable and measurable impact?

[buck_dizzle]

I have an '07 Accent 2-door hatchback with the stock 14" steel wheel configuration. Looking ahead, I know that I will want to swap them out for something a bit more sporty. My question is how do I go about deciding which tire and wheel combination works best? I'm sure there are lots of combos that will fit. Heck, I could even fit 12" wheels on the car if I really wanted to. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) I can't imagine that "because it looks cool" is the number one deciding factor. What are the technical deciding factors? I am looking for something that is lighter than stock and helps with cornering. I understand that I will need a stiffer suspension setup too but I'm focusing on the tires and wheels.

From a quick glance (and I will look more here shortly), it seems that 205/40/R17 is the largest and widest tire and wheel combo that can fit on the Accent without rubbing or bottoming out the car. My budget will be $1000 and not a penny over. I know it's possible to get some combo packages for less but I want to allocate some extra in order to get something that can survive wet and snowy weather, not crack after 10k miles, and not wear out too soon. My Accent is Sapphire Blue.

Any recommendations?

-- Boris

(BTW, the sticky post in the tires section of the forum has a link to a Popular Mechanics article. The link doesn't work.)

Im looking to go from a 16" tire to a 14" tire for the winter. What size 14" tires came stock with your Accent?

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The stock tires on my Accent are Kumho Solus HP4. Here's a link from tirerack.com. I hope the link works.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?ti...mp;autoModClar=

[chrisvm31]

Im looking to go from a 16" tire to a 14" tire for the winter. What size 14" tires came stock with your Accent?

185/65R14

[omg grip]

Assuming that the effective diameter of the tires will be about the same, is the weight between a 15" and 17" setup big enough to make a noticeable and measurable impact?

Considering the car likely only has a horsepower output at the wheels around 90-100, yes, weight makes a pretty big difference.

I experienced the same thing with one of my last cars, I went from ~13lb wheels to a set of ~15lb wheels, the car rode rougher and accellerated slower.

I swapped out the stock 16x6.5" (~18lb) accent wheels for a set of 15x7" (~14.5 lb) wheels with summer tires, braking is noticably more responsive, acceleration I think was a wash because I opted to go with a slightly smaller diameter tire. most handling improvements are due to my tire choice so its not really fair for me to say that improvement was because of the wheels. FYI I chose 40 offset and it sits pretty flush with the fenders.

There are a few 15" options in the 10-12lb range for a reasonable price, and some less than 10lbs for more. Enkei RPF1, Falken Hanabi, 949 Racing 6UL, tons of other choices...

Here are a lot of lightweight choices here in the 15-17" range, most of these should fit an Accent.
http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Perfo...res/Wheels.html

Some light reading on why light wheels are good.
http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda-Perfo...tml?id=HkzYICy4

15 and 17 offer a very wide choice of tires so you cant really go wrong with either.

This post has been edited by omg grip: Nov 5 2009, 04:33 PM

[0.o slow 1.6]

One day imma get a set of 15x8 949 6ul's. So SEXY!!!!!

[dafunk]

One day I'm going to get of 15x7 Volk CE28Ns. (For my CRX.) I'd like to get some 16x7s for the Accent, but, there's just no way. I can only afford to sink very much money into one car.

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I tried looking up the weight of my current wheels and I found this.

http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html

It's a list of wheel weights for a Mazda Miata but the first entry is for a 14" steel wheel. Can I assume that my 14" steel wheel weighs about the same?

[dafunk]

Yeah, it's probably pretty close. Honda Civic 14"s are supposedly 18 pounds too.

[jetrinka]

I just need to find another set of steelies for ours to put some summer tires on. Brie doesn't want anything special but I am a firm believer in having two sets of tires for the different seasons.

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10 years ago I bought a single steel rim from the local junkyard so I can have a full size spare. I think the steel wheel cost me $25. Nowadays the price would probably be higher but I'm sure you could probably get a deal for $100 or less for 4 steel wheels.