Michelin 215/45/17 I found the best deal at discount tire and used a friends wholesaler liscense. Wheels were about 115 a piece. Tires were about 180. 1180 total before taxes.
I'm not flaming, just curious , but why do you want expensive, high performance rubber on such a low powered car? Just for the looks? ron
For me it would be for increased cornering grip, but I personally would not want to sacrifice the mpg to get it. Why would the corning forces be any less/more at 30 or 50 mph in a car with 100 or 300 hp? For cornering, the wider/stickier rubber would definitely be a performance upgrade, but I would be more concerned with how the extra drag from the heavier wheel/tire combo, increased width track of the tires and stickier compound will drag the mpg numbers down. It's always a trade off and one that each owner makes when modifying their cars based on the car's intended use.
Well, typically the softer compound tires make the most difference near the limits of adhesion, which usually translates into carrying high speed into and powering out of corners, and also under hard acceleration on the drive wheels when not in the turns. ron
Wow didn't think it would not rub since the factory 16" do and radius was changed a little were changed. I think the offset is different and comes out more maybe? Let us know how your MPGs are with those. The factory 16" have great grip and more then enough for me but I am buy a lighter wheel down the road to the exact factory size.
My experience has been that a higher performance/softer compound tire will elevate the cornering feel and grip ability throughout the entire turn, not just entry and exit. It just "sticks" more throughout. I totally agree that in straight line performance the higher grip allows for more power to be transmitted to the ground before slippage, which prii most likely would not benefit from.
I put Michelin Pilot Sports on my 2010 with 17" wheels. Looked good but killed the mileage. I dont think it was the size of the wheel as much as the tire, but there werent many tires to choose from. When I was looking at the C, I was thinking that was the wheel I would use but keep it at a 15. Looks very nice.
fwiw if you check out the track, the 16" wheels actually have a shorter track vs the 15" wheels. this means the offset is actually larger on the 16" wheels than the 15". that means most of the width gained is on the inside. that's why they had to increase the turn radius (less turns lock to lock) and that's why they had to compensate with a quicker steering ratio. aftermarket wheels will have a more aggressive offset and so you can fit much larger wheel/tires and not rub.
Looks good. I'm sure you're loving the handling difference but hating the mpg loss. Or you will be soon. lol
Don't know why everyone's worried about rubbing. From the picture, you seem to have more clearance than Patraeus at the CIA.
Wheel/tire combination looks beefy on your c... excellent, even. A definite improvement filling out your wheel wells! Great picture. You haven't mentioned the wheel offset, but you can show us by taking another picture of your car, wheels pointed straight ahead and camera pointed right down the side of the car, to show if the wheel is flush with the wheel well fender line. Make sure you optimize your tire pressures to get the most MPG you can out of that c. It would be interesting to hear what you average with this new set up.
As of today, I took the same drive to the office 22miles both city and highway and got 51MPG. Yesterday was at 53MPG. I'll take a few other pictures later today and post them as well.
Agreed. Hopefully he racked up a decent amount of miles before swapping the wheels so we can get a real average difference in mpg. These quick swaps just don't give us any useful information.
