15" or 17"?

[Penghanyut]

Hi guys,

I'm having a dilemma here.
Just some info beforehand, I'm on a 15x7" wheels wrapped in 195/55/15 AD07s.
Its on a front wheel drive and full lock LSD.
I'm having issues with traction and I'd like to seek advice from the sifus here.
Will the traction be better (and also handling) if I were to upgrade to 17" but with a budget of RM400/pc for tyres? Is the improvement worth the money spent?
I'm currently considering either to go 17" or to get R888s for the 15" (only considering the 195/55/15 as the 205/50/15 costs a bomb!)
Threadwear is not a major concern as I hardly drive this car.
Disregard about traction in the wet. It's not important at all as I drive extremely slow in the wet :)
Planning to set up the car for some fun on the track and also on the street.

Your kind input/advice is very much appreciated! :D
Have a nice day!

 

[D7zul]

Why don't u go with 16"?

 

[ken yeang]

17 inch tyre cost a bomb, regardless of performance or normal tyre. Ask LAncer GT owners and you'll see...

 

[6UE5t]

Since your budget is limited, I would not recommend changing to bigger diameter rims. If you upgrade the rims but then use lower spec tyres due to your limited budget then your traction will actually be worse. In this case the bigger rims will improve your steering response due to thinner profile tyres, but not necessarily the traction. Tyres spec is more important for traction cuz that's the one actually making the contact with the road, not the rims. So I'd suggest go change with an even better tyres, at least one with traction rating AA and treadwear rating around 200-300 or even lower, it will make a lot more difference than changing rims. Btw what's your car? I'd think is a rather small one cuz it's now only using 15. If you have budget to change rims and better tyres, probably just go for 16 as suggested above.

 

[Penghanyut]

Thanks for the fast replies! :)

Reason why I don't wanna go for 16" is due to the limited choices of semi slicks.
I'm considering going 17" due to the wider contact surface hence better traction but can't afford good tyres like neovas and such.
Any idea what kinda 17" tyres I can get for RM400/pc?
Considering either 205/40/17 or 205/45/17.

Since the price of good tyres are really costly, I can go with 2pcs new semi slicks in the front and a reasonably good condition used tyres at the rear?

Just a Proton Wira :)

 

[6UE5t]

Thanks for the fast replies! :)

Reason why I don't wanna go for 16" is due to the limited choices of semi slicks.
I'm considering going 17" due to the wider contact surface hence better traction but can't afford good tyres like neovas and such.
Any idea what kinda 17" tyres I can get for RM400/pc?
Considering either 205/40/17 or 205/45/17.

Since the price of good tyres are really costly, I can go with 2pcs new semi slicks in the front and a reasonably good condition used tyres at the rear?

Just a Proton Wira :)

Hmm in that case stick with your current rims, but just change to higher grip tyres. If you use 17, your car will be quite slower unless you use lightweight rims and it will cost a bit too. Then those tyre profiles are so thin that the ride will be pretty harsh.
As for the price, last week I bought GY F1 D5 size 215/50/17 at rm450/pc, but of course they're still normal street tyres, far from being semi slick type of grip. :)

 

[Penghanyut]

Just afraid that semi slicks are not satisfying enough. Well I guess have to try from the cheapest method first which is getting a pair of 15" semis to try it out. If still having issues then will have to burn another big hole in the wallet to get a set of 17" with semis.
Many thanks! :)

 

[vr2turbo]

If your 17" are going to be 205 width only, might as well use 205/50R15, then no need to pay for the 17" rims....

 

[satrianeo-x]

Am confused. I thought if its a go-fast car, the smaller and lighter the rim, the better. What is meant by traction not good? Perhaps adding LSD or looking into the suspension setup could be a better option? Bigger rims will slow down regardless if it is light due to radius. AM I wrong here? Pls comment

 

[vr2turbo]

Am confused. I thought if its a go-fast car, the smaller and lighter the rim, the better. What is meant by traction not good? Perhaps adding LSD or looking into the suspension setup could be a better option? Bigger rims will slow down regardless if it is light due to radius. AM I wrong here? Pls comment

Going bigger on rims, usually the wider the tyres used, therefore there will always be more drag.

 

[6UE5t]

If your 17" are going to be 205 width only, might as well use 205/50R15, then no need to pay for the 17" rims....

Exactly! A 7 inch width can actually fit up to 215 but for 15 maybe not available. If you use 17 then might as well go for at least 215 tyre width. Note that using 17 generally means much heavier rims, hence your acceleration, braking, & fuel economy would be worse. Suspension component will also have to work harder to control it due to the heavier unsprung weight. So unless you want to spend a bit more for lightweight rims, then I don't recommend going for bigger rims.
For example is the upgrade I have done to my car. Std rims is 16x7 but very heavy, almost 10kg per piece. The rims I upgraded to is 17x7.5 + 17x8.5 forged rims whereby even the wider size only weigh 7kg while the narrower one is only 6kg. So total weight savings on the set of rims are already 13-14kg! Then there's more weight savings from the tyres, around 1kg per piece, so total weight savings from my upgrade is close to 16-18kg despite going bigger rims & tyres, and you can immediately feel the difference when driving it. On top of that of course there's significant difference in grip and handling due to better and wider tyres than std.

---------- Post added at 09:11 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 09:02 PM ----------

Am confused. I thought if its a go-fast car, the smaller and lighter the rim, the better. What is meant by traction not good? Perhaps adding LSD or looking into the suspension setup could be a better option? Bigger rims will slow down regardless if it is light due to radius. AM I wrong here? Pls comment

Not really correct. True that to make the car faster you need to make it lighter including the rims but NOT necessarily by using smaller rims! If you buy good lightweight rims then even if you go bigger it can still be lighter! Read my post above. Fast cars need big brakes and a lot of traction, hence need bigger rims, but then have to choose lightweight ones. As for the radius, it can still be maintained the same due to using lower profile tyres, hence the total radius/diameter of the rims+tyres will still be about the same. In fact it can even go smaller despite going for bigger rims, like the my case when upgrading from 16 to 17. The total diameter actually becomes slightly smaller by around 0.5-1cm.
But I also agree with you that in terms of handling, suspension setup is also very important factor, so on top of upgrading rims/tyres, you can also upgrade suspension using stiffer springs, dampers, anti-roll bars, bushings, etc2, but of course there's the trade-off with comfort.

 

[Penghanyut]

Thanks for the input guys.
Given a choice, I would like to go for 225/45/17 or even 235/45/17 if my wheel arch permits...but being just a Proton, the main concern is the rear which I think will have issues if I were to fit in wider tyres.
I'm not sure if 215/45/17 will have issues at the rear.
I've got the rear fender folded though.
I'm not worried about the front as there is a wide clearance for front.
There is absolutely no comfort for this car already.
Running on 11kg/mm front springs and 4kg/mm at the rear with extremely hard damping and a 19mm Ultra racing anti roll bar.
It's a bone breaker as it is now.
Well maybe I should really try out semi slicks first.
Any idea what good semi slicks with the size 205/50/15 to recommend?
Budget preferably about RM400/pc but still open to suggestions if its really worth paying for.

 

[vr2turbo]

Thanks for the input guys.
Given a choice, I would like to go for 225/45/17 or even 235/45/17 if my wheel arch permits...but being just a Proton, the main concern is the rear which I think will have issues if I were to fit in wider tyres.
I'm not sure if 215/45/17 will have issues at the rear.
I've got the rear fender folded though.
I'm not worried about the front as there is a wide clearance for front.
There is absolutely no comfort for this car already.
Running on 11kg/mm front springs and 4kg/mm at the rear with extremely hard damping and a 19mm Ultra racing anti roll bar.
It's a bone breaker as it is now.
Well maybe I should really try out semi slicks first.
Any idea what good semi slicks with the size 205/50/15 to recommend?
Budget preferably about RM400/pc but still open to suggestions if its really worth paying for.

From 195/55R15, even 215/45R17 is more then 4% increase in overall diameter. 225/45R17 and above cannot be considered at all.
For semi slick, take a look at Federal FZ-201, not sure of the price though.

 

[wajunk]

Hi Guys,

me oso on dillema to choose 15 or 17 rims?
Current is 17' (215/45/17)
stock is 15' (195/55/15)
since my tyre botak already. plan to change new good tyre.
need ur opinion whether to choose 15 with wider rims (7jj-8.25jj rota) with 195/55/15 tyre or change light weight 17 (7.5jj-8.5jj) with 215/45/17 (potenza Re002, Advan AD08,Kumho Ku36 or etc).
Which 1 is better?

Btw my ride is Waja GSR Turbo (plan to Upgrade bigger ball bearing turbo soon-need good grip tyre maybe)
Daily ride/love high speed corner/fast straight line-stop oso need fast/track day sepang.

TQ

 

[vr2turbo]

Hi Guys,

me oso on dillema to choose 15 or 17 rims?
Current is 17' (215/45/17)
stock is 15' (195/55/15)
since my tyre botak already. plan to change new good tyre.
need ur opinion whether to choose 15 with wider rims (7jj-8.25jj rota) with 195/55/15 tyre or change light weight 17 (7.5jj-8.5jj) with 215/45/17 (potenza Re002, Advan AD08,Kumho Ku36 or etc).
Which 1 is better?

Btw my ride is Waja GSR Turbo (plan to Upgrade bigger ball bearing turbo soon-need good grip tyre maybe)
Daily ride/love high speed corner/fast straight line-stop oso need fast/track day sepang.

TQ

With Modded engine stick to 17" loh......