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[terry paget]

I was moving my old wheels about, and was struck how much heavier the 16" were, so I weighed them. A 195/15 tyre on an alloy wheel weighs 37lbs. It weighs the same on a steel wheel. A 225/16 tyre on an alloy wheel weighs 45lbs. I was led to believe that unsprung weight should be kept to a minimum.

I run my 2000 2.5 estate on 195/15 tyres on steel spare wheels just to use the tyres up. Most of my other cars are on 225/16s. I quite like the feel and handling of the 2.5 estate.

Do big wheels and wide tyres give better feel and handing, or are they just fashion items?

[tigers_gonads]

Handling imo is a balancing act between mechanical grip (tyres), controllability and feel.

Imo, you get a better balance with stiff ish suspension and higher profile tyres.
You also reach the grip limits at a slower speed so you feel more able to adjust the cars trajectory via either the throttle or steering before you put it in a ditch.
It may not be quite as quick point to point but you get more of a idea of what the car is doing on the road then on fat low profile tyres and the car slammed on its arse with no suspension travel.

For what its worth, the best handling omega i've ever had was a manual 2.5 v6 CD saloon on 205 / 65 / 15's
It might not have been ultimately as fast point to point as my 3.2 mv6 but it drove like a dream with all the feel and predictability in the world 

[symes]

AH ok whose gonna do this to a miggy 

[chrisgixer]

I was moving my old wheels about, and was struck how much heavier the 16" were, so I weighed them. A 195/15 tyre on an alloy wheel weighs 37lbs. It weighs the same on a steel wheel. A 225/16 tyre on an alloy wheel weighs 45lbs. I was led to believe that unsprung weight should be kept to a minimum.

I run my 2000 2.5 estate on 195/15 tyres on steel spare wheels just to use the tyres up. Most of my other cars are on 225/16s. I quite like the feel and handling of the 2.5 estate.

Do big wheels and wide tyres give better feel and handing, or are they just fashion items?

Ime....

Numerous reasons exist for fitting various sizes. Bigger wheels usually give a wider contact patch, and offer more grip as a result if the suspension can cope. They also give options to fit bigger more heat capable brakes. However a bigger wheel usually means a lower profile tyre. This is bad as the tyre is the first point of suspension, so you needs better shocks and springs as a result, and even the ride still suffers and in extreme cases tyre squeal pipes up much earlier.

Smaller wheels give a bigger side wall and more compliant ride. Usually with a narrower contact patch though, and brake options are then limited.

Above assumes a similar rolling radious, as the omega has little room between the string cup on the shock and the tyre to go bigger. So wheel size is a direct relationship to  side wall height which is key for us, and quite individual. Depends how you want to tune it.

Gearing is quite badly affected if bigger wheels and bigger rr are fitted to the rear.

Weight of the wheel is sort of equatable. But the design has a big effect. Mv6 mini face lift wheels are feather light compared to any other omega wheel, but are so soft as a result they are almost useless. Which is a shame.


I guess it's just the world of compromise. No,perfect set up exist. Add one parameter and you loose another. Within reason. Avoiding the extreme ends of the scale is, I would say, wise.

Again. In My Experience. Seeing as the snipers are out in force tonight for some reason.

Others experience may well differ.

[elvin315]

Written for Catera owners but it might help answer your questions.

http://cateraowners.forumotion.com/t66-catera-wheels#224