15 inch or 16 inch.....how big a difference?

[twobone]

I am the VERY lucky new owner of Kilodawg's Kiln Red Carrera.

Question for Kilodawg and others......

I have a set of 7 and 9 inch wide 16 inch Fuchs on my SC that is up for sale.

Kilodawg's car has a set of beautiful 15 inch wheels (7 and 8") shod with Toyo RA1s painted to match the side stripes.

Am I dumb to sell of my 16 inch wheels?

With top performance tires on 15" rims, will I really be losing any major handling benefits v.s. 16"?


If I keep the 16" wheels, I could always send them out to Al Reed some winter and get them refinished to RSR spec, which would match the side stripes.

Can someone photoshop on an RSR look onto the pic?

I'm trying to not spend too much more (Kilodawg has worked so hard to get the car in such amazing shape)......so if the 15 inch wheels look good and the performance is still great....maybe I should sell off the 16 inch wheels....

The last thing is that Toronto roads are really rough so thicker sidewalls maybe a good thing

Please share your thoughts

[chrisp]

street or track?

For the street there is a definite performance gain but is it really worth it? To me street driving is all about looks. What looks good and makes you psyched to drive the car should be the deciding factor.

on the track its another story. either run the 15" with smaller diameter tires (like what Hoosier recently came out with) or 18's (17's are a good alternative too). If you've gone to the trouble of getting rid of rubber bushings and any squirm in the suspension then you'll get more out of larger diameter rims/smaller profile tires.

[chrisp]

that car looks awesome by the way.

[kilodawg]

Here are my thoughts, but heck what do I know about this car

If I had the 16" wheels I'd hold on to them if possible. It always seemed to me that the car would look even better with the wheel wells filled a bit more like either 16" wheels or higher profile tires would do. I'd prefer the 16" route. My long term plans were to move to 16" or even the new 17" wheels from Subydude eventually.

Try the car though and see what you think. I don't know that there is a need to change performance wise for the street. The car handles great as it's currently set up.

As far as aesthetics go, I had thought about going for a less bling look to the polished rims like that given by the scotch-brite technique. It would be super easy to do but with the current painted center I was afraid that there might not be enough of a contrast and I might have to go to a very slightly darker shade of silver. That wouldn't be a problem as I think it would still match the stripe very well or even better. It was just that the wheels look good and to go the whole route would be a bit more work.

The rim finish I'm thinking of would look like a combination of the rim on this ( I did these for my '73T)



with the centers of the originals



By the way, If I hear one more comment about how good the car looks......

[SLO-BOB]

That is a NICE car. I considered buying it a while back, but the seller decided to hang on to it. He really loved that car. Definitely the kind of guy you want to buy your car from. Kilo-ever get the turbo you were looking for?

I would put the 16s on that car. It will improve the looks (yes-even more) and handling. I went from 15s to 16s on my 77 and the difference was remarkable. I sent mine to Al Reed and had them frost (Rsr) anodized. Plus, performance tires are (somewhat) easier to source in 16 inch. My 92 has 17 inch as a comparison.

Honestly, this is a no-brainer. Another bonus - you can sell those 15s for some nice $$ so you're not out any dough at all keeping the 16s.

edit-just saw the car went to Toronto! Poor thing. I HATE driving in Toronto. No left turns - no parking - uber traffic jams. Ugh. Now I really feel bad I didn't get it when I had the chance.

[KTL]

Originally Posted by kilodawg

By the way, If I hear one more comment about how good the car looks......

It'd look better if you would have taken off the periscope third brake light and the big black rear bumper pads.................

The 16's are going to be better (with same tire brand selection) since you'll be increasing spring rate with the shorter sidewall and gain lateral grip with the shorter lever arm as the sidewalls. I'd take it a step further and go with 17's. Tire selection is better (albeit more expensive) and you further gain spring rate and lateral grip. The downside with bigger wheels & tires is the dreaded unsprung weight.